A new illustrated edition of Fire & Blood is coming

Everyone is gearing up for the release of House of the Dragon, HBO’s upcoming Game of Thrones prequel series. Based on George R.R. Martin’s book Fire & Blood, House of the Dragon is about the Dance of the Dragons, a brutal civil that tore Westeros apart some 200 years before the events of Game of Thrones.

HBO has already put out a teaser trailer for the series. On the publishing side of things, there’s a new edition of Fire & Blood coming out in July. Also, the yearly A Song of Ice and Fire calendar is being reimagined as the The World of Fire & Blood calendar; that’s also coming in July.

And now, Martin himself (well, technically his employees) has announced that a whole new book is coming…sort of. According to a new post on Martin’s blog, The Rise of the Dragon is “a lavish visual history of House Targaryen – the iconic family at the heart of HBO’s Game of Thrones prequel series, House of the Dragon – featuring over 180 all-new illustrations!”

The Rise of the Dragon is a new Game of Thrones encyclopedia

Elio M. García, Jr. and Linda Antonsson, the writers who helped Martin put together The World of Ice and Fire, are working on this. That said, even consulting multiple sources, I’m unclear on whether this is basically a new edition of Fire & Blood that’s been rearranged and outfitted, or if we should think of it as a brand new book. The blog post puts it like this:

"What’s the difference between The Rise of the Dragon and Fire & Blood? Think of The Rise of the Dragon as a deluxe reference book, in which Westeros’ most infamous family – and their dragons – come to life in partnership with some truly incredible artists.Fire & Blood was scribed as a grandmaesters’ account of events from Aegon Targaryen’s conquest of Westeros through to the infamous Dance of the Dragons, the civil war that nearly undid the Targaryen rule. The Rise of the Dragon will cover the same time period, but is written in a more encyclopedic style similar to The World of Ice and Fire."

I hope that helped…? In any case, the book will be 350 pages long and feature tons of beautiful artwork. It’ll go on sale in October.

As for whether this announcement holds any clues about the House of the Dragon premiere date, it’s undetermined. We now have several Fire & Blood-themed things coming out in the back half of 2022, so expect the new series to drop in that timeframe. More info as we get it.

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