It includes family trees for the Targaryens, Starks, and Lannisters, as well as information on the Seven Kingdoms of Westeros, the Free Cities of Essos, and lands beyond. The trouble is that Martin, despite advancing age, does not seem to care anymore about what his fans want. Remember, there are close to zero emotions within the storytelling of this book; just like The World of Ice and Fire, this imaginary history is told entirely from the writing of an Archmaester.

The men of the Night’s Watch were as thunderstruck by the queen’s dragon as the people of White Harbor had been, though the queen herself noted that Silverwing “does not like this Wall. Here the world ends,” he told her, gesturing at the vast green expanse of the haunted forest beyond.

What I mean is that the ostensible narrator is not an omniscient GRR Martin but a master writing several centuries after the event and relying on several contemporary sources of dubious accuracy. The conceit here is that this is the first volume (more time wasting to come) of a two-volume series covering the Targaryen dynasty of Westeros. Of course, given the Targaryen penchant for every form of incestuous marriage, even the basic family tree doesn't look like a 'normal' tree. It’s a great coffee table book, full of illustrations and a deep history of Martin’s world dating back to the arrival of the First Men in Westeros during the Dawn Age (some 12,000 years before A Game of Thrones).

Yet a more immediate threat lurks to the south, where Jon Arryn, the Hand of the King, has died under mysterious circumstances.Thrice I flew Silverwing high above Castle Black, and thrice I tried to take her north beyond the Wall,” Alysanne wrote to Jaehaerys, “but every time she veered back south again and refused to go. Her knights and ladies he would receive when they got here, “and the king too, if he can find the way,” but they should not overstay their welcome. The bloodthirsty biographies of the world’s most infamous pirates are reproduced in this Folio edition of Captain Charles Johnson’s renowned work, including original woodcut illustrations and a fascinating introduction by Margarette Lincoln. There is a simplified family tree of the Targaryens at the end of the book but, as usual, it's too small to see in the e-book so you'll need a print-out. For those who find all this a bit grim and macho, GRR Martin is pretty good at putting women front and centre, so there are plenty of notable female characters, not just doing queenly things, but also doing “manly” things like exploring the seven seas (or however many seas there are in this world) and riding dragons.