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  • Fire and Blood

  • A Song of Ice and Fire
  • By: George R.R. Martin
  • Narrated by: Simon Vance
  • Length: 27 hrs and 15 mins
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars (2,954 ratings)

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Fire and Blood cover art

Fire and Blood

By: George R.R. Martin
Narrated by: Simon Vance
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Summary

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.  

So began the Targaryens’ bloody rule, with fire and blood. Setting brother against brother, mother against daughter, and dragon against dragon. Chronicled by a learned maester of the Citadel, this thrilling and bloody history of Westeros tells the story of where the battle for the Iron Throne began....

This audio edition now includes an exclusive interview between George R.R. Martin and historian Dan Jones.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.

©2018 George R.R. Martin (P)2018 HarperCollins Publishers

What listeners love about Fire and Blood

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  • Overall
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    5 out of 5 stars

The epic story of house Targaryen

This is not a novel so it might not be for everyone but I loved it. It covers the House Targaryen from Aegon the Conqueror to the end of the regency of Aegon iii it shows both sides of the Targaryen coin the greatness and the madness. from the hideous tyranny of maegor to the genius of Jaehaerys I found myself really caring about the characters and being moved by the tragedy that was the dance of the dragons. excellent narration by Simon Vance also made this an enjoyable listen I would highly recommend.

34 people found this helpful

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Not a story, not what I was expecting.

I feel very disappointed. I was expecting a proper story, not just a reported account.

31 people found this helpful

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pretty bad actually

Needlessly complicated, lazy and thoroughly unentertaining.
I loved a song of Ice and fire, so this book was a bit of a disappointment unfortunately.
I really didn't enjoy the third person style of writing, I found that it took away all immersion.
it almost seems like the author was being paid per character that he creates to then kill off three paragraphs later, in this book characters died before you even fully comprehend who they are.
please don't get this book thinking that you will get anywhere near the same amount of entertainment value that you may have got out of a song of Ice and fire.

25 people found this helpful

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History in George RR Martins own style

I know a number of people have not enjoyed this. It is true that it lays out the family history. I am not one who generally likes being given historical facts whether they be real or fiction. But this has the same sense and feel that was given to The Game of Throne series and each individual has been given his or her own personality. I like the 'evidence' or 'non evidence' for how things came to be, giving the book it's own sense of reality. I loved listening to Roy Dotrice telling the Game of Thrones and Simon Vance is also an excellent narrator. Would like the other books to be finally published and narrated!! Come on George! Love the TV series but there is so much more colour in the books and would love for those who can't see to be able to hear it all!

25 people found this helpful

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All of it is part of Ice and Fire: histories.

this are few chapters from the histories of westeros book. avoid! get the histories instead

19 people found this helpful

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Excellent excellent excellent

Excellent!!!! If you are familiar with GRRM Novellus such as The Princess and the Queen, The Rouge Prince and The Book of Swords then you will be able to dive into this books utter brilliance and complete detail without looking back. If you are only familiar with the works of Game of Thrones rather than the whole ASOIAF world then I would 100% recommend you read the “World Book” before you read this or at least have it to hand so you can reference maps, family tree and facts as it can get rather confusing
(I have been a complete geek and I have the beautiful hard copy with the maps, illustrations and family tree and I have downloaded it on Audible as Roy Dotrice and Nicholas Smith do a wonderful job of narrating)
In fact having the Targaryen family tree to hand is incredibly useful while reading this regardless to how familiar you are of any of GRRM works because it’s just so damned confusing which makes for all the better reading! Thank you so much Mr Martin this was completely amazing!

18 people found this helpful

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Struggling

Struggling to listen. I do hope it improves.
Plenty of potential and time to get better.
one or two chapters were really good but overall this was a disappointment.

18 people found this helpful

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Hard Work compared to the game of thrones

Found this to be confusing and hard work compared to the game of thrones and can't really say it adds to the books. He should have spent the time finishing the Game of Thrones first!!

15 people found this helpful

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Dull! Avoid

performance is excellent! That's where the praise ends.

The book is essentially cliff notes and a wireframe. it's bloody dull and has practically no story and adds little to nothing to the intrigue to the main story.

With quotes directly from the lord of the rings, it is clear that Martin is attempting to flesh out his world in the same manor as Tolkien, and it comes across forced, boring and disingenuous.

14 people found this helpful

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Was hoping for a story, not this

Was bored after about 5 minutes. Nothing compelling or engaging. I like the concept of bringing the imaginary to life, expanding and exploring the back story giving extra layers and depths to the families and the lands. However this isn't it.

9 people found this helpful

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  • Craig Harry
  • 16-01-19

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 people found this helpful

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  • wootton
  • 04-12-18

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 people found this helpful

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  • Amazon Customer
  • 27-03-19

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 people found this helpful

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  • Lana Pennington
  • 16-01-19

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 people found this helpful

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    1 out of 5 stars
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  • C. Cole
  • 15-01-19

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 people found this helpful

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    3 out of 5 stars
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  • Tyler
  • 17-04-22

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.

2 people found this helpful

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  • markb82
  • 12-05-19

A long and boring cencus.

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

1 person found this helpful

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    3 out of 5 stars
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  • Amazon Customer
  • 29-05-23

Tedious though very thorough

This book is a little like the TV series house of dragons written from an academic point of view. I feel like the meat on the bones is very much missing. If you like stories told primarily about rulers and their wayward offspring then you may well enjoy this book. I missed the everyman in this history. Ironic that Historian like Adrian Goldsworthy really bring their historical books to life in a way this failed for me.

George has such prose that not to fully utalise it feels like waste. This book was too dry and pales in comparison to the energetic and full formed world expressed in Game of Thrones. A must for the die hardship but I found it great as a nightcap to send me to sleep night after night a few pages at time. Enjoy

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  • Anonymous User
  • 07-01-23

Nice addition to the history of House Targaryen

I did it like very much but it is too short as it does not include the whole history of the house Targaryen, it ends with start if reign of king Aegon III.

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  • Anonymous User
  • 01-12-22

Not too bad

Wish there was more story and less repetitive. King ascends to the throne, marries and has children, dies, children fight for throne, war, war, war. Someone wins. Repeat.

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