“At one point in this book, Clarke abruptly asked a rather existential question: “What is Daenerys?” One might ask the same of the show. What is Game of Thrones? There are many correct answers: an adaptation, a TV series, a fantasy story, a corporate enterprise, a snapshot of the entertainment world during seismic industry and cultural transitions. I saw the show as a seemingly impossible dream made real. Game of Thrones was the filmic equivalent of Roger Bannister breaking the four-minute mile—proof that with enough determination and sacrifice, a creative human endeavor can portray even the most expansive outer reaches of our storytelling imagination and, in doing so, captivate the world.”