thoughts on finishing fire & bood

[sigmaleph]

I did not rush through this book, the way I did through most of the main series books and I expect I will through TWOW whenever that comes out. You can tell because I bought it the day after it came out and I finished it today, nearly a month later. Part of it is, well, life happens. Had other demands on my time that only recently were dealt with. Part of it is that it's not as much a book that invites you to rush through it as an ordinary fantasy novel.

Fire & Blood is a fake history book written by a fictional historian, Archmaester Gyldayn, about the reign of the Targaryen family in (a large chunk of) Westeros. This is only the first half, and it covers the time from Aegon's conquest to the regency of Aegon III. Parts of it have been published in anthologies before, and so I'd read them before.

I don't know if that hurt the enjoyability of those parts, but it seems like it could have. My favourite historical periods were ones I hadn't read before; the reign of Jaehaerys I, the short-lived reign of Aegon II, the regency of Aegon III; by comparison the Dance of the Dragons felt a lot more like something I had to push through. But the other perspective is that it just so happens that the Dance, and Aenys' and Maegor's reigns in The Sons of the Dragon, were a lot more full of war than politics.

It's not that I don't like GRRM writing war; the main series books take place almost entirely during a war and I love them. But the bird's-eye-view, told-in-hindsight format of Gyldayn's historical narrative is fundamentally different from seeing a war unfold from the eyes of the people fighting it, while they are fighting it (or suffering from its consequences).

I like plots and treacherous regents and attempts to seize political power that aren't just 'my army is bigger than yours'. I like clever diplomacy trying its utmost to prevent war, or war won decisively because of the actions you took during peace (or, well, sometimes, because you have dragons and they don't, sure, sue me).

Also I like Alysanne, best queen ever, and she's in Jaehaerys' chapters. Can't do anything about that.

Comments

[theaudientvoid]

I've been meaning to check this out, but haven't gotten around to it yet. I haven't read any of the Princess & the Queen or Sons of the Dragon materiel yet (though I have had them summarized to me). Is it worth higher placement on my to-read list?

[sigmaleph]

1) If you want historical background knowledge you should, but given that you haven't read the previously-published chapters you might not.

2) If you want a narrative then this is more complicated. Fire & Blood doesn't tell a single story, it tells a bunch of different stories where you can't really say where one ends and the other begins, and each shapes the background for the ones that happen concurrently or after it. This is kind of inevitable in a history book, but it still means it's not optimised the way a novel is.

Some of those stories are great! Others are just ok.

[theaudientvoid]

I put of reading the previously published chapters because I was waiting for them to be published in one volume (as opposed to scattered across multiple anthologies; I have a standing rule of not buying anthologies for only one chapter). I am procrastinating reading it now that it's out because the fandom seems to have very mixed reactions to the new material, combined with general fandom fatigue.