Iron, Fire and Ice: The Real History that Inspired Game of Thrones

George RR Martin's A Game of Thrones is the fantasy story of a power struggle between the seven kingdoms on the island of Westeros. Ed West claims that Martin has borrowed heavily from the history of the Britain and gives examples from the first people of England through the War of the Roses.

A Song of Ice and Fire is a favorite series of mine, and I am also fascinated by the history of the Kings of England, Great Britain, and the UK. However, I was not so drawn to this book. The author may have a good idea in his mind of how ancient Britain relates to Martin's books, but in my opinion, he did not do a great job of conveying that to the reader. Instead of relating history in chronological order, he skipped around quite a bit through show more history which made it difficult and confusing to follow. I also found it interesting that several times he mistakenly calls the series "A Song of Fire and Ice." I would think that someone would have caught that massive error. There is a list of further reading at the end which doesn't even use correct bibliographic form.

I would not recommend this to anyone unless they absolutely already have a good understanding of British history, and maybe not even then. I do plan to visit the website mentioned, http://history-behind-game-of-thrones.com, which I hope will do a better job than this book. show less

PEARL RULE #021 (31%)

Rating: 1* of five because it's so infuriating what they did to this book!

The Publisher Says: Have you read everything George R.R. Martin has every written? Do you know what in Game of Thrones is based in real history?

A young pretender raises an army to take the throne. Learning of his father’s death, the adolescent, dashing and charismatic and descended from the old kings of the North, vows to avenge him. He is supported in this war by his mother, who has spirited away her two younger sons to safety. Against them is the queen, passionate, proud, and strong-willed and with more of the masculine virtues of the time than most men. She too is battling for the inheritance of her young son, not yet fully grown but show more already a sadist who takes delight in watching executions.

Sound familiar? It may read like the plot of Game of Thrones . Yet that was also the story of the bloodiest battle in British history, fought at the culmination of the War of the Roses. George RR Martin’s bestselling novels are rife with allusions, inspirations, and flat-out copies of real-life people, events, and places of medieval and Tudor England and Europe. The Red Wedding? Based on actual events in Scottish history. The poisoning of Joffrey Baratheon? Eerily similar to the death of William the Conqueror’s grandson. The Dothraki? Also known as Huns, Magyars, Turks, and Mongols.

Join Ed West, as he explores all of Martin’s influences, from religion to war to powerful women. Discover the real history behind the phenomenon and see for yourself that truth is stranger than fiction.

I RECEIVED A DRC FROM THE PUBLISHER VIA EDELWEISS+. THANK YOU.

My Review: History is not boring, y'all! Teaching it as a means to pass a standardized test is an outrage, a disservice to our youth, and disrespectful to our ancestors! There is nothing boring in this book. Accurate within my (and Wikipedia's) scope of factual knowledge, to boot.

I have to tell a personal story here. Aeons ago I was a literary agent, and thus would get books from publishers who hoped I'd bring them something fresh and wonderful if I knew what kind of publishing they were doing. I read a book a friend passed on to me that was a reprint from a UK house; no one knew it was uncorrected proofs, and failed at every step in the process of making the book...and there are many!...to go through it page-by-page looking for errors.

The bound book was unreadable for all the errors.
That is what happened here. I could not force myself to finish what was shaping up to be a fun read. show less

I read game of thrones as an audiobook several years ago. Pace and character development made it easier to follow than Iron Fire and Ice. It is a strong reminder of the brutality people are capable of.
There are many historical vignettes: crusades, the fall of Constantinople, the mini ice age. I did find I had trouble following the narrative about the Yorks, Lancasters and their family and followers.
It does become clear the many ways game of thrones followed European history at the end of the middle ages.

The book is dark and full of errors.

(The typos detract from this high-level history survey, and its structure lost me every now and then. Plus, it seemed the author was focusing on the similarities between history and the HBO version of GoT rather than the GoT books.)