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I can’t really answer that, but I can say I find the subject matter fascinating and relating it to a show with which I’m familiar helps ground the material a little for me. So I really enjoy it, even knowing that the Dothraki have little basis in real world history.

I agree it's an interesting read, but it would actually be more accessible if it wasn't confusingly dressed up with things like "Mongols never did this, ergo Martin erred seriously!"

I mean, okay, maybe real world Steppe peoples would have been subject to variations in dialect. Do I need pages of stuff telling me that the absence of a sentence like "Dany couldn't understand that one guy very well because he spoke a confusing dialect of Dothraki" is a glaring oversight? If there's one thing the series doesn't need it's a whole other novel that goes even further in detailing the misery of navigating the cultural differences on Essos. One ADWD is plenty.

"Do I need pages of stuff telling me that the absence of a sentence like "Dany couldn't understand that one guy very well because he spoke a confusing dialect of Dothraki" is a glaring oversight"

As a reader, you certainly don't need that to enjoy the books.

But since GRRM claims that the Dothraki are based on reality "seasoned with a dash of pure fantasy" it's worth pointing out that based on what's actually in the books themselves it's the other way around: the Dothraki are fantasy seasoned with a dash of reality.

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