Eleven years on from its spectacular premier and three years since the disappointing finale, Game of Thrones (GoT) is back with a prequel show House of the Dragon (HotD). Set around two centuries before the main series, HotD tells the story of House Targaryen and the beginning of its fall leading to the events of GoT. The show is based on Fire & Blood, also written by George R. R. Martin. Unlike the critically acclaimed A Song of Ice and Fire — the series of novels GoT is based on — Fire & Blood was not well received due to Martin’s excessive exposition and the history textbook-like tone. However, the producers at HBO did an exceptional job transferring a weak source material into a much more bearable storytelling.

Fire & Blood covers the first half of the history of House Targaryen starting from its conquest of Westeros and ending with the “Dance of the Dragons”, an event sparsely mentioned throughout the main novels and GoT. HotD skips the first large chunk of the book and covers the “Dance of the Dragons” — the civil war between the Targaryens and their vassals for the Iron Throne, which eventually killed off most members of House Targaryen and their dragons. Because of its dry tone, Fire & Blood is an arduous read, and the producers of HotD made a great decision skipping the dull contents straight to the more exciting part of the book.

HotD rose above the book’s storytelling, providing an incredibly immersive experience for the audience. Fire & Blood employs a narrative where George R. R. Martin writes like a medieval historian of Westeros using several sources, some dubious. The intentions and emotions of every character are speculated from historical outcomes. Interestingly, the show retcons much of these guesses with new details. Most of these changes are present in the relationships of Rhaenyra Targaryen, mainly with her father Viserys Targaryen and with her friend Alicent Hightower. In the book, Rhaenyra’s relationship with her father is barely mentioned, but HotD fleshes out a continuously strained relationship convoluted by a lack of communication and court politics. Meanwhile, Rhaenrya and Alicent’s relationship is completely overhauled from political rivals to childhood friends whose relationship becomes estranged. These complex changes make the characters more charming and likable compared to their one-dimensional counterpart in Fire & Blood.

However, compared to GoT, HotD still has room for improvement. The first four episodes so far have been slow compared to GoT, which had a seat-gripping first season. Granted, the quality of the source material is incomparable, but considering how similar the two shows are, HotD has the potential to captivate viewers as GoT did. Both start with politics saturated with underhand scheming and conspiracies intermittently exploding into action. I believe HotD failed to pick up the pace like GoT because of the underwhelming experience the last season provided. This may have made the creators of HotD more cautious, stretching out the story since prospects for a second season were unclear, until HBO decided to renew the show for a second season after its premiere.

HotD also received some criticism from audiences for casting black actors to portray members of the House Velaryon — another house of Valyrian decent characterized by silver hair, purple eyes, and pale skin — and for the incestuous relationship between Rhaenrya and her uncle Daemon. The latter criticism seems contradictory as in GoT, Lannister twin’s incestuous (?) relationship went by without much problem and both the source material and show frequently mention how Targaryens practiced incestuous relationships like old monarchs in history. However, the casting decision with House Velaryon remains controversial. Personally, considering how both GoT and HotD left out the detail of purple eyes and how GoT received constant criticism for the lack of racial diversity in its cast, the HotD’s choice for this casting doesn’t seem like a drastic change from the source material. Unfortunately, with recent similar casting controversies in Disney’s live action Little Mermaid, Snow White and Amazon’s The Lord of the Rings: Rings of Power, HotD is also pulled into the messy debate between choosing a diverse cast and staying faithful to source material.

Overall, House of the Dragon does its best with a flimsy source, but has yet to meet the expectations of viewers who remember the hype and excitement Game of Thrones gave. So far four episodes out of ten have aired, and the show has yet to reach its climatic “Dance of the Dragons”. Hopefully, the next six episodes pick up the pace and remind the audience that Westeros still has captivating stories to tell.