{"id":5400,"date":"2012-11-29T15:13:09","date_gmt":"2012-11-29T20:13:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2012\/11\/review-the-lands-of-ice-and-fire\/"},"modified":"2018-04-08T08:23:41","modified_gmt":"2018-04-08T12:23:41","slug":"review-the-lands-of-ice-and-fire","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2012\/11\/review-the-lands-of-ice-and-fire\/","title":{"rendered":"Review: The Lands of Ice and Fire"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"The<\/a> The Lands of Ice and Fire<\/a><\/em><\/strong>, which came out last month<\/a>, is a collection of maps of the lands of George R. R. Martin<\/a>\u2019s Song of Ice and Fire<\/em> series, executed by the fantasy cartographer Jonathan Roberts.<\/p>\n

You should know what you’re getting when you buy this. It’s not an atlas. It’s not even a book. George himself describes it<\/a> as “a book-shaped box containing a whole bunch of gorgeous, glossy, fold-out maps of Westeros, Essos, and the lands and seas from A Song of Ice and Fire<\/em>.” There is no text other than on a single-page introduction.<\/p>\n

Open the box and you see two sleeves containing six maps apiece. Each map is 24 by 30 inches, single sided, in full colour, and on glossy paper, the kind you can see your fingerprints on. As fantasy maps go, this is a lavish production\u2014a long way from the two-colour atlases we’ve seen for other imaginary worlds. (Some Amazon reviewers<\/a> have expressed concern about wear and tear from folding and unfolding the maps; bear that in mind.)<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"The <\/a>
The Lands of Ice and Fire <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"The <\/a>
The Lands of Ice and Fire <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>\n

I don’t think anything has been done like this before; maps of Middle-earth have been sold at bookstores in cardboard containers, and I’m told that in 1980 there were maps of the Star Trek universe done in a similar fashion, but I don’t think anything approximating this has ever been done for an imagined universe anywhere else. (If it has, please send me a copy immediately.)<\/p>\n

Roberts’s maps execute the standard fantasy map design language, but in full colour, with more shades of green (for plains and forests) and white (for ice) than I was anticipating. (I guess I was expecting faded parchment.) I’m fairly certain these were produced (or at least coloured and lettered) digitally, and Roberts has achieved a good overall effect. (Though the cliffs don’t necessarily have the right perspective view compared with other parts of the shoreline.) These maps are competently executed, but not groundbreaking.<\/p>\n

The maps are as follows: The Known World; The West; Central Essos; The East; Westeros; Beyond the Wall; The Free Cities; Slaver’s Bay; The Dothraki Sea; King’s Landing (a city map); Braavos (another city map); and Journeys (which shows characters’ travels). There is quite a bit of overlap: many areas (e.g. Westeros) show up in several maps at several scales.<\/p>\n

The maps are almost too big. Unwieldy, even. You need a lot of table space to look at a two-foot-by-three-foot map. An atlas would have been easier to use\u2014to browse, to flip through.<\/p>\n

A surprising lack of detail exacerbates their size: it’s amazing how empty<\/em> these maps look (and not just the maps showing the Dothraki Sea, though central Essos is<\/em> practically blank). But compared with the endpaper maps in A Dance with Dragons<\/a><\/em>, these maps show the exact same amount of detail. Make the maps bigger, and features and lettering are reduced in relative size: the maps look emptier. And endpaper maps are also high-contrast, rendered in black and white, whereas on these maps, hills, plains and forests are painted in the Photoshop equivalent of watercolours, and simply fade into the background.<\/p>\n

If the small-scale maps show just as much detail, the middle-scale, regional maps are somewhat redundant. For my money, the Known World and Journeys maps are just the right scale for the size. Conversely, the most interesting maps to look at are the ones that are the most cluttered and the largest in scale: the city maps of King’s Landing and Braavos.<\/p>\n

My partner Jennifer, who’s actually read the books (and whose observations about these maps helped me write this review) says she could spend a lot of time studying the Journeys map; unfortunately, this map more than any other will be obsoleted by forthcoming books. It would have been nice to have seen more thematic maps like this, but that’s the sort of thing you’d get from an atlas.<\/p>\n

These maps are noteworthy for their unusual presentation, large size, and high production values, but on balance they’re a bit of a disappointment, largely because their unusual presentation and large size aren’t always a good thing.<\/p>\n

