Julia's Book Reviews

In light of the House of the Dragon Season 3 premiere, I see no better time than now to review Fire & Blood by George R. R. Martin, the source material for the HBO series. Due to the high volume of content in the book, this review will be broken up into a series of mini-reviews. I will alert if there are any spoilers for the TV series in each post.

This first post will cover the first five chapters of Fire & Blood, from the rule of Aegon the Conqueror to Maegor the First. There will be notes made that connect this content to the time of Rhaenyra/House of the Dragon, but there will be no major spoilers.

Summary: Fire & Blood is written as a history compiled by a maester of the Citadel from various sources, some more reliable than others. The first thing to note is that this book was written to resemble a nonfiction history book, with sources that may or may not be reputable. It allows for readers to draw nuanced conclusions about characters and their actions, with the knowledge that the ‘facts’ may not be factual.

The book opens with a chapter called Aegon’s Conquest. It details how Aegon his sister-wives (literally his sisters) Rhaenys and Visenya, with their dragons flew from their home on the island of Dragonstone to conquer the continent of Westeros and bring it under Targaryen rule. From there, we learn that Aegon had a son with each of his wives, Aenys I (his heir) by Rhaenys, and Maegor I by Visenya. After Aegon’s death readers learn of the first Targaryen struggle for the throne between Aenys and Maegor.

Review: In just over 100 pages there is already so much to unpack, so much that influences House Targaryen for centuries onward. I think the best place to start is with the relationship between Aegon, Visenya, and Rhaneys. I thought that Martin’s characterization of each of the siblings was absolutely masterful. He paints Aegon as a near untouchable figure, not just because of his dragons, but because of his sisters. Aegon, despite being king, is seemingly oblivious to the suble struggle between Rhaenys and Visenya. He married Visenya out of duty, but Rhaenys for love. Where Rhaenys is depicted as carefree and jovial, Visenya is calculating and often cold.

“The dragon has three heads” — A Clash of King by George R.R. Martin

Even written as an ‘objective’ history, it is clear in the writing that Aegon preferred Rhaenys to Visenya. When each woman has a son by Aegon, that tension only grows. Aegon dotes on both of his children, but again has a clear preference for Rhaenys’ son, Aenys. As a reader, you can feel how Visenya tries to pull Aegon back to her son, Maegor, to get him the affection that Aegon gives Aenys so freely.

When Rhaenys dies with her dragon Meraxes, Aegon only becomes closer to Aenys, as he is the last living peice of his late wife. This only stirs more resentment in Visenya, who instills her son with the idea that he should rule instead of his half-brother. As a reader who was going into Fire & Blood relatively blind, I could feel the tension ratcheting up, and think that the way conflict was established so early on gave a true sense of the cracks already starting to form in the family.

When Aegon dies and Aenys ascends the throne, the two brothers actually ruled amicably together. Under the Dowager Queen Visenya, however, Maegor began to grow resentful of Aenys. When Aenys and Maegor come to blows over Maegor taking a second wife, conflict finally breaks between the ‘Sons of the Dragon’. When Aenys dies of natural causes, Maegor usurps his son, named Aegon after his grandfather, and kills him.

I would like to take a moment to talk about what a great setup this is. Before his death, Aenys married a woman named Alyssa Velaryon and they had six children together. Maegor (despite having six wives) never had an heir that survived infancy). Despite Visenya, through Maegor, attempting to oust Rhaenys from the line of succession, every future king was one of her descendants, not Visenya’s. Because Maegor could not have children, his heir was always one of Aenys’ children.

“The Iron Throne will go to the man who has the strength to seize it.” — Maegor I in Fire & Blood

I found it absolutely amazing how the story was woven so that Visenya, all while Maegor was ruling, acted as a puppet master. Her son always took her counsel, and gave her some of the greatest respect. He even entrusted Alyssa Velaryon and her children to Visenya as hostages on Dragonstone. She is very reminiscent of several women from history, namely Dowager Empress Cixi of China who ruled as regent for over 4 decades after her son was named ruler at age 5.

If Visenya is reminscent of the Dowager Empress, then there is no denying the clear correlation between Maegor and King Henry VIII. The two can both be considered kinslayers, firstly. While Henry never got his hands dirtied with the blood of his family, he orchestrated the deaths of multiple wives and other members of his family. Maegor, on the other hand, killed his nephew Aegon and his dragon, Quicksilver, with the help of his own dragon, Balerion (who he inherited from his father). The obvious similarity is the six wives that they each had. Each wife of Maegor has a story eerily similar to each of Henry’s wives, stories that ended just as sadly. The last noticeable similarity is that neither had a named heir of their own blood. Maegor never had a child survive birth or infancy, and while Henry’s only son died in infancy, he had two daughters, Mary I and Elizabeth I, he never affirmed them as his direct heirs.

As a last note on his wives, Maegor married one of Aenys’s daughters, his eldest, Rhaena. She was initially married to her brother Aegon (who was killed by Maegor with Quicksilver) and had two daughters. She was a central figure in the next generations of House Targaryen and the rise of her brother as king. One night, while Maegor was sleeping, she stole his sword Blackfyre (which he inherited from Aegon the Conquerer) and escaped from him on dragonback.

Maegor met his end on the Iron Throne under, shall we say…suspicious circumstances. He was found by one of his wives one morning, impaled on one of the throne’s swords. His death ended the line of Visenya Targaryen, and assured that Rhaenys’ descendants would be the only ones to sit the Iron Throne from then on.

A great peice of writing, which I hope we get to see in House of the Dragon, is how people connect Maegor to Rhaenyra. As anyone who is familiar with Game of Thrones knows, “half the Targaryens went mad”. Maegor, as he grew older went off the rails, becoming violent and earning the moniker Maegor the Cruel. As the Dance of the Dragons continued and Rhaenyra became more ruthless, she began to be called Rhaenyra the Cruel, with one person being so direct as to call her “Maegor with Teats”.

Tropes: Usurper vs. Rightful Heir (doesn’t always work out for the better); Mad King, Unreliable Narrator, Succession Crisis

Warnings: Graphic violence, major character death, forced marriage, animal death (dragons), child death, miscarriage, incest, polygamy

Spice: 0/5. There are no sexual scenes in this portion of the book.

Rating: 7/10. I love this portion of the book and the story that it tells, but there are portions that are a bit too drawn out in my opinion. I believe that there are some areas that could have been shortened to improve the readability. On the whole, I love the characters and the plot progression. This gives a great set-up for the events of the Targaryen civil war (Dance of the Dragons), as well as a touch point for some of the references that Daenerys makes in the original series. Her statement of “And I am Daenerys Stormborn, Daenerys of House Targaryen, of the blood of Aegon the Conqueror and Maegor the Cruel and old Valyria before them. I am the dragon’s daughter,” serves to tie everything together so beautifully. I especially love how she referred to herself as the dragon’s daughter, since every generation before her had had some reference to the children of the Dragon, in this case, Aenys and Maegor being the Sons of the Dragon.

Here is an image of the Targaryen Family Tree (wreath)from Fire and Blood by George R.R. Martin

Please let me know any thoughts or opinions that you may have, as well as any books that you would like to see in the future. Until next time, I’m off to get Lost in the Library!

Much Love, Julia ❤