Fire & Blood by George R.R. Martin Book Review & Reaction | Read it Before House of the Dragon!

Mike begins his series of videos about George R.R. Martin's fantasy epic A Song of Ice & Fire beginning with 2018's Targaryen history book Fire & Blood (spoiler-free).

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0:00 Introduction & Reading Excerpt
2:45 Background Info
4:16 What Is It About?
5:12 What Makes It Good or Bad?
18:19 Final Thoughts
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Reading excerpt music provided by @Infraction
Music used: Epic Dramatic Military Music (No Copyright Music)
Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 3.0(CC BY 3.0)
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Theme music provided by Infraction
Music used: Epic (No Copyright Music)
Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 3.0(CC BY 3.0)
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#MikesBookReviews #HouseOfTheDragon #gameofthrones

[travisslade]

As a ASOIAF nerd I’ve read it like 6 times now. I’m obsessed with lore and family trees and history and all that so I love it.

[bccardvault]

I am late to the ASOIF party, but I read this book first, then knight of the seven kingdoms, and now reading the main series (just started book 2) and I very much love that I read fire and blood first, the knowledge I have of westeros going into game of thrones made everything way easier to understand. A lot of the history and names of old kings mentioned in the main series may just be looked over by the common reader but I had a full understanding of why each person, battle or family was important and am grateful for fire and blood for that.

[PhilipChaseTheBestofFantasy]

To me, Fire and Blood offers some interesting world building for fans of A Song of Ice and Fire like myself, but it is not great storytelling in and of itself. I do think its dry, bare, and “historical” nature makes it potentially ideal for adaptation since there’s lots of room for interpretation.

[chimpster]

Just finished this myself in preparation. Enjoyed it more than I expected to for a book with about 2% dialogue in it! I am a history nerd though and can definitely imagine that many would bounce off the style. Was quite a refreshing change for me.

[austinmoore]

I just read this book for the first time a few weeks ago. It was incredible. Damn, now I want to reread the main series.

[Praetorian_Rex]

I just finished this myself the other day. I absolutely loved it! GRRM writes so brilliantly and the world of A Song of Ice and Fire is so easy to get immersed in for me. I hope volume two will be released soon.

[upchuckles]

This book was way more fun to read than I thought it was going to be. Very psyched for the show.

[williampdozier]

Love your stuff. I didn’t make my own book-focused channel until recently, but your reviews stick out as the best I watched when I was in college. Been a pleasure to see your audience grow!

[mmurphy]

Another epic intro. I was so excited when you said in a previous video that you were going to do an epic intro for this. It’s next up on my tbr. Your video about the show got me more excited for that than I was so I want to read the book, or as much of it as I can, before the show starts.

[Buchertn]

I am among a few of the folks here who have just recently read Fire and Blood it has given me a better grip on events mentinoed in Song of Ice and Fire which I'm currently reading. It has just made the entier world of Westeros even more engrosing for me and man I simply can't get enough!

[mrsduncanthetall]

Hell yeah the review i was waiting for😍👏👏👏

[iWizard]

Great review. I had so much fun chatting about it with you. :)

[thelemmiebee]

It’s a book I keep going back to. I’ve reread certain parts of it countless times at this point. TWOW aside this was a treat from GRRM.

[panzertorte]

Speaking as someone who read Game of Thrones (as in, only book 1 of ASoIaF), watched the first season of the show and then only participated in the fandom as far as seeing gifs pass by on my tumblr dash alongside reading the occasional meta post... I loved this book! As a history nerd and archivist, it was right up my alley.

[Uppernorwood]

Been waiting for this review! I loved reading this and spending time back in the world. I completely agree once you get over the fact it isn’t Winds of Winter, you can enjoy it a lot more for what it is.

Also I’d say 5-10% of this is in World of Ice and Fire, the vast majority is new and really adds details to the more minor houses.

[brentasmith]

I was so glad I decided to read this this year. I should have known how great it would be.

[benconlin]

I really enjoyed it, read it for the first time this year. Slow in parts but I love delving into the history

[svaldez]

Really missed your reading excerpts Mike! Most of the time they have been the ones that convinced me to go ahead and read a series!

[nick_a_]

You've convinced me, put this one off for ages as a salty ASOIAF fan haha watched this video on lunch today and I'm picking up a copy now to read before the show airs

[bfd]

Love the intro. I know it's a lot of work to do it, but it is kinda your thing