Interestingly, for a book based firmly on the novel canon, they seem to have gone with an image inspired by the TV show...unless the artist knows something we don't?
Showing posts with label elio garcia. Show all posts
Showing posts with label elio garcia. Show all posts
Wednesday, 8 April 2015
Spanish cover art for THE WORLD OF ICE AND FIRE
This, it has to be said, is quite tasty:
Interestingly, for a book based firmly on the novel canon, they seem to have gone with an image inspired by the TV show...unless the artist knows something we don't?
Interestingly, for a book based firmly on the novel canon, they seem to have gone with an image inspired by the TV show...unless the artist knows something we don't?
Tuesday, 18 November 2014
The World of Ice and Fire by George R.R. Martin, Elio M. Garcia, Jr. and Linda Antonsson
The World of Ice and Fire is a companion volume to George R.R. Martin's Song of Ice and Fire novels, primarily written by Elio M. Garcia, Jr. and Linda Antonsson, the founders and administrators of the Westeros.org website who have also worked as continuity guides and fact-checkers for the last couple of novels in the series. Martin himself provides has written several sections of the book and provided vast reams of notes on other matters. The book is both a handy compendium of existing information from the novels, novellas, comics and websites and also a way of shining a light on many areas of both the backstory and world that otherwise would not have come to light.
Let me get this out of the way to start with: I've been a moderator on Westeros.org since 2005 and been impatiently waiting for this book since it was announced seven years ago. I was pre-disposed to like it, and hope I can be fair in my appraisal of the book.
Companion guides to fantasy worlds have had a fairly mixed rep, with Terry Pratchett's various Discworld companions being excellent, Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time one being reasonable (atrocious art aside), Raymond Feist's being terrible and the various Tolkien ones being all over the place in quality. The World of Ice and Fire is definitely one of the better ones. The artwork is superb, the amount of new information for dedicated fans is almost overwhelming and the attempt to give the text an in-universe origin (a young maester writing a brief primer on the world for the notoriously impatient King Robert Baratheon) makes for a less dry reading experience than it might have been. There are negatives, some of them significant, but this is certainly required reading for a dedicated ASoIaF fan. Fans of the TV series will also likely find much to enjoy here, but it is not a given that the information in the book will also be canon for the TV show.
The book is divided into several sections. The first deals with the history of Westeros and Essos, initially focusing on the ancient history and mythology of the series before the arrival of Aegon the Conqueror. There is a very lengthy section dealing with the reigns of the Targaryen kings and the various challenges and conflicts they faced, ranging from a religious uprising to the devastating dynastic conflict known as the Dance of Dragons to several ill-fated attempts to invade Dorne to Robert Baratheon's rebellion that forms the immediate backstory to the novels. The rest of the book is dedicated to exploring the world itself, from the individual regions of Westeros to the Free Cities and very distant places like Sothoryos, Asshai and the Thousand Islands. The book's conceit is that the young Maester Yandel (Garcia and Antonsson) has written the book a sort of Rough Guide to Westeros and Essos, whilst drawing on material from Master Gyldayn (Martin). Gyldayn is regarded as more authoritative but excerpts from his work are rare, since they were destroyed in the fire at Summerhall. However, he does give us some of the more evocative moments in the book, such as his detailed account of Aegon's Conquest.
The general prose style is reasonable, although prone to repetition. It is not uncommon to see a phrase used and then re-used just a few paragraphs later. It is a common writing mistake, but it's unusual to see it happen quite so often in a book which had a much longer editing period than most. The other problem is that Yandel likes to cover almost every claim in the book with lengthy caveats. Things that happened long ago are unreliable because of the time that's passed and things that happened more recently are unreliable because different historians have different takes on the subject, informed by their biases and political leanings. Clearly Martin and his co-authors want to avoid nailing things down too decisively in case he changes his mind for future novels, and in the case of the ancient mythology and pre-history stuff that's understandable, but for more recent events it's a little more frustrating. We certainly still get a lot of new information - the Targaryen family tree alone swells to a huge size with the influx of new names and characters in this book - but how much of it is 100% reliable is left up in the air. However, the book does sometimes treat this with a nod and wink: by sometimes describing an event as mythological or untrue, but when combined with the reader's knowledge of the novels it becomes clearer what conclusions the reader is being directed to.
