Review: George R. R. Martin - The Rogue Prince

In the newest anthology he edited, "Rogues", George R. R. Martin included the aptly named "The Rogue Prince". Like with his previous anthology, "Dangerous Women", which included "The Princess and the Queen", "The Rogue Prince" is a fragment of a much larger text about the Dance of the Dragons and its inception, the shattering Targaryen civil war that happened way over 150 before the events of the novel series proper. This (shorter) issue concerns itself with the history leading up to the death of Viserys I, where "The Princess and the Queen" began, a story that by a benign reader might be read as dominated by the titular Rogue Prince, Daemon Targaryen. Alas, I'm not benign.

The only picture of the Princess and the Rogue Prince I could find.

"The Princess and the Queen" already posed the question whether or not it was really a short story and whether or not it was concerning itself enough with the titular women to be in an anthology that explicitly had women as their main characters. To the not-so-benign reader, the question could only be "no", but I was and am not that much into the other stories and, as a proper fanboy, bought the volume only to read Martin's flick. It was full of new information and interesting pieces, and it gave food for thought and discussion, but it wasn't really a story - just a piece of background information. To advertise it as a story was tantamount to fraud, but I didn't really care because OHMYGODWESTEROSANDDRAGONS.

This time, it's different. Not only is "The Rogue Prince" shorter, its severed existence is also much more feelable. Where "The Princess and the Queen" at least had a proper start and finish (the start of the war and its end), this story does neither start nor end. It just provides more information. You couldn't even call it a chapter because it just lacks any sense of closure. Every normal chapter from the books is more closed in itself than this supposed "short story". 

Not that I wouldn't have enjoyed reading it, mind you. I always want more information if Westeros, more stuff Martin wrote in this setting, and the Targaryen days of old don't fail to fascinate. However, this thing here is just too much of nothing. It provides the story of Viserys' reign, who for all purposes is much more the central character than Daemon, who is, in the end, just a minor character. An important one, yes, but more like Robb Stark in the first three books. Always kind of there, but never really in the spotlight, neither. That's not enough for a story that's supposed to be about the guy, especially since three of his most defining moments are in the story that supposedly is about his wife. I'm usually not really quick of accusing Martin of "moneygrabbing", and I won't start it now, because I'm still glad we have these stories. But they're simply not what they promise to be, and I find that a little bit startling.

That all being said, what's it about? As I stated earlier, the reign of Viserys I plays an important role, and we see how Rhaenyra was made the heir but immediately challenged by the ambition of Alicent Hightower, the "Queen" in the title of the story. The conflict between the children is explored in greater detail, as is the conflict between Viserys and the Rogue Prince Damion. Viserys seems to have been a largely harmless fellow, while Daemon is very aggressive and not really likeable. He's killing and maiming people for no reason and waging war for sport, again with the Triarchy. It's interesting to see the connections between Essos and Westeros in the early Targaryen days; they were obviously much deeper than in contemporary Westeros. I guess the disappearance of the dragons plays a role here as well. 

Else, we don't get that much, at least not that I really felt like it. And I guess that's the problem with the thing. It's just part of something bigger, and not an incredibly exhaustive part. Nice to read, yes, but it feels like someone ripped a page out of "The World of Ice and Fire" and tucked it into some anthology. And given the number of samples and excerpts of the upcoming compendium out there, one should rightly wonder whether it's worth the trouble.