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The Realm: The True history behind Game of Thrones
The HBO series Game of Thrones, based on the George R.R. Martin books, is one of the most popular television shows of recent years. Set on the island of Westeros, it tells of the struggle by various families to win the Iron Throne and so rule ‘the Realm’.
Although fantasy, Game of Thrones borrows heavily from real history, including elements from the Crusades, Spartans and Byzantines. Most of all, however, this saga tells the story of the realm of England and how it came to be, from the first men and the Angles to the Conquest and War of the Roses.
It takes in the myths and migrations of ancient Britain and the culture of the medieval monarchy and tells that story better than most historical fiction, capturing not just the pageantry and violence of the time, but the psychology too, with characters who are neither good nor bad but simply of their time.
It is a gripping and fantastic tale; so, too, is the real game of thrones for the crown of England, as recalled in Ed West’s The Realm, a story that should be read by every fan of the television series.
Ed West is a blogger for the Spectator and deputy editor of the Catholic Herald. His previous Kindle Single was The Silence of Our Friends, on the persecution of Middle Eastern Christians. He lives in north London with his wife and three children.
Although fantasy, Game of Thrones borrows heavily from real history, including elements from the Crusades, Spartans and Byzantines. Most of all, however, this saga tells the story of the realm of England and how it came to be, from the first men and the Angles to the Conquest and War of the Roses.
It takes in the myths and migrations of ancient Britain and the culture of the medieval monarchy and tells that story better than most historical fiction, capturing not just the pageantry and violence of the time, but the psychology too, with characters who are neither good nor bad but simply of their time.
It is a gripping and fantastic tale; so, too, is the real game of thrones for the crown of England, as recalled in Ed West’s The Realm, a story that should be read by every fan of the television series.
Ed West is a blogger for the Spectator and deputy editor of the Catholic Herald. His previous Kindle Single was The Silence of Our Friends, on the persecution of Middle Eastern Christians. He lives in north London with his wife and three children.
86 pages, Kindle Edition
First published April 1, 2014
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
September 23, 2015
I bought this short book about a week ago and started reading it immediately, and I finished it quite quickly. I'm at the end of Season 2 of the HBO series, Game of Thrones, and as a professional historian, I was intrigued about the history which people had said inspired George R.R. Martin's books. Having enjoyed Mr West's previous non-fiction works which mainly have to do with modern social issues, I was pleasantly surprised to learn that he had written The Realm, which discusses the historical parallels between what we see/read in Game of Thrones and events that actually happened in British history. West describes, in good detail, the ancient tribes (Celts, Picts, Anglo-Saxons, etc) that lived here in the British Isles and the impact Celtic and Nordic mythology had upon them and upon Martin's story. West has a conversational style that I liked. I would ignore the mean-spirited poor reviews, because most true history lovers would enjoy this. To sum up, this is a very enjoyable (albeit brief) ride through Westeros and history.
May 7, 2017
A good book which covers the medieval history of England fairly well. There were two concerns.
One, and this is always a problem with histories of this nature and period, the cast of characters is confusing. There are many Edwards and Henrys and it get hard to follow. Sometimes the character changes in the middle of a paragraph and if you don't concentrate, you can get lost! GRRM, at least, has the opportunity to change names
Second, there were few connections made with the Ice and Fire books. I would have loved to see more parallels drawn between GRRM's work and British history, but those that are there are fairly perfunctory and don't actually add anything. It feels that a British history has been written and the Ice and Fire material was added to give it a contemporary frame.
One, and this is always a problem with histories of this nature and period, the cast of characters is confusing. There are many Edwards and Henrys and it get hard to follow. Sometimes the character changes in the middle of a paragraph and if you don't concentrate, you can get lost! GRRM, at least, has the opportunity to change names
Second, there were few connections made with the Ice and Fire books. I would have loved to see more parallels drawn between GRRM's work and British history, but those that are there are fairly perfunctory and don't actually add anything. It feels that a British history has been written and the Ice and Fire material was added to give it a contemporary frame.
February 23, 2015
This was an entertaining, if somewhat breakneck, summary of English history from its beginnings until the end of the Tudor dynasty, but I did not feel as if it lived up to its advertising. Only occasionally, at the beginning and near the end, was any connection made to the events of Game of Thrones - not even the obvious one between Edward IV and Robert Baratheon. It seems as if that reference was thrown into the title largely to sell copies. (It didn't work for me since I read it through Amazon's Kindle Unlimited.) What a shame - the style was engaging (I had never thought of Becket's bloody slaughter as an "exit interview"), and it could have been so much more.
August 15, 2014
Disappointed by the fact that this only focused on English history. Martin is well-versed in the history of many other cultures, but the author largely ignores this. I was also expecting a deeper analysis of the parallels between history and Martin's story, rather than a few throwaway sentences.
This is a good read if you want a succinct summary of English history, but otherwise I'd look elsewhere.
This is a good read if you want a succinct summary of English history, but otherwise I'd look elsewhere.
February 19, 2015
The link with a Game of Thrones is very tenuous at best, to the point where vague familiarities that probably occurred all over the place are pointed out to also occur in GoT.
Besides the misnomer, the book is instead a fairly interesting (brief) history of medieval Britain. It would've been much better if expanded upon and written with greater detail, but the writing is at least not dull.
Besides the misnomer, the book is instead a fairly interesting (brief) history of medieval Britain. It would've been much better if expanded upon and written with greater detail, but the writing is at least not dull.
July 11, 2014
An interesting book but not what I expected. It focused mostly on the history of England with minimal connections to the book/series.
October 24, 2015
Many have said that Martin's "Song of Fire and Ice" series (often referred to by the title of the first book, "Game of Thrones," probably due to the HBO series of the same name)is loosely based on the "War of Roses," a series of dynastic wars for the throne of England in the last half of the 1400's. There are certainly similarities, and journalist Ed West examines some of them in this (too brief) history of the contentions for the British throne leading up to and during the period now referred to as "the War of Roses."
This is a short book, with a cast of characters that would be the envy of a small town phone book, and West occasionally confused me by not being specific enough about who he was talking about - even on rereading the passages. This didn't happen often, but often enough to mention.
References to characters and situations in the Song of Fire and Ice series added enough interest that the brevity of the book, forcing a whirlwind tour through British Royal history, whet my appetite to learn more about those events rather than frustrate me.
This is a short book, with a cast of characters that would be the envy of a small town phone book, and West occasionally confused me by not being specific enough about who he was talking about - even on rereading the passages. This didn't happen often, but often enough to mention.
References to characters and situations in the Song of Fire and Ice series added enough interest that the brevity of the book, forcing a whirlwind tour through British Royal history, whet my appetite to learn more about those events rather than frustrate me.
December 30, 2014
Fans of Game Of Thrones & English Heritage must read this book. Shame that it ended when Great Britain was united under James I but that was when the bloodshed & fighting finished. Very easy to see where Martin got his inspiration from
April 26, 2014
If you've read a history book…and you've read any of the Game of Thrones books….or seen the series, you probably already figured all this out.
May 3, 2014
I was hoping for a book that would cleverly analyze how history inspired game of thrones. This was not that book.
June 1, 2014
An interesting quick read that illustrates the many real life events and characters that have seemingly informed George RR Martins writing.
May 9, 2015
How can you not five-star a book that delivers on its title as well as this one? Good stuff!
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews