"300 years before A Game of Thrones, dragons ruled Westeros"-- Jacket.

Aegon's conquest -- Reign of the dragon: the wars of King Aegon I -- Three heads had the dragon: governance under King Aegon I -- The sons of the dragon -- Prince into king: the ascension of Jaehaerys I -- The year of the three brides: 49 AC -- A surfeit of rulers -- A time of testing: the realm remade -- Birth, death, and betrayal under King Jaehaerys I -- Jaehaerys and Alysanne: their triumphs and tragedies -- The long reign: Jaehaerys and Alysanne: policy, progeny, and pain -- Heirs of the dragon: a question of succession -- The dying of the dragons: the blacks and the greens -- The dying of the dragons: a son for a son -- The dying of the dragons: the red dragon and the gold -- The dying of the dragons: Rhaenyra triumphant -- The dying of the dragons: Rhaenyra overthrown -- The dying of the dragons: the short, sad reign of Aegon II -- Aftermath: the hour of the wolf -- Under the regents: the hooded hand -- Under the regents: war and peace and cattle shows -- Under the regents: the voyage of Alyn Oakenfist -- The Lysene spring and the end of regency -- Lineages and family tree.

This is the first volume of the definitive two-part history of the Targaryens in Westeros. Centuries before the events of A Game of Thrones, House Targaryenthe only family of dragonlords to survive the Doom of Valyriatook up residence on Dragonstone. Fire and Blood begins their tale with the legendary Aegon the Conqueror, creator of the Iron Throne, and goes on to recount the generations of Targaryens who fought to hold that iconic seat, all the way up to the civil war that nearly tore their dynasty apart. What really happened during the Dance of the Dragons? Why did it become so deadly to visit Valyria after the Doom? What is the origin of Daeneryss three dragon eggs? These are but a few of the questions answered in this essential chronicle, as related by a learned maester of the Citadel and featuring more than eighty all-new black-and-white illustrations by artist Doug Wheatley. Readers have glimpsed small parts of this narrative in such volumes as The World of Ice & Fire, but now, for the first time, the full tapestry of Targaryen history is revealed.