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A fully illustrated guide to the characters of Game of Thrones

Since we’ve just had an odd-numbered season, there’s no major Companion this year (we get them every two), so HBO has come up with a different way to mark the end of the latest round of treachery, double-dealing and high drama with this guide to the various houses – including a sneaky way, I suspect, of getting some of the photography from the Game of Thrones travelling exhibition out to a wider audience, given the number of costume shots.

Each House’s motto, home and members (family and court) are given, with brief biographies for each of the characters (and yes, according to this, one particular person about whom there’s been some controversy has been murdered), along with full page shots of one of the people involved. This is fantastic for those who know the series… less so for those who don’t instantly recognise the people although you can go back and peer at the tiny pictures on the family tree page to work it out.

The design of the book on the whole is good, but there’s dark red text against a black background on the family trees which is difficult to work out – interestingly the designer gets a credit, but the text writer does not!

It’s not the only book out there – the two new minikits (Three-Eyed Raven Kit and Collectible Longbow Sword Kit) each have 48 page booklets of photography. (Booklet being the operative word – they’re tiny!) Each is a useful aide-memoire.

GOT RiskAnd no look at the Game of Thrones material released for Christmas could miss out the board game… To go alongside the already available Monopoly is the far more appropriate RISK. To say the standard world domination game has been customised would be a large understatement (the ability to switch to 8-sided dice is not normally part of the game!), but I suspect this will be of interest to those who enjoy the standard game and are looking for new variants, Game of Thrones connection notwithstanding.

Verdict: A strong line up of merchandise for the Game of Thrones fan.

Noble Houses: 8/10

Minikits: 8/10

RISK: 9/10

Paul Simpson

Click here to go to the HBO shop where these and much more are availale