Buy at Amazon<\/a> | publisher’s page<\/a><\/p>\n

Previously: Now Out: The Lands of Ice and Fire<\/a>; The Lands of Ice and Fire: Westeros Atlas Coming in October<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Lands of Ice and Fire, which came out last month, is a collection of maps of the lands of George R. R. Martin\u2019s Song of Ice and Fire series, executed by the fantasy cartographer… More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"autoblue_enabled":true,"autoblue_custom_message":"","autoblue_shares":[],"autoblue_post_url":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[296],"tags":[31,461,552],"class_list":["post-5400","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-product-reviews","tag-fantasy-maps","tag-game-of-thrones","tag-westeros"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":5395,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2012\/10\/now-out-the-lands-of-ice-and-fire\/","url_meta":{"origin":5400,"position":0},"title":"Now Out: The Lands of Ice and Fire","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"30 October 2012","format":"link","excerpt":"Today is the release date (in North America) for The Lands of Ice and Fire, a book (sort of) that contains maps of George R. R. Martin's Westeros, the setting for A Game of Thrones and its sequels. George explains that this isn't an atlas; in fact, it's \"not an\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Maps and Literature"","block_context":{"text":"Maps and Literature","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/maps-and-literature\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":5313,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2012\/04\/the-lands-of-ice-and-fire-westeros-atlas-coming-in-october\/","url_meta":{"origin":5400,"position":1},"title":"The Lands of Ice and Fire: Westeros Atlas Coming in October","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"4 April 2012","format":"link","excerpt":"More information today on a book I'd heard was coming: The Lands of Ice and Fire, a definitive atlas of George R. R. Martin's fantasy world from A Song of Ice and Fire (A Game of Thrones, et cetera). The publisher: \"The centerpiece of this gorgeous collection is guaranteed to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Maps and Literature"","block_context":{"text":"Maps and Literature","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/maps-and-literature\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2279,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2016\/06\/fantasy-maps-middle-earth-vs-westeros\/","url_meta":{"origin":5400,"position":2},"title":"Fantasy Maps: Middle-earth vs. Westeros","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"22 June 2016","format":"link","excerpt":"In the latest instalment of Hannah Stahl's series of posts on fantasy maps at the Library of Congress's map blog (see previous entry), she takes as a starting point my argument that Tolkien's map of Middle-earth is the\u00a0progenitor map from which the modern fantasy map design is descended, and compares\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Maps and Literature"","block_context":{"text":"Maps and Literature","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/maps-and-literature\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":4565,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2017\/07\/jonathan-roberts-scientist-and-fantasy-mapmaker\/","url_meta":{"origin":5400,"position":3},"title":"Jonathan Roberts, Scientist and Fantasy Mapmaker","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"5 July 2017","format":"link","excerpt":"Fantasy cartographer Jonathan Roberts is profiled in a\u00a0short, paywalled piece in Crain's New York Business. (Winter Is Coming has a summary.) Roberts is, among other things, the artist behind\u00a0The Lands of Ice and Fire, the boxed collection of 12 maps of George R. R. Martin's Westeros.\u00a0Things I did not know\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Maps and Literature"","block_context":{"text":"Maps and Literature","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/maps-and-literature\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3661,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2016\/12\/applying-fantasy-maps-to-globes\/","url_meta":{"origin":5400,"position":4},"title":"Applying Fantasy Maps to Globes","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"19 December 2016","format":"link","excerpt":"Map to Globe is an online tool that allows you to transfer a flat map onto a globe. Adam Whitehead has been trying it out with fantasy maps. Some work better than others. Westeros is not one of them, \"because the maps of the North and the lands beyond the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Maps and Literature"","block_context":{"text":"Maps and Literature","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/maps-and-literature\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"adam-whitehead-map-to-globe-westeros","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/adam-whitehead-map-to-globe-westeros-1024x470.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/adam-whitehead-map-to-globe-westeros-1024x470.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/adam-whitehead-map-to-globe-westeros-1024x470.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/adam-whitehead-map-to-globe-westeros-1024x470.jpg?resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":5773,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2014\/04\/the-geology-of-game-of-thrones\/","url_meta":{"origin":5400,"position":5},"title":"The Geology of ‘Game of Thrones’","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"9 April 2014","format":"link","excerpt":"In The Geology of Game of Thrones, a group of geologists has created a geologic map of Westeros and Essos, as well as an invented geologic history of the planet on which George R.\u00a0R. Martin's epic takes place. Via io9. This isn't the first time a fantasy world has been\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Geology"","block_context":{"text":"Geology","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/geology\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5400","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5400"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5400\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1785309,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5400\/revisions\/1785309"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5400"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5400"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5400"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}