The artwork is of course superb, with Ted Nasmith's castle artwork being a highlight (particularly a depiction of the early, ramshackle King's Landing shortly after its founding and a later depiction of the capital in all its walled glory). The only weak part are the maps. Michael Gellatly's maps are pretty to look at, but are of limited utility. They have quite a few errors on them: Saltpans is shown as being part of both the Riverlands and the Vale, and the Riverlands is shown as extended past of Gods' Eye when the text indicated that their border is at the lake itself. The Inn at the Crossroads is also repeatedly shown as being south of the Trident in clear defiance of the text in the novels and every previous map of the setting printed to date. The errors mean that the primary new information shown on these maps - the borders of each region and their major exports - cannot be relied upon, which is a shame. It's also frustrating that the locations of many frequently-mentioned castles (like Raventree Hall) remain unconfirmed and major geographical features (like the Mander's massive tributary) remain unnamed. Minor quibbles? Certainly, but still irksome. More disappointing are the continued absences of maps for castles like Winterfell, Castle Black and Harrenhal, which feel years overdue at this point. There's also the fact that the in-book world map is almost bereft of any useful information and stops at Qarth, whilst many details are given on lands east of Qarth. A more cynical reviewer might suggest that the publishers want you to buy both this book and The Lands of Ice and Fire collection to complement one another.
There is also an issue with the disparity of information given on different regions. The North gets short shrift, which is quite surprising, whilst the longest region chapter is given to the ironborn. Whilst packed with new details and it certainly fleshes out one of the less-detailed regions of Westeros, the fact that we get more new information on the Greyjoys than the Starks or Lannisters seems a bit odd. Even this is then weirdly-presented: we get tons of new info on obscure internal ironborn conflicts from centuries ago, but only a couple of paragraphs on the Greyjoy Rebellion - a critical bit of backstory for the novels - itself. It is also very strange that various obscure parts of the world are fleshed out in sometimes remarkable detail (the new information on Yi Ti and its relationship with the island of Leng is surprisingly thorough) but Slaver's Bay and Qarth, major locations from the novels themselves, are completely glossed over.
Still, once you get used to the book's eccentricities, there is much to enjoy in The World of Ice and Fire (****). The detailed accounts of Maegor's cruel reign, the Dance of Dragons and Daeron's invasion of Dorne are engrossing and it's satisfying to finally get the chronology of Aegon's Conquest and the repeated invasions by the Blackfyre Pretenders all nailed down. Fan theories will receive a lot of new fuel from this book, from the claim that the seasons used to be normal before some event threw them out of balance (actually suggested by the original cover blurb to A Game of Thrones, but only finally presented in-world here) to the relationship between the Mad King and the Lannisters to the exact nature of the Long Night, the War for the Dawn and the Others. Yes, it's a book more for hardcore fans and in fact the exacting detail of it may be off-putting for casual fans more in the mood for a casual primer, but if you fall into that bracket this is essential reading. The book is available now in the UK and USA.
Let me get this out of the way to start with: I've been a moderator on Westeros.org since 2005 and been impatiently waiting for this book since it was announced seven years ago. I was pre-disposed to like it, and hope I can be fair in my appraisal of the book.
Companion guides to fantasy worlds have had a fairly mixed rep, with Terry Pratchett's various Discworld companions being excellent, Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time one being reasonable (atrocious art aside), Raymond Feist's being terrible and the various Tolkien ones being all over the place in quality. The World of Ice and Fire is definitely one of the better ones. The artwork is superb, the amount of new information for dedicated fans is almost overwhelming and the attempt to give the text an in-universe origin (a young maester writing a brief primer on the world for the notoriously impatient King Robert Baratheon) makes for a less dry reading experience than it might have been. There are negatives, some of them significant, but this is certainly required reading for a dedicated ASoIaF fan. Fans of the TV series will also likely find much to enjoy here, but it is not a given that the information in the book will also be canon for the TV show.
