his allies face a perilous journey through the Underdark and the dangers of the undead that lie within, but they must cross through a colony of drow, who would like nothing better than to see Drizzt Do’Urden dead.

When it was originally announced that a detailed ASOIAF sourcebook would be published, I wasn't particularly excited about the news. After all, the last time a bestselling fantasy series had given birth to such an encyclopedia, fans got it up the ass pretty bad in 1997 when Tor Books released the insulting travesty that was The World of Robert Jordan's The Wheel of Time. The public uproar that followed in the wake of its release caused, not without reason, quite a stir in SFF circles back then. That companion book turnedthis history of the Seven Kingdoms to King Robert Baratheon. Kudos to the authors for producing an easy-to-read ASOIAF companion book filled with such a wealth of historical details.

The book is structured in several sections focusing on various historical periods, kingdoms, and Houses. The first one, "Ancient History", explores such epochs as the Dawn Age, the Coming of the First Men, the Age of Heroes, the Long Night, The Rise of Valyria, the Arrival of the Andals, and the Doom of Valyria. This section was quite interesting, for we learn a lot about the early history of the land, even if many of those mysteries are shrouded in the mists of time.

And yet, the following sections are by far the most fascinating of the book. The second one,