Spoiler-free
This book has been sitting on my shelf for 10+ years, and with the TV show coming out, I figured I would finally get around to reading it. I’m glad I did and honestly, I deserve a good clout on the ear for leaving it this long. A Song of Ice and Fire is a very important series to me. I started reading it when I was around 13 as that first episode of the TV show came out. I don’t know what I was doing watching Game of Thrones so young, but the impact it had on me was huge! Obviously, we all know how the TV show fizzled out over time and the magic was lost, however the books were perhaps the sole inspiration for me to read deeper into the fantasy genre. And hey, now I write silly blog posts reviewing fantasy books, so I guess I have George R.R. Martin to thank for that.
Anyway, back to the book at hand. I guess the Game of Thrones burnout experienced by just about everyone no doubt contributed to me stalling reading A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, but I am definitely over that now. It was actually so much fun to be back in this world and felt incredibly nostalgic to me. I’m having to resist going back and rereading ASOIAF now, which I wasn’t expecting at all. I think it has definitely encouraged me to finally watch The House of the Dragon too, so that’s excellent news. Speaking of TV shows, I will give my thoughts on the first episode of the adaptation after the initial book review.
The Review
A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms is essentially a trilogy of novellas, cantered around a Hedge Knight called ser Duncan, the Tall and his squire, a bald boy named Egg.
A Hedge Knight is basically a wandering knight, searching for temporary work, such as at tourneys. They get their name as they are often found sleeping under hedges. Each novella centres around a different plotline, following on from the last. The events take place around 100 years before the events of A Game of Thrones, so you actually don’t require any prior understanding of the series before heading into this one. It probably helps, in terms of getting a better grip on the different houses and that, but in terms of plot, it’s really not necessary. The focus is all on Ser Duncan the Tall and Egg anyway.
Dunk stopped in the stable door and laughed. “I have no need of a squire,” he said.
“Every knight needs a squire,” the boy said. “You look as though you need one more than most.”
As you can probably already tell, these novellas have a much lighter, comedic tone than that of ASOIAF. Personally, I loved this. It was so refreshing to have a different, more fun perspective in the same gritty world we all know and love. Ser Duncan is a self proclaimed lunkhead and is outwitted by his squire, Egg, on numerous occasions, warranting Egg a 'good clout on the ear'. The relationship they have together is honestly so wholesome and just plain fun. I really wasn’t expecting this to be as comedic as it was.
As the sun was going down, Dunk marched their little company down into the cellar and forced them all to have a bath, even those who’d had one just last winter.
The book takes place over a fair few years, so you are also witness to the emotional bond which inevitably grows between our favourite Hedge Knight and our favourite bald boy. As mentioned before this book is split up into 3 novellas, so I’ll give my quick spoiler-free thoughts on each of them.
The Hedge Knight
The actual plot of these novellas is much more streamlined and focused, than that of ASOIF. Dunc is our only POV character, so we see the entire world through his, admittedly, narrow lens. The pacing is also considerably quicker, especially in this first of the Novellas The Hedge Knight, where we see Dunc attempt to enter the Tourney of Ashford Meadow to prove himself as a knight, gaining honour and glory. Naturally, Himself and Egg find themself entangled in much more than a simple tourney. So much happens in this novella, it’s kind of insane. It could have been a whole book in itself, but still does serve well as a novella and I appreciated it for the quick read it was.
🌕🌕🌕🌕🌖 4.5 stars
The Sworn Sword
The pacing did seem to slow down somewhat, by the time of the second Novella - The Sworn Sword. Here we see Dunc and Egg wrapped up in a feud revolving around a drought in the land, and a dam being built to limit water supply to neighbouring houses. This novella is much more politically forward than the others, which tends to me more tailored to my tastes, yet I found myself enjoying this one the least of the three. The pace definitely picks up after a while though, and I ended up really enjoying it by the end. It was funny seeing our loveable dork, Dunc, fumble his way to flirting.
