Lands of Ice and Fire

[shonuff]

Just a heads up:

A new "book" came out this week that is twelve maps of Westeros, north of the Wall, and more. It's decently put together, and could come in handy for a campaign setting. The maps are a decent size, and one even plots the journeys of the main characters and their way-points. The list price of $40 USD is a little steep, IMO, but obviously you can find it online for a reduced price.

[Canarr]

Thanks, sounds interesting. Is there any kind of travelling scale included in the maps? Personally, I find it extremely difficult to gauge the length of a journey within Westeros.

[shonuff]

No scale, on a couple of maps I just checked. I'm going to assume it's true for all. They have a similar legend, denoting cities, castles, ruins, etc., and I haven't had the time (or inclination, really) to go through them thoroughly,yet.

[Tedric]

Great! Can you give us the name of that book? i'll try to find it when I go to London in January.

[Flagg]

I'm pretty sure it's "Lands of Ice and Fire"

[Tedric]

ok..you can hit me

[shonuff]

Yeah, it's "Lands of Ice and Fire". I would personally recommend an online purchase, just because if you buy it at a brick and mortar you're going to probably pay full retail. And while I usually support supporting brick and mortars, I don't think the book is worth the full price. But then again, I was expecting more text about the different lands -- more of a travel guide than a series of maps. Don't get me wrong, the maps are gorgeous... just not what I was expecting.

[rulandor]

Well, a book about the world of Westeros is in the works - this map collection was never announced as a substitute for that.

The maps are absolutely gorgeous - there are six poster format ones and six a little bit smaller ones. The scale is easily measurable, when considering the well-known fact that the Wall is close to 500 kilometers long and Westeros itself about 5,500 kilometers from north to south. Essos seems to approach the scale of the Eurasian continent on Earth - you could imagine Braavos as Dublin, for example, and Asshai as Hanoi, just for the geographical measure.

Never thought that Ib is so far east - makes you wonder why them whalers go a-whaling off the coast of Westeros. And originally I didn't think that the Wolfswood is so small and does NOT go all the way through to the Last River, but that fits with the interior cover maps of A Dance with Dragons.

[Flagg]

Never thought that Ib is so far east - makes you wonder why them whalers go a-whaling off the coast of Westeros.

Because that's where the whales are?

In American history, whalers from Nantucket used to sail all the way around South America to the Pacific to kill sperm whales, because that's where they congregated to breed. Ibben -> Westeros is much less of a journey.

[shonuff]

Well, a book about the world of Westeros is in the works - this map collection was never announced as a substitute for that.

And it could have been that that I was thinking of when I ordered it... "Worlds of Ice and Fire" is pretty similar to "Lands..." lol

The maps are absolutely gorgeous - there are six poster format ones and six a little bit smaller ones. The scale is easily measurable, when considering the well-known fact that the Wall is close to 500 kilometers long and Westeros itself about 5,500 kilometers from north to south. Essos seems to approach the scale of the Eurasian continent on Earth - you could imagine Braavos as Dublin, for example, and Asshai as Hanoi, just for the geographical measure.

It may be easily measurable, but I still would have appreciated an actual scale. Other than that, I completely concur that the maps are very well done.

Never thought that Ib is so far east - makes you wonder why them whalers go a-whaling off the coast of Westeros. And originally I didn't think that the Wolfswood is so small and does NOT go all the way through to the Last River, but that fits with the interior cover maps of A Dance with Dragons.

It makes sense when you think there were European fishing/whaling expeditions to North America long before Columbus "discovered" it.

[Tedric]

I just bought it today and yes, it is an amazing work.

[B-Type]

It may be easily measurable, but I still would have appreciated an actual scale. Other than that, I completely concur that the maps are very well done.

That would require Martin to lock down the size of Westeros without using vague comments like "about the size of such-and-such".
It wouldn't impact his writing in any way because he's free to just make stuff up at will, but it would make parts of his books make even less sense under scrutiny then they already do.

[shonuff]

It may be easily measurable, but I still would have appreciated an actual scale. Other than that, I completely concur that the maps are very well done.

That would require Martin to lock down the size of Westeros without using vague comments like "about the size of such-and-such".
It wouldn't impact his writing in any way because he's free to just make stuff up at will, but it would make parts of his books make even less sense under scrutiny then they already do.

Right, I know there are issues with the travel timing back-and-forth from Winterfell, even if you take into account things progressing non-chronologically.

[B-Type]

Robb mentions that it would take at least a full year to make the crossing across the Neck while warring around the Southlands and the Riverlands.
He doesn't say though exactly how much time is spent during the actual march and how much of it is spent mustering troops across the North.
Nor does it say exactly how long it took Robert's party from Winterfell to make it all the way back to King's Landing, though given that the book takes place roughly over twelve months it should logically be under a year at the most.

[shonuff]

Logically, but the books are not in chronological order. Most of Daenrys's chapters in A Game of Thrones, for example, precede everything else in the book. IIRC, there was some timeline somewhere that found fault with the early happenings in AGOT, as well -- mainly Tyrion and Catelyn meeting at the crossroads.

[B-Type]

Back on the subject matter, I just got the Lands of Ice and Fire book too and it's THE SHIT.
Totally a worthy buy. Then again I'm a map geek.