Dangerous Women: The Blacks and The Greens Review
The Princess and the Queen or The Blacks and The Greens follow the fallout of the events from The Rogues or The Rogue Prince and his Brother (prior reading this review you should check out The Rogues and than our review of The Rogue Prince).King Viserys’s death sparks the battle for the throne between Viserys’s second wife Quinn Alicent Hightower and her father the hand of the king Otto Hightower Who wanted to crown Queen Alicent’s first born Aegon the 2nd . And Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen The first born daughter of the late king Viserys and her husband / uncle Daemon Targaryen.
 |
| Targaryen Dragon Rider |
The princess and the Queen had some similarities to the dunk and egg tales but in the same time it was a lot different than everything we saw before because this story was a lot more cut throat and bloody - literally. Even more than what we got in the Song of Ice and Fire books. We had some bloodshed in the Hedge Knight a lot less in the Sworn Sword and a bit more in The Mystery Knight with the second Blackfyre rebellion but all of it was nothing compared to the death toll that was presented in The Blacks and The Greens. The interesting part of it all was that there were so many royal family members and most of the parishes at the end of the novella in so many fascinating ways.
Just like with The Tales of Dunk and Egg it was very difficult to follow and grasp all the new names whether it's the Targaryen family members other high born lords or even the commoners that managed to make their impact in the novella. The most frustrating thing with the names: When you made an effort to understand who that person was and imagine him / her in your head, only to see him / her die a moment later.
 |
| Aegon II Targaryen |
The Blacks and The Greens was probably the most devastating civil war in the history of Westeros. In the two years it took place we truly understood where did the term A Dance with Dragons came from (on the other hand I am even more confused why George Martin Decided to name his 5th book in the ASOIAF series with that name). We got some important answers regarding the disappearance of Dragons and we saw what power makes men and teenage boys do.
The Princess and the Queen had a lot of young prince’s fighting for the throne and some of them reminded of a certain boy king we met in A song of Ice and Fire books and HBO's Game of Thrones TV show. It was amazing to see those same characteristics Agon the 2nd and Daeron (Allicent's Hightower sons) resurfaced in Joffrey Baratheon. When young boys think that they are invincible, ignore their eldest's advice and see history repeats itself when they make the dumbest mistakes that most of the time cost them their heads, and Martin made sure we see that in the current conflict.
 |
| Targaryen Civil War |
During the Novela it was a real rollercoaster of power shifting. When you thought to yourself that one of the sides had an upper hand everything changed when a smaller power house made a surprising move or one of the power houses made a silly mistake or a move that was planted while ago was finally giving its fruit. It doesn’t matter the reason but all the decisions that were made by the royal family and their allies shifted the power from one side to the other.
It was fascinating to follow because there were at least 3 power shifts and the events that cost them were surprising the reader time and time again. The end of The Princess and the Queen was somehow surprising as well because the winner of the war (If you can call that a win) was not somebody we were expecting to win (especially after cheating and taking a look at the Targaryen family tree). It was a cliff hanger because the current winner of the war would not play a role in the future of the Targaryen Dinasty, so we were left with a some sort of a open ending to the story waiting for the novella truly conclude The Blacks and The Greens civil war.
if you are a fan of Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire book series and you already read The Tales of Dunk and Egg you should check out The Rogue Prince and The Princess and the Queen it will make you understand the Dynamics of war between two bitter rivals that refuse to give up even when everything looks lost. In addition The Blacks and The Greens will introduce so many Targaryens that you will have to figure out who they were and where they ended, and that’s pretty fun.
Rating: 4.5 / 5 Stars
The Rogue Prince and The Princess and the Queen can be purchased in Amazon
- Rogues: The Rogue Prince by George R.R. Martin
- Dangerous Women:The Princess and the Queen by George R.R. Martin
photo credit: javierdevilman via photopin cc
photo credit: javierdevilman via photopin cc
I would become lost with all the names. Someday, perhaps.
ReplyDeleteStill its worth it
ReplyDelete