🌕🌕🌕🌖🌑 3.75 Stars
The Mystery Knight
This third novella also follows Ser Duncan the Tall and his squire, Egg, as they attend yet another tourney. This time at Whitewalls. It doesn't take long to realise that this tourney is filled with even more treachery, political plots and deceit than the last. The Mystery Knight successfully culminates the action from The Hedge Knight, the political intrigue of The Sworn Sword and the emotional bonds built along the way to reach an epic climax. The setting of a tourney is definitely where this book shines, and what was missing in the second novella for me. It’s just so much fun having all these knights and lords in one place, scheming away with the backdrop of jousting match after jousting match.
🌕🌕🌕🌕🌖 4.5 Stars
The Illustrations.
I can’t believe I’ve not mentioned the illustrations yet! (Although I will no doubt have them scattered throughout the review after I’m done writing anyway). I’m a sucker for illustrated books, I really am. If I had it my way, every single book I read would be illustrated. I just think it adds such charm and is the cherry on top. Usually, when a book is illustrated there tends to be one every 30-50 pages or so. Not with this one… There’s illustrated pages more than there aren’t. There must be over 100 illustrations by Gary Gianni in this thing, and that’s insane! (There’s over 160 I just googled). These pencil drawings definitely helped bring these characters to life, either highlighting the humour of the moment.
Or amplifying the intense action of a battle.
Honestly, it was such a treat to read a book with so many drawings scattered throughout. Just about everything you could imagine was meticulously depicted at some point or other, so I really can’t complain…
Mr Martin Mini Rant
Now, there is a problem with this book though and that’s that it was written by a certain George R.R. Martin, who has a reputation of not finishing series. Before going into this, I presumed this was all self contained and featured a complete story. HAHAHA. How wrong I was… After finishing the third novella, I was hit with this…
The absolute nerve of this man! I was honestly quite happy after finishing the last page, reflecting on the fun times I've had spent with these characters. But no, George R.R. Martin just has to go and ruin it by feeding us empty promises and lies. I don’t want to know that there’s more stories of Dunc and Egg coming, because we all know it’s never gonna happen! It’s fine. I’m fine. I’m over it. That ASOIF reread definitely isn’t gonna happen now, that’s for sure.
Concluding Thoughts
Anyway, this was honestly a blast and not what I expected at all. It’s so refreshing having these novellas taking on a much more comedic and light-hearted tone, and focusing on a run of the mill Hedge Knight, simply traversing his way through the dark, grim landscape of Westeros. Bloody love it!
Overall Rating: 🌕🌕🌕🌕🌘 4.25 stars
Thoughts on the TV Show (so far)
Unfortunately, at the time of this review only the first episode has been released, so there’s not too much I can say about it just yet, but what an episode it was! It’s such a promising start and I’m very impressed! I love how they have managed to capture the comedic tone of the novellas, and not a beat was missed for me. They also seem to be fleshing out the story much more, as opposed to stripping back, which makes sense given the short length of the source material. I think episode one honestly covers about 25 pages of The Hedge Knight. This gives me hope that they are going to take their time and just have fun with our beloved Duncan and Egg. It makes me wonder if there’ll be 3 seasons, each dedicated to the corresponding novella. I'd be down for that! I have heard that Mr. George R.R. Martin has supplied a lot of material to the show runners but you never really know what that means... We all saw what happened to Game of Thrones...
The characterisation of Ser Duncan the Tall is perfect. Peter Claffey manages to capture both Dunc’s charming dim-wittedness and his warmth of heart. Not seen too much of Egg yet, but he is also showing promise! The episodes are much shorter at around 40 minutes long, which initially disappointed me. However, now I actually think it suits the style of the show a lot more and makes it quite a fun, digestible, quick watch. Here's hoping the rest of the season is as good as this first episode suggests and enough people respond well to it for it to be renewed. Too often shows nowadays are cancelled before given the proper chance...
Comments