Book Review: A Knight Of The Seven Kingdoms by George R. R. Martin
How great it is to be back in Westeros!
A Knight Of The Seven Kingdoms is a very different books to those in the Song Of Ice And Fire series (that’s Game of Thrones, by the way), and Fire & Blood (House of the Dragon). Whereas both those book series are massive epics that tell complex, interwoven tales from a myriad of perspectives and often from different, unreliable narrators’ points of view, A Knight of The Seven Kingdoms is simple. It’s just about a knight and a squire.
And oh my, is it refreshing!
A Knight of The Seven Kingdoms follows the adventure of sir Duncan “Dunk” the Tall, a former squire, now hedge-knight, and the boy he happens upon and takes on as his own squire: Egg. Dunk is seven foot tall and strong as an ox, eager to make a name for himself as a knight, and Egg is clever and mysterious, and full of secrets. Together they set out in the wide world of Westeros, looking to find their place in it. The book is a collection of three novellas, collectively named Tales of Dunk and Egg, and include The Hedge Knight, The Sworn Sword, and The Mystery Knight.
Martin writes the way he always does. Lavish, detailed, and occasionally over the top when it comes to colors, clothes and food, but still the story is surprisingly easy to grasp, and pulls you in immediately. I remember being impressed with how easy it was to get into A Song Of Ice and Fire when I first read that (’cause honestly, those books are massive).
One thing that occasionally gets a bit confusing are the names of people and places. It’s difficult to keep track of who’s who and what’s what, perhaps especially for me, because I read mostly on audiobook these days. But it’s a good thing then that A Knight Of The Seven Kingdoms is much smaller in scale than for example A Song Of Ice and Fire. There’s not so many interwoven plot lines, and many fewer characters. It’s all about Dunk and Egg, really, and therein lies the beauty of it, because the whole thing read like a buddy-cop procedural show… except it’s set in the middle ages and there’s magic and dragons.
Like I said above, it’s a refreshing breath of fresh air to get down on the ground level and just focus on a handful of characters, but still be able to come back to Westeros. I’ve grown to love the world Martin has created over the years, and I am eager to see more of it (looking at you, Winds of Winter and Fire & Blood II!), but this is a very good alternative to those massive stories in those thick tomes. So if you’re looking for a fun little, bite-sized piece of Westeros to nibble on, I can highly recommend this! If you start now, you’ll be finished just in time for the new TV-series.
Have you read A Knight of The Seven Kingdoms? Do you have plans to? Did you like it, or are you just holding on hope that Winds of Winter will be published in our lifetime? Let me know in the comments! I’d love to hear about it!
As always, I’d love it if you checked out my books! If you’re into crime thrillers or psychological horror, you’ll love The Columbus Archives or At The Gate. If you’re into short stories, I’ve also written fantasy, science fiction and speculative stories in anthologies and online. Check it out!
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