House of the Dragon is the canonical prequel to the world's favourite fantasy television series, Game of Thrones, itself an adaptation of 'A Song of Ice and Fire' from George RR Martin and further showing that there's plenty of room for Westeros to grow on the small screen inside and out of the Stark, Baratheon and Lannister Families.

Sure this series is a slower burner than Game of Thrones' best stories, but it's not deadbeat boring or monotonous; instead House of the Dragon has a more singular focus on the Targaryen Family some 170+ years before Daenerys changed the fate of The Seven Kingdoms forever. And this shift to singular family stuff is a far cry from the world-sprawling and 'character-jumping' seen in Game of Thrones, but it still works because we're seeing more of Westeros' unspoken history play out on the screen.

House of the Dragon has stuff that plays RIGHT into viewers' expectations yet there's also stuff that's far-fetched from their expectations too. And though it's a prequel, there's not a SINGLE familiar face in sight and keeps the story safe from 'prequelitis' where you KNOW one of the characters is gonna be okay in the end. Everyone's drawn from new blood here, and we're gonna see how it ties to the Game of Thrones show before the show is over.

Overall, though the show isn't medium-shattering entertainment (yet) like Game of Thrones turned out to be, House of the Dragon is a nice return to a world we were clearly not over with. We're back in the Westeros playbook; and we're gonna see more stuff that's diving deeper into the world we grew to love in the first place.

House of the Dragon may please some; it may frustrate some; but it's an earnest Game of Thrones continuation giving us assurances that Season 8 was not the end of the story by a long shot.

This relatively brand new show is a hit. Maybe not for EVERYONE, but for those who were aching for more Westeros, it's a welcome addition to our beloved world. 4/5 stars.