The book is divided into several sections. The first deals with the history of Westeros and Essos, initially focusing on the ancient history and mythology of the series before the arrival of Aegon the Conqueror. There is a very lengthy section dealing with the reigns of the Targaryen kings and the various challenges and conflicts they faced, ranging from a religious uprising to the devastating dynastic conflict known as the Dance of Dragons to several ill-fated attempts to invade Dorne to Robert Baratheon's rebellion that forms the immediate backstory to the novels. The rest of the book is dedicated to exploring the world itself, from the individual regions of Westeros to the Free Cities and very distant places like Sothoryos, Asshai and the Thousand Islands. The book's conceit is that the young Maester Yandel (Garcia and Antonsson) has written the book a sort of Rough Guide to Westeros and Essos, whilst drawing on material from Master Gyldayn (Martin). Gyldayn is regarded as more authoritative but excerpts from his work are rare, since they were destroyed in the fire at Summerhall. However, he does give us some of the more evocative moments in the book, such as his detailed account of Aegon's Conquest.
The general prose style is reasonable, although prone to repetition. It is not uncommon to see a phrase used and then re-used just a few paragraphs later. It is a common writing mistake, but it's unusual to see it happen quite so often in a book which had a much longer editing period than most. The other problem is that Yandel likes to cover almost every claim in the book with lengthy caveats. Things that happened long ago are unreliable because of the time that's passed and things that happened more recently are unreliable because different historians have different takes on the subject, informed by their biases and political leanings. Clearly Martin and his co-authors want to avoid nailing things down too decisively in case he changes his mind for future novels, and in the case of the ancient mythology and pre-history stuff that's understandable, but for more recent events it's a little more frustrating. We certainly still get a lot of new information - the Targaryen family tree alone swells to a huge size with the influx of new names and characters in this book - but how much of it is 100% reliable is left up in the air. However, the book does sometimes treat this with a nod and wink: by sometimes describing an event as mythological or untrue, but when combined with the reader's knowledge of the novels it becomes clearer what conclusions the reader is being directed to.
The artwork is of course superb, with Ted Nasmith's castle artwork being a highlight (particularly a depiction of the early, ramshackle King's Landing shortly after its founding and a later depiction of the capital in all its walled glory). The only weak part are the maps. Michael Gellatly's maps are pretty to look at, but are of limited utility. They have quite a few errors on them: Saltpans is shown as being part of both the Riverlands and the Vale, and the Riverlands is shown as extended past of Gods' Eye when the text indicated that their border is at the lake itself. The Inn at the Crossroads is also repeatedly shown as being south of the Trident in clear defiance of the text in the novels and every previous map of the setting printed to date. The errors mean that the primary new information shown on these maps - the borders of each region and their major exports - cannot be relied upon, which is a shame. It's also frustrating that the locations of many frequently-mentioned castles (like Raventree Hall) remain unconfirmed and major geographical features (like the Mander's massive tributary) remain unnamed. Minor quibbles? Certainly, but still irksome. More disappointing are the continued absences of maps for castles like Winterfell, Castle Black and Harrenhal, which feel years overdue at this point. There's also the fact that the in-book world map is almost bereft of any useful information and stops at Qarth, whilst many details are given on lands east of Qarth. A more cynical reviewer might suggest that the publishers want you to buy both this book and The Lands of Ice and Fire collection to complement one another.
There is also an issue with the disparity of information given on different regions. The North gets short shrift, which is quite surprising, whilst the longest region chapter is given to the ironborn. Whilst packed with new details and it certainly fleshes out one of the less-detailed regions of Westeros, the fact that we get more new information on the Greyjoys than the Starks or Lannisters seems a bit odd. Even this is then weirdly-presented: we get tons of new info on obscure internal ironborn conflicts from centuries ago, but only a couple of paragraphs on the Greyjoy Rebellion - a critical bit of backstory for the novels - itself. It is also very strange that various obscure parts of the world are fleshed out in sometimes remarkable detail (the new information on Yi Ti and its relationship with the island of Leng is surprisingly thorough) but Slaver's Bay and Qarth, major locations from the novels themselves, are completely glossed over.
