The World of Ice & Fire, by George R.R. Martin

Today I'm looking at The World of Ice & Fire, a supplemental book to the Song of Ice & Fire series, better known as Game of Thrones. This book delves into the history of the Targaryen reign of the seven kingdoms, as well as goes into a detailed account of each of the regions of Westeros, as well as region across Essos. While this book is an interesting supplement providing some background material, I was left with feeling that this book was inadequate on a lot of levels. Irritatingly, it also leaves questions we've had for quite some time unanswered and really leaves me wishing Martin would finish the darn series already.

The book is divided into roughly two halves. The first half talks partly about the history of the world and the history of Westeros. The book very briefly talks about the Dawn Age and the Age of Heroes, but the majority of the history is focused on the arrival of Aegon the Conqueror and the reign of the Targaryens up through Robert's Rebellion. The second half of the book talks about each region of Westeros in detail, providing more historical information especially before the arrival of the Targaryens, and then goes to the various locales beyond Westeros including the nine free cities, the Dothraki lands, and territories even further beyond. It's a lot of great supplemental information designed for the super-fans of Song of Ice & Fire, but you can safely enjoy the series without having to read this. At least for now, anyway.

I think the biggest issues I had with this book were, as I said, that Martin leaves some important questions unanswered and it doesn't deliver some materials that I would have enjoyed learning about the book's universe. The biggest two issues I had were the Tragedy at Summerhall and what exactly happened to Lyanna Stark. The narrator of the book mentions both events within the book but makes comments that they're ''so well known'' within the universe that there's no need to talk about them further within this book. The problem is, we the readers know little or almost nothing about both events which leave them a mystery and by saying they're well-known within the universe so he doesn't have to explain them. For those that aren't familiar, Summerhall was a palace built by the Targaryens and where a large number of the family gathered to celebrate the birth of Aegon V's great-grandson, Prince Rhaegar. From the information we have available, we know that the palace burned down and a significant number of the Targaryen family died. A few other clues suggest that wildfire and dragon eggs were involved, with perhaps Aegon V trying to create dragons using wildfire. Other than that we don't know a whole lot. This doesn't play a huge role in the larger series, but it's frustrating that Martin keeps it vague.

The other big issue was Rhaegar's abduction of Lyanna Stark, which sparked Robert's Rebellion. This is one of the big sources of speculation within the series, with multiple theories abounding to explain the events. In all probability this is tied to some major plot point Martin has in reserve for later within the series, but I find that the book brushes the incident off as ''too well known to merit mentioning'' honestly rather frustrating. It makes me wish that Martin would go ahead and just finish the darn series so we can have all our questions answered rather than sitting around playing what if for forever and ever. (Yes, I know, there's the tv show but I'm in the book camp.)

Otherwise I was a little disappointed with what Martin ultimately included within the book. I personally would have appreciated more stories about Bran the Builder, Garth Greenhand, the Winged Knight, and Lann the Clever, the figures from the Age of Heroes who influenced the world of Westeros. We do get versions of the story of how Lann the Clever stole Castlery Rock from the Castlerys, but it's told in a very dry and historical way, I kind of wish that Martin had told it like an anthology of folklore instead of as a historical text.

Ultimately this is a history and geography text book for the series and it's probably going to be dry for even the most dedicated readers of the series. It's okay, but I wish we'd gotten more answers than we got and maybe I just want Martin to finish the series.

- Kalpar

Rogues, edited by George R.R. Martin & Gardner Dozois

Today I'm looking at Rogues, a collection of short stories written by a variety of authors and edited by George R.R. Martin and Gardner Dozois. The idea behind this anthology was that Martin and Dozois would ask famous writers from a variety of genres, not just science fiction and fantasy but horror, thriller, mystery, and romance, to write a short story about a rogue or scoundrel character. The result is a collection of stories ranging from Martin's Westeros and Gaiman's London Below, to somewhat ordinary adventures in Texas. Because I usually stick within the SFF genre this was a nice opportunity for me to break out of my genre constraints and see a couple of stories from authors I might not have otherwise heard about. And there are a couple of stories that leave me thinking maybe I'll want to check up on the authors when I get the chance.

Unfortunately, much like a lot of other short story anthologies which I've reviewed, there isn't a lot that I can say. I liked some of the stories. I thought some of the stories were really good. And some of the stories I didn't care for. But that's ultimately a matter of personal taste and with an anthology you're sometimes going to get things that just don't appeal to you. And that's okay. Although I will say the cunning plan to get back at your brother because he had the nicer sousaphone in high school by stealing the high school marching band he directs's sousaphones so you can then sell them on the black market to Mexican banda groups isn't exactly up there in the top levels of ''cunning criminal master plans''. But really it was just that one story.

Aside from that, I think my only criticism was a couple stories tried to push the rogue element a little too much. Like, ''Hey. Remember the title of this book? This is how it ties back to the theme!'' I especially remember a story about college kids going to a movie theater and having a debate over the definition of rogue and scoundrel and frankly it felt a little forced to me. Otherwise it's an anthology. There're some good stories and I think it's worth your time to check out. Even if, like me, you're not big on rogues in specific.

- Kalpar

A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, by George R.R. Martin

This week I'm taking a look at a spin-off of the extremely popular Song of Ice and Fire fantasy series, more commonly known as Game of Thrones after it became an insanely popular tv series. A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms is a collection of short stories set about a hundred years before the events of Game of Thrones, back when the Targeryens rule Westoros from their Iron Throne. The stories follow the adventures of Ser Duncan the Tall, also known as Dunk, and his squire known as Egg. Dunk is a hedge knight, really not much more than a vagabond at the bottom rungs of society. Dunk takes what work where he can, while aspiring to remain loyal to the principles of chivalry and true knighthood. To further complicate this is Dunk's squire, Egg, who has a rather interesting family background but that's for you to find out in the stories.

This book contains three novellas which follow our heroes as they wander across Westeros. Martin claims to be planning several other stories with Dunk and Egg, but only time will tell how many we actually end up seeing. For now, though, I rather enjoyed these stories and I highly recommend them to other people. I will say that while they're independent of the Song of Ice and Fire storyline, I think it's highly beneficial to have read the other books because they provide much more information about the setting's backstory, locations, and other details which Martin doesn't really go into in these stories. I think someone who hasn't read Song of Ice and Fire would be able to read these stories all right, but I think they'd be somewhat confused by the references characters make. If you know the setting, though, then you'll be just fine.

The thing I really liked about these stories is they feel a lot like stories from the Arthurian mythos. If I haven't mentioned this before, I am a huge fan of Arthurian legend and I am an absolute sucker for stories about knight errants seeking for quests. These stories have a far earthier tone, though, compared to the old chivalric romances and that's something Martin does very, very well. We may be in a setting with dragons and magic, but Martin manages to make the world feel very realistic and he shows what life for people at the bottom of the heap is like as well. There's just something about Martin's writing that makes the world feel incredibly realistic.

Another thing that I liked was the inclusion of illustrations within the book by Gary Gianni. Although they're just black and white illustrations, I think a few of them are downright gorgeous and they really add an extra visual quality to the story. Even if these are stories for grown-ups, the illustrations are an excellent bonus.

Overall, I think these stories were very enjoyable, but as I said, it's a genre that I really enjoy and Martin creates a rich and very believable world. At the end of this book, as with a lot of Martin's other books, I'm left wanting more, and it truly is an enjoyable universe. But ultimately we'll see what happens with the series as time goes on.

- Kalpar