Joined in 2023 
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63 About this deal
Moving on to Hollywood, Martin signed on as a story editor for Twilight Zone at CBS Television in 1986. In 1987 Martin became an Executive Story Consultant for Beauty and the Beast at CBS. In 1988 he became a Producer for Beauty and the Beast, then in 1989 moved up to Co-Supervising Producer. He was Executive Producer for Doorways, a pilot which he wrote for Columbia Pictures Television, which was filmed during 1992-93. Having slain the leader of their would-be captors (by underhand treachery, I should probably add), the Argonauts were able to continue their journey relatively unmolested, until, coming towards the spring of the Ljubljanica river, the waters grew too shallow for the hull of such a mighty vessel. Jason decided that his crew had no choice but to dismantle the ship and carry the boat in pieces, across the land to the Adriatic sea (which was nearby), where they could reassemble their vessel and sail for home. But as it was winter already, he also decreed that they would have to spend several months where they were, until the weather was favorable for their journey. So they did just that, building a village on stilts in the marshes surrounding the river. Unwittingly though, they had stumbled into the hunting ground of the dragon. It’s all good, full of Romeo Rapscallion good writing. My copy is leather bound, finished in mahogany. Quite attractive. And the tales are full of Westeros and Essos and the Summer Isles. I’m really quite impressed. Mr. Martin, I salute you sir!
Why am I telling you this about Tolkien in a review for GRR Martin? This should seem fairly obvious by now: GRR Martin has the same longing Tolkien did. He has the same love of the grand, sweeping historical epic. So far he has been giving us his 'Lord of the Rings,' his drama of the minutiae, but in the process he got caught up in the grand and glorious visions of the Targaryens, just as Tolkien was swept up into the glories of the First Age. It’s no mistake this book is being called the “GRRMillion.” Set 300 years before the events in A Song of Ice and Fire, Fire and Blood is the definitive history of the Targaryens in Westeros as told by Archmaester Gyldayn, and chronicles the conquest that united the Seven Kingdoms under Targaryen rule through the Dance of the Dragons: the Targaryen civil war that nearly ended their dynasty forever. But as much as I love the Conqueror, my true alliances (and my heart) lie with King Jaehaerys I and his wife, the Good Queen Alysanne. Prior to reading Fire and Blood, I paid both of them no mind, but now I'll never forget them. They are one of my all-time favorite characters. Jaehaerys ascended the throne in 48 AC at the age of fourteen to rule the Seven Kingdoms for the next fifty-five years until his death of natural causes in 103 AC. What a mood! Archmaester Umbert famously declared that Aegon the Dragon and his sisters conquered the Seven Kingdoms, but it was Jaehaerys the Conciliator who truly made them one.Slavic Dragons (zmey, zmiy, żmij, змей, or zmaj, or drak, or smok)-Similar to the conventional European dragon, but multi-headed. They breathe fire and/or leave fiery wakes as they fly. In Slavic and related tradition, dragons symbolize evil. Specific dragons are often given Turkic names (see Zilant, below), symbolizing the long-standing conflict between the Slavs and Turks. However, in Serbian and Bulgarian folklore, dragons are defenders of the crops in their home regions, fighting against a destructive demon Ala, whom they shoot with lightning. Voy a romper una lanza en favor de este autor y decir que este libro me parece espectacular. La enorme riqueza y grandeza de este mundo de fantasía y cómo lo exprime. Cuando salió lo criticaron por escribirlo en vez de sacar el que todos esperan. Y lo entiendo muy bien. So there’s a rather eclectic bunch of characters chronicled here. And I can’t fault it whatsoever. For the three days I spent reading this I forgot the outside world existed as I learnt more about my favourite house. I loved hearing about Maegor the cruel, how he got his name and how absolutely ruthless he was towards his own family. Buffs of Westeros lore will know how he met his end; it is referenced a few times in A Game of Thrones so I’ve not bothered with a spoiler warning. But as ever with Martin’s world nothing is quite simple. His death appears straight forward, he was found with his wrists slit having died from exsanguination after cutting himself on the throne. Though this seems exceedingly suspicious; the man was a renowned warrior and tactician, he would not have gone down so easily and stupidly. Someone murdered him, no doubt, because of his tyrannical ways. His history, and that of Aegon’s original conquest, were the most interesting sections for me. With all the scope and grandeur of Gibbon’s The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Fire & Blood is the first volume of the definitive two-part history of the Targaryens, giving readers a whole new appreciation for the dynamic, often bloody, and always fascinating history of Westeros.
