This is a great book for Game of Thrones fans. I have missed watching Game of Thrones and have enjoyed reliving it through this book. It is interesting to read about all of the similarities to history.

Great Book! And I enjoyed writing my chapter! I Think the publication could have been bettered timed with the final season. The publication date many of the chapters obsolete.

As a huge fan of Game of Thrones, I enjoyed this book. I found it to be a more interesting way of explaining today's conflicts. They didn't wait for the final season of Game of Thrones to come out before releasing this book, so some of the speculative endings for arcs don't quite work, but maybe that's for the best.

This is a great book for Game of Thrones fans. I have missed watching Game of Thrones and have enjoyed reliving it through this book. It is interesting to read about all of the similarities to history.

I am embarrassed to admit I am not very interested in history unless it has cinematic drama added to it.

I received this galley from NetGalley.

Timing is wrong

As with any book of essays, some are better than others. Here there seem to be more clunkers than gems. There are a couple of reasons, I think.

First, the book was written in Season 7, before the series' shocking ended. Most writers are pretty cheery about the show's arc and at this late date their cheerfulness falls flat.

Second, and this is more problematic, the writers don't all seem to have this book's subtitle firmly in mind when they wrote. Rather than explain today's conflicts in terms of GOT, they explain GOT in terms of today's conflicts.

Beyond that, as is often the case when academics attempt explication of science fiction and fantasy, these authors forget that their readers often know far more about the book, movie, or series than the visiting academics. This came up with a book on weapons published in 2016 that I reviewed:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/customer-reviews/R2Z44362MFZFCQ?ref=pf_ov_at_pdctrvw_srp

I suspect here that the people who have more direct experience with military strategy than I do will say the same thing from the other direction.

So my recommendation is not to buy this book. If you are interested, try to find it in a library. Test each chapter and read the ones you like.

Less compelling than I had hoped, but perhaps that is more of a symptom of wanting more from the overall story than can be expected.

However, this collection of erudite essays delving into the statecraft of one of the most popular shows of all time is well worth reading. Any serious fan of the show will find this book to be both an excellent supplement towards understanding the world of the story and a solid lens through which to critically examine our own real world.

Also, it becomes painfully clear just how rushed and sloppy the final season's narratives were as several the essays gesture towards a conclusion that is never even sniffed at by the showrunners.

Winning Westeros is perfect for any Game of Thrones fan who happens to be a history buff. Informative and entertaining while still remaining light, this book provides readers with tidbits of historical anecdotes that influenced some of our favorite moments and characters in the A Song of Ice and Fire Universe.

If you like Art of War, you'll like Winning Westeros.
Short essays breaking down the strategies and pros/cons of the TV series, well organized, and a great idea for a book.

Although interesting, it is unfortunately difficult to read this collection of essays without having the rushed mess that was season 8 of Game of Thrones hovering at the back of one's mind. These essays were clearly written before the final season had been released, and it shows—rather painfully, in the cheerful discussions of Dany, Jon Snow, etc. The dissonance between the amount of work put into these analyses and the show itself is jarring, and I do think timing is the issue. Perhaps if it had been released earlier, I might have more eagerly devoured this book. However, as it stands, with GoT having come to a tepid end, this book is a difficult read.

This book is something that I would not normally have picked up to read. I am a fan of Game of Thrones, but definitely the books more than the television show. I only watched part of season 1 and couldn't really take the blood and gore. But I saw this on NetGalley right around the time everyone was talking about the show's finale, so I figured I'd give it a go. It would at least be interesting.

It was very interesting! I learned a lot! This is a collection of essays that uses both real world examples and other fictional examples to really go into detail of what makes the Game of Thrones world seems so real. I am not as knowledgeable about history as I should be, so seeing something that I am familiar with compared to World War I, World War II, the Gulf War, and other real-life military engagements was fascinating. I particularly thought it was interesting (and funny) how they compared Daenerys's dragons to the emergence of airplanes in modern military history. Hey, it's the reason why there aren't a lot of walled cities anywhere anymore - they don't stop airplanes! They don't stop dragons all that much either. 

Like any collection of essays, some were hit and miss. I definitely enjoyed some more than others - some were very, very dry, but others incredibly interesting. Some of my favorites were "The Source of Tyrion Lanister's Unlikely Survival and Success" by Joe Byerly, "Game of Pwns: Baelish and Varys as Drivers of Modern Conflict" by Nina A. Kollars, and "From Brienne of Tarth to Lyanna Mormont: Shifting Attitudes about Women in Combat" by Kelsey Cipolla.

If you are a history buff, this would definitely be up your alley. Lots of interesting facts and details that I know I never thought about before. If you are a Game of Thrones fan, maybe give this as go as well, just to see how these stories are not as fantastical or far-fetched as you might think.

This is a combination of fictional Westeros with real-life conflicts. Some of the discussions made more sense to me than others, but all in all, I think that the combination adds value. Don't be surprised that the book was written before the final season, though -- some of its analysis won't be in sync with the changes readers experienced during that final season. A fun concept!

There are several excellent essays in this book, but like all collections of this sort it’s a mixed bag. Several of the essays suffer from being too short or from focusing much too strenuously on how the events of the show apply to modern warfare instead of on illuminating our understanding of GoT and ASoIaF. Most people who pick up this collection will undoubtedly b more interested in discussion of the series than in issues of modern warfare, and it is in the area of series analysis that the collection disappoints. For example, I was eager to read about the characters Brienne of Tarth and Lyanna Mormont; however, that essay gave me no insight into those women and their actions. The timing of the collection is unfortunate as well; obviously these essays were written prior to season 8. All the praise here for Dany is sad, in retrospect. (And the nitpicking fan in me has to point out the many errors and inconsistencies in the text. It’s “Rickon,” not “Rikkon,” for example. And Westerosi knights are addressed as “Ser,” not “Sir.”)