Centuries before the events of A Game of Thrones, House Targaryen—theonly family of dragonlords to survive the Doom of Valyria—took upresidence on Dragonstone. Fire & Blood begins their tale with thelegendary Aegon the Conqueror, creator of the Iron Throne, and goes onto recount the generations of Targaryens who fought to hold that iconicseat, all the way up to the civil war that nearly tore their dynastyapart.What really happened during the Dance of the Dragons? Why was it sodeadly to visit Valyria after the Doom? What were Maegor the Cruel’sworst crimes? What was it like in Westeros when dragons ruled the skies?These are but a few of the questions answered in this essentialchronicle, as related by a learned maester of the Citadel and featuringmore than eighty-five black-and-white illustrations by artist DougWheatley—including five illustrations exclusive to the trade paperbackedition. Readers have glimpsed small parts of this narrative in suchvolumes as The World of Ice & Fire, but now, for the first time,the full tapestry of Targaryen history is revealed.With all the scope and grandeur of Gibbon’s The History of the Declineand Fall of the Roman Empire, Fire & Blood is the first volume ofthe definitive two-part history of the Targaryens, giving readers awhole new appreciation for the dynamic, often bloody, and alwaysfascinating history of Westeros.