Still, once you get used to the book's eccentricities, there is much to enjoy in The World of Ice and Fire (****). The detailed accounts of Maegor's cruel reign, the Dance of Dragons and Daeron's invasion of Dorne are engrossing and it's satisfying to finally get the chronology of Aegon's Conquest and the repeated invasions by the Blackfyre Pretenders all nailed down. Fan theories will receive a lot of new fuel from this book, from the claim that the seasons used to be normal before some event threw them out of balance (actually suggested by the original cover blurb to A Game of Thrones, but only finally presented in-world here) to the relationship between the Mad King and the Lannisters to the exact nature of the Long Night, the War for the Dawn and the Others. Yes, it's a book more for hardcore fans and in fact the exacting detail of it may be off-putting for casual fans more in the mood for a casual primer, but if you fall into that bracket this is essential reading. The book is available now in the UK and USA.
Monday, 21 July 2014
UK cover art for THE WORLD OF ICE AND FIRE
HarperCollins Voyager have unveiled their cover art for The World of Ice and Fire, the forthcoming companion volume to A Song of Ice and Fire:
The book will be released on 28 October this year in the UK.
The book will be released on 28 October this year in the UK.
Sunday, 9 March 2014
WORLD OF ICE AND FIRE completed, gets new cover art
George R.R. Martin has reported that the writing part of The World of Ice and Fire has been completed, with the book handed over to the editors for the last artwork to be added. Assuming no problems with the art, GRRM anticipates the book being published in October this year.
The book will feature a detailed history of Westeros (particularly focusing on the Targaryen era) as well as geographical information. Originally the book did not feature much of Essos and the east, but at popular request the writers have added more detail to those sections.
Expanding on GRRM's information over at Westeros.org, co-author Elio 'Ran' Garcia confirms that the bulk of the work was done last year and most of GRRM's writing time since has been dedicated to The Winds of Winter, returning to finish off a couple of last pieces for the world book before the copy-edit.
The book will be over 150,000 words in length with well over 200 illustrations, the majority new (although Ted Naismith's castle artwork from a calendar a couple of years ago will be reused, as will some material from the card game). The book will probably come in between 300 and 400 large-format pages in length.
Work on The World of Ice and Fire began way back in 2007, so it'll be good to finally see it hit the shelves and hopefully clear up a lot of questions about the world of Westeros and Essos.
The book will feature a detailed history of Westeros (particularly focusing on the Targaryen era) as well as geographical information. Originally the book did not feature much of Essos and the east, but at popular request the writers have added more detail to those sections.
Expanding on GRRM's information over at Westeros.org, co-author Elio 'Ran' Garcia confirms that the bulk of the work was done last year and most of GRRM's writing time since has been dedicated to The Winds of Winter, returning to finish off a couple of last pieces for the world book before the copy-edit.
The book will be over 150,000 words in length with well over 200 illustrations, the majority new (although Ted Naismith's castle artwork from a calendar a couple of years ago will be reused, as will some material from the card game). The book will probably come in between 300 and 400 large-format pages in length.
Work on The World of Ice and Fire began way back in 2007, so it'll be good to finally see it hit the shelves and hopefully clear up a lot of questions about the world of Westeros and Essos.
Wednesday, 3 July 2013
Maps for THE WORLD OF ICE AND FIRE
It's been confirmed that the map artist for The World of Ice and Fire is Michael Gellatly. Gellatly has set up a new website and posted some teaser images for his work on World, though only bits of maps or heavily obscured images for copyright reasons.
We're still hearing that The World of Ice and Fire may be released in April or May of 2014 to tie in with the fourth season of Game of Thrones. However, until this is confirmed the official date remains November 2014.
Copyright Michael Gellatly
We're still hearing that The World of Ice and Fire may be released in April or May of 2014 to tie in with the fourth season of Game of Thrones. However, until this is confirmed the official date remains November 2014.
