The World of Ice & Fire

This is not a story book; its a history book and its written as such. The idea is that Maester Yandel wrote this book as a gift to the king. (The Baratheons get treated quite favorably in this tome; this is a Maester who is trying to get somewhere.) The rest iswell, if you (like me) enjoy history or are a hard-core R. R. Martin fan you will like this book. If not, you may notthough you will love the beautiful illustrations, the embossed dragons on the front cover and the parchment-like background designs. And you will love the way this book feels. Its wonderfully constructed. The covers are padded and the pages are sewn to the books spine. And the pages themselves are not the cheap-feeling pages you normally get; theyre thick and slightly glossy. So the illustrations and the construction are superb. The text ishistory book like. I learned a lot. I discovered that there are dragons just about everywhere, what Valyrians call dragon glass, what the Dorne has against the iron Throne, how greyscale came into the world, some pretty horrific stories about the Others, and much more besides. I was particularly interested in the legends the Maester mentions again and again only to dismiss them as a learned man is taught to do. Anyone who has either read R. R. Martins novels will know that these fanciful stories are, in fact, all too true. And lets face it, we have a year and half to speculate about how the Game of Thrones will end. I cant claim to know the ending but, if the writers are at all true to the books, the ending will be rooted in the history of Westeros. And this book–while written in the often dry tone I for one often associate with history booksmost definitely provides that history. So if you need some help speculating about what (say) an ice dragon might do (and yes, ice dragons do put in an appearance here), you might want to check out the Untold History of Westeros.

This is a gorgeous, heavy and over-sized book. The artwork is awesome and it has maps and genealogical tables of the more prominent families. Definitely recommended for the game of throne enthusiast.

Very interesting. For those who don\’t know, this is pretty much a history book of Westeros and what is known of Essos and Sothoryos. It was written by a maester for King Robert Baratheon, and you\’ll notice the language becomes very flowery when his reign is mentioned. Some topics mentioned did not make it into the TV show until at least a year or two after the book was published. It offers a detailed account of events of the past deeds of Tywin Lannister, and you kinda see why he was like he was. The front and back covers are padded and feel very high-quality. The artwork all throughout this book is nothing short of amazing. It\’s worth the price just for that if you don\’t feel like reading it. There are pictures on almost every page, but it may still take awhile to read due to small type and double-column format. Also included is a Targaryen family tree, which is more complicated and has more branches than you would expect. It becomes very hard to keep up with the ones of that family who are mentioned in the historical narrative because SO MANY of the Targaryens have the same names. For those of us who have yet to read the Game of Thrones books, this one is a great read. Very informative and well worth your time.

I wont waste time trying to add to the many 4-Star & 5-Star reviews already posted since the have pretty much covered it all. I will say this is a striking object, with a plush, leathery cover that I dont find on many modern books. The paper quality is first class and the illustrations are magnificent. If I wrote a book I would show my publisher this book and say, I want my book to have the high-quality feel of this cover and the paper. Definitely something best appreciated by the serious ASOIAF fan. Its not a novel written from the first person perspective like the series. Its a history book thats supposed to be written by a Maester living after the events of Roberts Rebellion. It starts in the ancient world of the Dawn Age, covers the Children of the Forest, the migration of the First Men to Westeros, the arrival of the Andals, the Doom of Valyria, and a lot more. You get some good information on the uniting of the 7 Kingdoms by Aegon I The Conquerer and his sister queens Visenya and Rhenyra that Arya recounts to Tywin Lannister when reserving as his cupbearer in the HBO series. Since its written more around the events than many of the people, some readers may find it dry like history book, but thats essentially what it is. Overall a beautiful object worth the money for those who wonder about the world of GoT/ASOIAF.

This book provides a fantastic peek into the world of the \”Game of Thrones\” universe (I know it\’s actually the Song of Ice and Fire universe, but I think more people watch the TV show and know it that way). The art is visually stunning, and it is fascinating to get more insight into the history of the characters, lands and creatures from Martin\’s series. The book itself is also very appealing, with a somewhat \”soft\”, padded feeling cover that reminds me of a very old, handcrafted book. I love this book and can\’t wait to delve even further with the forthcoming novels and season of the TV show.

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