Hello, it is Reviewsday Tuesday, this week it is the Quiet as Mouse Book Club
And I am reviewing The World of Ice and Fire
By George RR Martin, Elio M. Garcia, and Linda Antonsson.
This book is about the history of Westeros, the land in the book series, A Song of Ice and Fire.
This book is written in world by a maester for Robert Baratheon and his heirs
However by the time the book is finished events have moved on in that story a bit.
I'm trying not to include spoilers.
Basically, it's the world of Westeros at the time of the start of the books
But it includes spoilers for where we currently are in A Song of Ice and Fire
Which I think it's sort of shooting itself in the foot a bit
Because I think this would be a really good book to have beside you
Whilst reading A Song of Ice and Fire for the first time, except for the spoilers.
It's in several sections. It starts off with ancient history,
The children of the forest, moving on to the coming of the first men,
Moving on to the arrival of the Andals, moving on to the Targaryen conquests.
And then it has a whole big section which has chapters for every Targaryen king
Which I found very interesting. I'm a sucker for the history of monarchies
And it turns out I am a sucker for the history of fictional monarchies as well
Which I didn't know about myself until now.
And then it has all about Robert's rebellion
And how events came to be how they are at the start of The Game of Thrones.
And then it kind of moves on to the history of the Seven Kingdoms themselves.
It has a map and information about their castles
And the families that ruled them in the past and who rule them now.
And then it moves on to the Free cities and the lands beyond
And ends with a few family trees.
So there's a lot of information in this book .
It's really good for helping you to understand the world of the books
And the things that are alluded to and mentioned throughout.
For instance how long the Targaryens ruled compared to how long Baratheon has been on the throne
So how precarious that situation is.
And how short that period is in the history of the Seven Kingdoms themselves,
Because really it hasn't been that long that Westeros has been "united" under one king
Who sits on the Iron Throne at King's Landing.
Another thing that was made clearer to me in this book
Was how long it has been since the Others walked.
In A Song of Ice and Fire I would occasionally be frustrated with characters
For not believing that the Others could be a thing, and be real, and be back,
But having read this I now appreciate more how long ago it was
And how few people would believe that they ever existed in the first place.
Also it's really good to have all this information about the Children of the Forest
Because I always wanted to know more about them.
I think my favourite section was actually the section about the kingdoms and the castles
Which surprises me a bit because I would have thought it would be all the history stuff.
It was interesting to learn more about the history of the castles and the families that lived in them,
And how few of the big families in A Song of Ice and Fire
Were the original big families, you know, were the original builders of their castles,
The original kings of the Seven Kingdoms, before they were joined.
It's a really beautiful book, it's well set out.
One of the things I wasn't a fan of was, I don't know what to call them, the side notes,
These things.
They give extra information about what's being talked about in the text, but just not in the text itself.
I like them in themselves, I was just never sure when to read them,
Because when I started reading the book, I would read them whenever they appeared
But that meant that sometimes I was reading something that hadn't appeared in the main text yet,
So then I went on to just reading them when I got to the end of the page.
I think I would have found it less confusing if it had just been in one of the columns,
And about where it was supposed to be, or else just as footnotes.
Also sometimes it says stuff like "There is not enough space or time to go into this in more detail here,
"But it is in this book"
Which I found frustrating because that book may exist in their world, but it doesn't exist in mine.
The images throughout the book were amazing
And I think they're worth the price of the book themselves.
I can actually see Casterley Rock and Highgarden, and all of those places that have been in my head.
It's all very well knowing that Highgarden is apparently the most beautiful castle in the Seven Kingdoms
But then actually seeing an image of it it's pretty special.
And look at the Iron Throne!
I'd seen this image on Tumblr before so it wasn't a surprise,
But it's still really interesting to me how different this Iron Thrones is from the Iron Throne in the TV series.
In the books it often says that the king is towering over everyone else when he's on the throne,
And about how dangerous the Iron Throne is and how it could kill you,
But in an image such as this, it's clear how.
There's a good index at the back of this,
I'm now re-reading A Song of Ice and Fire with this book next to me
So that I can look stuff up while I'm reading.
Anyway, I really recommend this book if you love A Song of Ice and Fire.
I probably wouldn't recommend reading this book until you're up to date with them though, unfortunately.
Also if you're a Game of Thrones fan this has a lot to interest you as well,
However, I think that as the TV series has progressed,
The world of Westeros in it has diverged a bit from the world of Westeros in A Song of Ice and Fire,
So if you do read this is a fan of the TV show then I'd maybe take it with a pinch of salt.
So yes, it's very good, I'll give it 4.5.
The next book I will be reviewing on 20th January is War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy,
And after that, on 3rd February, I will be reviewing Stardust by Neil Gaiman.
I reviewed the film a while ago, so now I'm going to review the book.
If it does seem that I'm not going to finish War and Peace in time, I'll just swap those two books around.
Do you let me know what you think about The World of Ice and Fire if you have read it,
I hope you have a great day, and see you tomorrow.