Fire And Blood

1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER The thrilling history of the Targaryens comes to life in this masterly work, the inspiration for HBO upcoming Game of Thrones prequel series House of the DragonThe thrill of Fire Blood is the thrill of all Martin fantasy work: familiar myths debunked, the whole trope table flipped.Entertainment WeeklyCenturies before the events of A Game of Thrones, House Targaryenhe only family of dragonlords to survive the Doom of Valyriaook up residence on Dragonstone. Fire Blood begins their tale with the legendary Aegon the Conqueror, creator of the Iron Throne, and goes on to recount the generations of Targaryens who fought to hold that iconic seat, all the way up to the civil war that nearly tore their dynasty apart.What really happened during the Dance of the Dragons? Why was it so deadly to visit Valyria after the Doom? What were Maegor the Cruel worst crimes? What was it like in Westeros when dragons ruled the skies? These are but a few of the questions answered in this essential chronicle, as related by a learned maester of the Citadel and featuring more than eighty allnew blackandwhite illustrations by artist Doug Wheatleyncluding five allnew illustrations exclusive to this edition. Readers have glimpsed small parts of this narrative in such volumes as The World of Ice Fire, but now, for the first time, the full tapestry of Targaryen history is revealed.With all the scope and grandeur of Gibbon The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Fire Blood is the the first volume of the definitive twopart history of the Targaryens, giving readers a whole new appreciation for the dynamic, often bloody, and always fascinating history of Westeros.Praise for Fire BloodA masterpiece of popular historical fiction.The Sunday TimesThe saga is a rich and dark one, full of both the title promised elements. . . . It hard not to thrill to the descriptions of drag