Centuries before the events of A Game of Thrones, House Targaryen--the only family of dragonlords to survive the Doom of Valyria--took up residence on Dragonstone. Communication was excellent I had some questions because I was unable to track the package until it hit US soil. In my opinion, the whole Dance of the Dragons could have been written in a more engaging way, since it's one of Westeros's most interesting and bloody chapters, but it fell kind of flat in here. If you like A Song of Ice and Fire – and I’m talking about the novels rather than the TV series – and you want to learn more about the history of Westeros, you’ll love this book.

Centuries before A Game of Thrones, an even greater game began, one that set the skies alight with dragon flame and saw the Seven Kingdoms turned to ash.

The first in a two-volume history like no other, stunningly illustrated throughout by Doug Wheatley. This part is mostly new material, as only a fraction of it was known, and in my opinion it's the most interesting and enjoyable part. Yes, I can picture Westeros in my mind and there are maps in other volumes, but I’m sure there are some names of towns and regions that I haven’t come across before and it would be nice to know whereabouts they are. Read more about the condition New: A new, unread, unused book in perfect condition with no missing or damaged pages.

Martin, however, has stated that his manuscript for Fire and Blood was closer to a thousand pages, so I’m guessing there’s a lot of new material, even for people who read everything he produces). It is NOT a novel, as I stated in my disclaimer at the top - at least, not a novel in the traditional sense. These are the histories of all the long dead and crazy Kings and Queens we’ve heard our favourite characters dream about and wish they were. Adapted for television as A Game of Thrones, the series encompasses five novels as well as associated short fiction and histories. He also directed chess tournaments for the Continental Chess Association from 1973-1976, and was a Journalism instructor at Clarke College, Dubuque, Iowa, from 1976-1978.Remember, there are close to zero emotions within the storytelling of this book; just like The World of Ice and Fire, this imaginary history is told entirely from the writing of an Archmaester.