Favorite part of Fire and Blood?

[Alyn Oakenfist]

So I've just reread Fire and Blood, and I was wondering what was your favorite segment of it? In my case it would have to be everything after the Dance. I really like the tone the characters and the fact that unlike the rest of the book it has minimal amounts of Mushroom says this, Munken says that.

[Adam Yozza]

Personally, for me it'd be the Regency or the reign of Jahaerys and Alysanne.

[Leonardo]

Question is easy. It's what happens to the little girl that gets taken by Balerion back to Valyria. Absolutely gut wrenching and horrible, and Barth's recollections really give an idea for the terrible results of the sorcery in post doom Valyria, and why no characters will ever go there until magic dies down again, if it ever does

[frenin]

Aegon's regency, i felt that the quality was up there, the rest bored me honestly.

[Princess Daenerys]

The clue to the source of the three dragon eggs.  I should say possible source because it has not been confirmed.  This is also the hint to Quaithe's identity. 

[Free Northman Reborn]

59 minutes ago, Princess Daenerys said:

The clue to the source of the three dragon eggs.  I should say possible source because it has not been confirmed.  This is also the hint to Quaithe's identity. 

Interesting. Could you remind me of the hint about Quaithe?

[James Steller]

Aegon III’s story. All of it. He’s my new favourite Targaryen character, as well as one of my favourite characters in GRRM’s universe.

[chrisdaw]

Tyland Lannister's story, how he became the ultimate servant of the realm. Some touching characterisation in a mostly unmemorable book.

[Rose of Red Lake]

I enjoyed the parts where the Targaryens rulers were more fleshed out. We knew they were raging supremacists but now we learned that several were raging chauvanists as well. 

[Loose Bolt]

Maiden's Day Cattle Show. Besides house Bolton is ancient so the fact that there has been at least 1 female Bolton makes them more normal house.

[James Steller]

1 hour ago, Loose Bolt said:

Maiden's Day Cattle Show. Besides house Bolton is ancient so the fact that there has been at least 1 female Bolton makes them more normal house.

It’s also nice to know there were at least two decent Boltons rather than just one.

[Alyn Oakenfist]

4 minutes ago, James Steller said:

It’s also nice to know there were at least two decent Boltons rather than just one.

Also don't forget one hell of a cool, honorable and badass Frey.

[James Steller]

6 hours ago, Alyn Oakenfist said:

Also don't forget one hell of a cool, honorable and badass Frey.

To be fair, Perwyn and Olyvar are also honourable and given that they survived several battles, they’re also badass.

[Lord Varys]

I'd say most of the material about Queen Rhaena is really great. I also enjoyed most stuff about Alysanne, the Aerea story, and Elissa Farman's voyage.

The Regency I think is mostly material grown vastly out of proportion with no narrative closure. A guy making six great voyages of which we only hear about one, a stormy marriage where we only saw the beginning, a scheming man whose scheming doesn't seem to be over yet still lives, a witch-queen sitting at Harrenhal with the rightful king is ignored, a Broken King about whose actual reign we learn nothing, etc.

The writing as such is great, but the story didn't get an ending.

Unless George continues the narrative in the same detailed manner, this was a waste of pages. There would have been no reason to develop Alyn and Baela and Rhaena and Cregan and Aly and all the other people if they all disappear the way Alaric Stark or Septa Rhaella or Archmaester Vaegon did.

[Ran]

19 hours ago, James Steller said:

Aegon III’s story. All of it. He’s my new favourite Targaryen character, as well as one of my favourite characters in GRRM’s universe.

Ditto. That was the material I most lamented having to cut down so harshly for TWoIaF. 

[Big P]

Alysanne and her adventures.  I would have preferred if she had put that crotchety old Aleric in his place below hers. 

[frenin]

1 hour ago, Lord Varys said:

The Regency I think is mostly material grown vastly out of proportion with no narrative closure. A guy making six great voyages of which we only hear about one, a stormy marriage where we only saw the beginning, a scheming man whose scheming doesn't seem to be over yet still lives, a witch-queen sitting at Harrenhal with the rightful king is ignored, a Broken King about whose actual reign we learn nothing, etc.

