Fire & Blood

This is so frustrating (where is Winds of Winter?). It has been so long, I genuinely forgot that when George R.R. Martin writes, he can WRITE.

This novel is written as an in-universe history of the Targaryen dynasty. As expected, lots of politics, lots of incest, lots of dragons. Lots of memorable characters and moments amongst the bunch.

Martin marries real life history with his own world almost flawlessly. In the same way A Song of Ice and Fire is clearly influenced by the War of the Roses, here Martin is inspired by earlier English history, most notably the succession crisis after the death of Henry I, son of William the Conquerer, known as the Anarchy.

Recommended to anyone interested in the world of ASOIAF. It continues to be incredibly well drawn. It also continues to be incredibly frustrating. Reading an 800 page novel about the ancestors of Daenerys Targaryen is a lot to ask when we don't even really know how her own story ends.