Thursday, 30 May 2013
Update on THE WORLD OF ICE AND FIRE update (update)
The World of Ice and Fire - the companion volume to George R.R. Martin's Song of Ice and Fire novels co-written by Martin and the admins of the Westeros.org website - has once again had its release date (provisionally) changed.
This time, happily, the book has been brought forwards. Originally mooted for a late 2013 release, the book was dropped back a full year to a late 2014 release. However, George R.R. Martin said at the weekend - and since confirmed by his UK publisher - that the book was now aiming for a Spring 2014 release (possibly to tie in with the start of Season 4 of Game of Thrones). Westeros.org has also issued an update, noting that the release date change is not yet final and a drop-back to late 2014 is still possible, but they are seeing if they can make Spring 2014 work as a new date.
In addition, George has admitted to going somewhat overboard with his plans for the book. Whilst Linda Antonsson and Elio Garcia wrote the bulk of the book, it was always planned for GRRM to write a certain amount of material for it. This plan was originally for about 50,000 words, but he ended up writing - or providing - 250,000 words material and notes. Antonsson and Garcia have condensed and summarised this material for the book, whilst another chunk has been sectioned off to become the stand-alone short story The Princess and the Queen, to be published in the Dangerous Women anthology. Martin's original material has been preserved and GRRM and his publishers are musing using this material for a 'GRRM-arillion' type of book later on. This is a reference to J.R.R. Tolkien's The Silmarillion, a detailed narrative history of Middle-earth which is more remote and removed than a novel, but not so distant, dry and academic as a bald plot summary. The 'GRRM-arillion' project will not be worked on or released before A Song of Ice and Fire itself is completed.
It appears that Tor.com has gotten hold of the wrong end of the stick and released a seriously misleading article about the book. To clarify their points, The World of Ice and Fire has always - since late 2007 when it was originally announced - been an illustrated companion book focusing on the history of Westeros and Essos. It has never been an A-Z encyclopedia. The focus and format of the book has not changed. It is not now a multi-volume affair, it's what it always was intended to be. The 'GRRM-arillion' project is a totally new and separate idea, not The World of Ice and Fire II: The Wrath of Ran. And yes, the book's official date has dropped back to November 2014, but all parties involved are trying to make Spring 2014 work as the new date.
This time, happily, the book has been brought forwards. Originally mooted for a late 2013 release, the book was dropped back a full year to a late 2014 release. However, George R.R. Martin said at the weekend - and since confirmed by his UK publisher - that the book was now aiming for a Spring 2014 release (possibly to tie in with the start of Season 4 of Game of Thrones). Westeros.org has also issued an update, noting that the release date change is not yet final and a drop-back to late 2014 is still possible, but they are seeing if they can make Spring 2014 work as a new date.
In addition, George has admitted to going somewhat overboard with his plans for the book. Whilst Linda Antonsson and Elio Garcia wrote the bulk of the book, it was always planned for GRRM to write a certain amount of material for it. This plan was originally for about 50,000 words, but he ended up writing - or providing - 250,000 words material and notes. Antonsson and Garcia have condensed and summarised this material for the book, whilst another chunk has been sectioned off to become the stand-alone short story The Princess and the Queen, to be published in the Dangerous Women anthology. Martin's original material has been preserved and GRRM and his publishers are musing using this material for a 'GRRM-arillion' type of book later on. This is a reference to J.R.R. Tolkien's The Silmarillion, a detailed narrative history of Middle-earth which is more remote and removed than a novel, but not so distant, dry and academic as a bald plot summary. The 'GRRM-arillion' project will not be worked on or released before A Song of Ice and Fire itself is completed.
It appears that Tor.com has gotten hold of the wrong end of the stick and released a seriously misleading article about the book. To clarify their points, The World of Ice and Fire has always - since late 2007 when it was originally announced - been an illustrated companion book focusing on the history of Westeros and Essos. It has never been an A-Z encyclopedia. The focus and format of the book has not changed. It is not now a multi-volume affair, it's what it always was intended to be. The 'GRRM-arillion' project is a totally new and separate idea, not The World of Ice and Fire II: The Wrath of Ran. And yes, the book's official date has dropped back to November 2014, but all parties involved are trying to make Spring 2014 work as the new date.