 

That's the very nature of a cliffhanger isn't it??

[James Steller]

14 minutes ago, frenin said:

That's the very nature of a cliffhanger isn't it??

It just makes me worry that Fire & Blood will have to be a trilogy to give decent histories of House Targaryen. Look how many pages that got in TWOIAF, there’s a lot of character development potential. Just cut the Aegon V history if you’re that desperate to keep Dunk & Egg spoilers a secret. We can enjoy the rest. All those fascinating kings, let alone other members of House Targaryen. The Blackfyres will hopefully be a highlight too.

[Lord Varys]

19 minutes ago, frenin said:

That's the very nature of a cliffhanger isn't it??

Alys Rivers and her son are a cliffhanger starting early on in the Regency, but aside from that the problem is that there are no cliffhangers. Just a pointless ending.

FaB I should have gone all through to the death of Aegon III or, at least, to the death of the last dragon. That would have been a proper ending. The way it is the ending is just weird, with clearly no conceptual reason behind it. No proper editor of Gyldayn's work would choose this point to break the material in two.

4 minutes ago, James Steller said:

It just makes me worry that Fire & Blood will have to be a trilogy to give decent histories of House Targaryen. Look how many pages that got in TWOIAF, there’s a lot of character development potential. Just cut the Aegon V history if you’re that desperate to keep Dunk & Egg spoilers a secret. We can enjoy the rest. All those fascinating kings, let alone other members of House Targaryen. The Blackfyres will hopefully be a highlight too.

As a trilogy it can work and be really great and detailed. If there was only one additional volume it would likely gloss over a lot of reigns the way reigns of Aegon the Conqueror and Viserys I were 'depicted' - which means not at all.

From what we know about some of the monarchs of the 2nd century there is a lot of story potential in the Conquest of Dorne, the reign of Baelor, the Unworthy, and the Blackfyre Rebellion. George once tossed around the idea to write a book on the life of Aegon IV from his POV - which means there is potential for hundreds of pages about that guy alone. The Conquest of Dorne should be covered in even greater detail than the Dance, and Baelor's reign is full of colorful episodes. And it is rather obvious that the Unworthy himself could be a major source for this entire era if George were to take the idea about a book about Aegon IV from his POV around and made his journal one of the main original sources. The man could comment not only on his own reign, but also the reigns of Aegon III, Daeron I, Baelor, and Viserys II. In addition, we also have Daeron I's book on the Conquest, which could also be quoted extensively.

And Aegon III and all the people introduced during the Dance and the Regency deserve a continuation of their story with the same amount of detail - or at least nearly as much detail - as was given to the Regency. There are Alys Rivers and her son to deal with, the false Daerons, Unwin Peake (one assumes), the final dying of the dragons, the nine mages, and the private stuff - Rhaena's second marriage, the five other voyages of Alyn Velaryons, Baela's other children, their stormy marriage, the childhood of Viserys' children, Larra's departature and death, etc.

I was arguing since publication of FaB that the second volume should go from Aegon III to Daeron II, with the Great Spring Sickness being the moment they fade out.

A history of the reigns of Aerys I to Aerys II would be a joke before the Dunk & Egg novellas were written - it would either have to dance around crucial events or dump even more spoilers in our laps than we already have. I don't want half or a quarter of a synopsis for some (or even all) of the future Dunk & Egg novellas. I don't want to know anything about Egg's reforms or the Third Blackfyre Rebellion or Summerhall or anything before it is touched upon in a novella. Part of the fun of Dunk & Egg is to actually get some worldbuilding out of the stories, learn what transpired between the stories, etc. If we already knew a lot of that from some history book the value of the stories would be diminished - they could still be fun, but, man, it was great to read TMK not knowing that it was going to cover the Second Blackfyre Rebellion nor know the names of any of the Blackfyre pretenders.

[The Grey Wolf]

I fully agree. Adult Aegon III to Daeron II is more than enough for a single volume. Ditto Aerys I-Aerys II, which would make for an interesting debate re what gets revealed in D & E and what gets revealed by Gyldayn. Come to think of it, maybe we should start a thread about what we can expect F & B V2 to address?