We’re pleased to present this first glimpse at Luis Royo’s sketches for a new edition of George R.R. Martin’s The Ice Dragon, coming this October from Tor Teen!
The Ice Dragon is a tale of courage and sacrifice set in the world of the New York Times best-selling series A Song of Ice and Fire. With stunning illustrations from acclaimed artist Luis Royo, this new edition is sure to become a collector’s item for fans of the book series and HBO’s Game of Thrones alike!
Find out more about the book below, and see additional sketches from Royo.
The catalog description for The Ice Dragon:
Adara liked the winter best of all, for when the world grew cold the ice dragon came. The ice dragon was a creature of legend and fear, for no man had ever tamed one. When it flew overhead, it left in its wake desolate cold and frozen land. But Adara was not afraid. For Adara was a winter child, born during the worst freeze that anyone, even the Old Ones, could remember.
Adara could not remember the first time she had seen the ice dragon. It seemed that it had always been in her life, glimpsed from afar as she played in the frigid snow long after the other children had fled the cold. In her fourth year she touched it, and in her fifth year she rode upon its broad, chilled back for the first time. Then, in her seventh year, on a calm summer day, fiery dragons from the North swooped down upon the peaceful farm that was Adara’s home. And only a winter child—and the ice dragon who loved her—could save her world from utter destruction.
Although these are initial sketches and not the final versions that will appear on and in the book, they were too gorgeous not to share. Royo himself came back from a professional illustration sabbatical to do them!
How beautiful! Really looking forward to this!
Not an Ice and Fire story – isn’t it one of his pre-ASOIF short stories?
I think this one is in Dreamsongs, so yeah, it wouldn’t be part of ASOIAF…I think.
There are ice dragons in the ASOIAF ‘verse? I wonder how they fit in with the rest of the fantastic creatures? Especially,since it seems to be friendly and other ice magic creatures do not.
It was published as a stand-alone children’s novel in 1980. Some have speculated that it is set in the same world as ASOIAF, but I don’t believe that GRRM has ever verified or denied, AFAIK.
It was originally published as a short story in an anthology called “Dragons of Light and Darkness” edited by Orson Scott Card in 1980. It was then collected in GRRM´s own collection “Dreamsongs”. It was only published as a children´s book in 2006 (in hardcover by Tor Starscape) and a year later as a paperback reprint from Starscape. It was illustrated by Yvonne Gilbert. The story itself was lightly edited from the original to remove one unsuitable reference.
These sketches are beautiful just as they are.
Oh wow, this is firing my speculation engines right up. I’ve always suspected the Others were somehow related to dragons, as the dragons are “fire made flesh” and the Others seem to be “ice made flesh”, maybe they are dragons who’ve been magically transformed.
And Fiery Dragons come from the North?
It’s a fairy tale set in the Song of Ice and Fire universe, so in their terms it’s a fiction or a legend fitting in with Lan the Clever or Bran the Builder.
Awesome!!!
wonder if an ice dragon will make an entrance and be part of winds of winter??
Aside: I am absolutely amazed at the woman who still wearing skirts in the depths of a multi year worst-winter-ever. *shudder*
(And I shall be buying this in hardcover.)
OK – I’m getting aggravated.
I read the original story several years ago in the Dreamsongs collection and, to the best of my knowledge, it wholly predates GRRM’s conception of the ASOIF world. What is the proof that this is in the Song and Fire universe at all? Can someone get me the source for this claim – either something in the text that uses ASOIF places or an ex cathedra statement for GRRM? Otherwise, this is sounding like publisher-driven spin to try to drive up sales for a GRRM ancillary work.
Ice Dragons are myths in Westeros. Old Nan told stories of them and there is a constellation called the Ice Dragon. That’s not to say that one won’t show up, but unlike Valyrian dragons there’s no evidence for them.