Friday, 10 May 2013
WORLD OF ICE AND FIRE delayed by a year
Unfortunately, news has arrived that The World of Ice and Fire, the Song of Ice and Fire companion volume, has been delayed by a full year. According to co-author Elio Garcia, this is because plans for the book have become more ambitious, with a desire from the authors and publishers to make the book bigger and include more artwork. The book is already in an advanced stage of completion, but the decision to include more material could not guarantee a late 2013 release date, so rather than risk a last-minute delay, the decision was made to hold back the book until 2014 to give the writers and artists more time to complete their work.
The late 2014 release date is because such large books sell best in the pre-Christmas market, so releasing the book earlier in 2014 (which should be feasible) wouldn't make much commercial sense.
The late 2014 release date is because such large books sell best in the pre-Christmas market, so releasing the book earlier in 2014 (which should be feasible) wouldn't make much commercial sense.
Sunday, 21 April 2013
WORLD OF ICE AND FIRE cover art and release info
Bantam have released some more info about The World of Ice and Fire, including the cover art and a confirmed release date of 5 November 2013.
Friday, 15 March 2013
More details on THE WORLD OF ICE AND FIRE
Bantam Books have released more info about The World of Ice and Fire, the companion guide to A Song of Ice and Fire. The book is due for publication on 29 October 2013 and will be 288 pages in length. They have also published several sample pages from the book.
The blurb:
* The Wertzone does not condone such use of bad puns.
The blurb:
With all new history and material from the maester himself, The World of Ice and Fire is a must have for both long-time fans, new readers, and viewers of the HBO series, Game of Thrones. This lavish, fully illustrated, full-colour book will be the comprehensive guide to the mega-bestselling world that George R.R. Martin has established in his Ice and Fire books.Meanwhile, in a recent interview with Amazon, Martin confirms that he is continuing to work on The Winds of Winter, and is making progress ahead of HBO catching up with him (although noting that the gap is less than it was before).
This will be the comprehensive guide to all things Game of Thrones and beyond. From the pre-history to the coming of the First Men, through the reign of the Targaryen kings and Robert's Rebellion, this guide-co-written by George R.R. Martin and the immensely knowledgeable founders and keepers of the www.westeros.org site-will tell series readers old and new all they might want to know about the history and culture of Westeros and the lands beyond the Narrow Sea. And there is a 30-page excerpt of all-new history invented by George solely for this volume.
ALL-NEW MATERIAL CONTRIBUTED BY GEORGE R. R. MARTIN: Much of the content of this book is all-new historical material, created by George exclusively for this volume—including a 30-page excerpt written by George.
FULLY ILLUSTRATED: The full-colour guide will be filled with gorgeous original artwork and maps commissioned exclusively for this edition.
THE HBO SERIES CONTINUES ON MARCH 31, 2013: HBO reported that 3.9 million viewers saw the inaugural broadcast of season 2, with 6.3 million tuning in among all of the network’s broadcasts for the night—a 53 percent gain from its freshman season average and a 27 percent rise from its previous series high. And with the DVD of season two releasing the month before, they only expect demand to rise.
SURGE IN NUMBERS: Since the show’s premiere, novel sales have increased exponentially, proving that people who get a taste of this world are keen to devour all there is about it.
SUCCESS OF THE NOVELS: To date, there are over 21.5 million copies of A Song of Ice and Fire series in print, and over 4.5 million in eBook sales.
APP-ORTUNITIES*: This will serve as the perfect companion volume to the Ice and Fire app, released in November 2012.
A WINNING TEAM: George’s co-authors on this book, Elio Garcia and Linda Antonssen, are the founders of the www.westeros.org site, and probably know more about this world than anyone save George. In fact, they are the folks George calls when he forgets certain series details.
HOLIDAY GIVING: Perfectly timed for the holiday season, this volume is the ideal gift for the George R.R. Martin fan in your life.
TIMING: The MM edition of A Dance with Dragons will also be published in Fall 2013, which means extra publicity for George R. R. Martin.
* The Wertzone does not condone such use of bad puns.
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