4.30 avg rating — 1,831 ratings

"About the French monarchy in the 14th century, during the Hundred Years' War.

"The Accursed Kings has it all. Iron kings and strangled queens, battles and betrayals, lies and lust, deception, family rivalries, the curse of the Templars, babies switched at birth, she-wolves, sin, and swords, the doom of a great dynasty . . .and all of it (well, most of it) straight from the pages of history.

And believe me, the Starks and the Lannisters have nothing on the Capets and Plantagenets.""

4.11 avg rating — 1,531 ratings

"The first of the four-volume history of the Plantagenets, begins with the conquest of England by William the Conqueror in 1066.

"My model for this was the four-volume history of the Plantagenets that Thomas B Costain wrote in the 50s. It’s old‑fashioned history: he’s not interested in analysing socioeconomic trends or cultural shifts so much as the wars and the assignations and the murders and the plots and the betrayals, all the juicy stuff. Costain did a wonderful job on the Plantagenets so I tried to do that for the Targaryens.""

4.11 avg rating — 4,487 ratings

4.11 avg rating — 1,414 ratings

3.76 avg rating — 99,204 ratings

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4.34 avg rating — 1,065 ratings

3.93 avg rating — 510,557 ratings

""I’ve been always very impressed by Homer and his Iliad, especially the scene of the fight between Achilles and Hector. Who is the hero and who is the villain? That’s the power of the story and I wanted something similar to my books. The hero of one side is the villain of the other side." "

3.96 avg rating — 10,170 ratings

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4.22 avg rating — 28,094 ratings

"GRRM mentioned Mika Waltari as one of his inspirations, so I presume that The Egyptian is one of them because it "...is known for its high-level historical accuracy of the life and culture of the period depicted. At the same time, it also carries a pessimistic message of the essential sameness of human nature throughout the ages.""

4.05 avg rating — 15,990 ratings

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4.30 avg rating — 1,750 ratings