In my opinion, Fire and Blood is an unnecessary read but overall a better book compared to A Dance with Dragons; that should say what I think of book five of the main series on my first read. I won’t deny Martin’s importance as a role model for modern fantasy, it would be idiotic for me to deny that; a myriad of incredible epic fantasy books appeared because of his influences. However, if you’ve read anything he produced after A Storm of Swords, it should be very clear that he's struggling with his series. Martin is often praised for the first three books of the main series; not book four and five. With this book finished, I’ve read all the books in A Song of Ice and Fire; main series and spin-offs included. I can say with confidence that Martin, at least on my first-time reading, isn't included in my "top 10 favorite authors of all time list" yet. Maybe his next book can change that notion, but what's next, and when will that happen? Maybe even a reread through the main series can change that, but that sounds like something I'll do only when Winds of Winter is truly near its publication date. The most significant additional contents here were the intricate expansion of Jaehaerys’s story and The Dance of the Dragons. The World Ice and Fire made me super interested in Jaehaerys, I feel like he was one of the extremely few kings in the history of Westeros who ruled with kindness and justice, and I'm glad to get the chance to read more of his rule. The Dance of the Dragons part in The World of Ice and Fire was too short to make me care, but here it was awesome to see the deaths of each dragon in detail. Although I think this was a good read, I will conclude that I can’t actually recommend this to anyone unless they’re extremely fanatics about A Song of Ice and Fire, dying to know every single tiny detail, and wouldn’t mind knowing about every stranger irrelevant to the main series. Just like the existence of this book, a lot of sections almost felt like filler. The parts that truly focused on the Targaryens were great, but irrelevancy aside, my problem with this book is that the history tends to focus its narrative for a long period of time on other non-Targaryen characters; which frankly speaking by tomorrow I’ll forget already because I simply don’t give a damn about them. 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. Wheatley’s artwork immensely helped during the boring parts for me, just the fact the next gorgeous artwork awaits me, I was able to push myself reading through the boredom. Los dragones reinaban en Poniente la historia de tan fascinante familia, empezando por Aegon I Targaryen, creador del emblemático Trono de Hierro, y seguido por el resto de las generaciones de Targaryen que lucharon por conservar el poder y el trono, hasta la llegada de la guerra civil que estuvo a punto de acabar con ellos. The one downside of this epic history is that this book is only the first volume and the author himself admits that he has other pressing epics to bring forth before he can get around to writing the conclusion. In that sense, this book ends without being complete. An annoyance to me and, I’m certain, many other readers. Greek Dragons(Drakon)- Cadmus fighting the Ismenian dragon (which guarded the sacred spring of Ares) is a legendary story from the Greek lore dating to before ca. 560–550 B.C. Greek dragons commonly had a role of protecting important objects or places. For example, the Colchian dragon watched the Golden Fleece and the Nemean dragon guarded the sacred groves of Zeus.[6] The name comes from the Greek "drakeîn" meaning "to see clearly".At a certain level, Fire and Blood is the ultimate work of a troll. Once upon a time, Martin had a wonderful relationship with his fans, and interacted with them freely and positively. Lately, however, that has started to change, as those wishing to see the conclusion of A Song of Ice and Fire are forced to wait, and wait, and wait, and wait some more. Lean and efficient and slyly seductive and instructive . . . The text is filled with such a wealth of incident and so many colorful characters.” — Locus King Jaehaerys once told me that madness and greatness are two sides of the same coin. Every time a new Targaryen is born, he said, the gods toss the coin in the air and the world holds its breath to see how it will land." This is admittedly a difficult book to review with an objective eye. It is only fair to take George R. R. Martin’s Fire and Blood on its own terms, gauging it for what it sets out to be, rather than what I might have wished.
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