More of a chore than a pleasure!

I'm a big fan of George R R Martin, but found this book heavy going. Despite the excellent narration, I was left feeling I needed a pen and paper in order to take notes in an effort to track character, dates and events!

I was relieved when the book finished and hope I never hear Mushroom quoted again!

14 personnes ont trouvé cela utile

Why this book?

Not so much a novel more a shopping list. It’s a pity the author did not use the creativity expended on this creation to finish Ice and Fire.

4 personnes ont trouvé cela utile

Very good , well read and detailed

Its written very well and positioned from the perspective of a narrator - historian . Nice fresh approach that makes you wonder how much is true. It puts a lot of perspective to the original Ice and fire saga.
Very amusing and never dull.

One downside : it ends closely after the civil war: Dance of Dragons events. Thus its a bit misleading because you expect the whole story until Aerys II.

3 personnes ont trouvé cela utile

OK for pseudo-history buffs ...

... but not so good if you were wanting a story like the GoT series. No one can fault Mr Martin when it comes to the depth and scale of his universe, but I really prefer his story-telling prowse. Nevertheless, it's well narrated and structured.

3 personnes ont trouvé cela utile

Waffle of the worst kind

Terrible love story with the same crap regurgitated again and again with the same names used in different lines of succession. Don't waste your time or credits. If only you'd put so much effort in making a real story instead of being so clever to go over the same story again and again and again just seen from a different view..... BORING!

3 personnes ont trouvé cela utile

A long and boring cencus.

Too long and boring. Was disappointed through the whole and was glad when it finished.

1 personne a trouvé cela utile

Great for any Game of Thrones or history fan

I wish there were more books in the style of “history book of a fictional event or world” in the way that Fire and Blood and World War Z do so well. This book perfectly emulates reading a real history book but adds more humor and character and most importantly dragons that most academic texts sadly lack.

Do you like fiction? Then this might not be for you

I love game of thrones and when house of dragons came ou - I was dedicated to read this book. Unfortunately, the way it was written is not my style. it’s written like a history book. I never liked school, so this was a hard read for me. This is fiction but written like a non-fiction. I might try to finish it just because I am a game of thrones fan but so far very very disappointed. However, this does not mean its not a good book. It is. Great story line and written well. Its just not MY type of style, therefore gets a personal two star. Mostly because the story itself is excellent.

Fantastic!

If you often find yourself looking up the lore and history of and behind obscure details as well as major events in whatever media you are consuming this book was made for you. I loved every chapter of this fictional history and was sad to have it end so far before the events of A Song of Ice and Fire.

The exploration of different sources and unreliable narrators made the story feel fresh and immersive, made all the better by the excellent narration by Simon Vance. His voice was made for this book.

If you have zero interest in the history before A Song of Ice and Fire you might find ths book dull and skip it, I would strongly recommend to give it a chance anyway since it’s truly fantastic.

country specific?

why are so many books specific to a country? I've found a lot of these books that I've wanted to listen to, most of these are a part of popular book or TV series.