Fire and Blood: This is the history of the Targaryens
It's been there since November 20, George R.R. Martin's (70) new literary work. "Fire and Blood 1 - Rise and Fall of House Targaryen of Westeros" may not be the book the fans really wanted - but it's the book they're getting now. And thus on 900 pages the prehistory to the rulers of the dragons, who should hold for about 300 years the Iron Throne of Westeros. Before Robert Baratheon overthrows the "crazy king", appoints himself a ruler and thus begins the story that millions of TV viewers since know and love of "Game of Thrones". First of all, a required reading did not become "fire and blood".
Tackle away, class work
The book is "from the conquest of the Seven Kingdoms and submission to the rule of the Targaryens, to the dance of the dragons: the civil war within the house of Targaryen, which would have nearly extinguished their dynasty forever." Anyone who acquires "fire and blood" must first and foremost be prepared for a great deal of history in a non-fiction garb, after all it was designed by Martin without circumlocution as a history book. For those who have been slain by all the dates and names of "The Song of Ice and Fire", "Fire and Blood" does not become a Pageturner.
Occasionally, the book feels as if the Maesters themselves are blaring the story of the Targaryens to thousands of children on the school desks of Westeros. For example, with passages that read as follows: "North of the Blackwater, the black man from the house of Hoffartt, the king of the islands and rivers, ruled the river country with a bloody hand." Harren's grandfather Harwyn Harthand, an ironman, had Trident Argilac's grandfather Arrec, whose ancestors had thrown down the last River King centuries before. "
Fabric for 20 seasons
On the one hand, what can be overwhelming, on the other hand, must also be admired. Martin gives the fictive history of the Targaryens a level of detail with so much meticulousness that can only be found with J.R.R. Tolkien's "The Lord of the Rings", but more with its accompanying background piece "The Silmarillion" compares. Although this is not easy food in the fairly factual narrative style of the new book, it offers a tremendous amount of potential.
With the first of the two volumes of "Fire and Blood" alone, a "Game of Thrones" spin-off with ten seasons, a lot of drama and even more death could be staged. A fact that is certainly not regretted by HBO. Five offshoot series should already be in the planning, two of them are supposedly based on "fire and blood".
Waiting time justified?
The fact that not least because of this side project the main story by "Winds of Winter" will be retold in 2019, is for Martin's already afflicted readership difficult to understand. Once the author said, "Winds of Winter" would almost certainly appear in 2017. Now serial fans might be able to see the end of the saga before book readers even realize that Jon Snow is not dead. After all, the final season of the TV production will appear in April 2019.
Much more than a beautifully illustrated, 900-page accompanying book "fire and blood" has not become so. Anyone who is interested in the genealogy of the House of Targaryen, but will be able to better understand some relationships of the main series. However, it has not become an equivalent substitute and is also a good deal bulkier. And that means something.
