A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms: A Review

While you wait for the long-anticipated release of the Winds of Winter, you can get your Westeros fix with A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, which was released earlier this year. George R.R. Martin's latest novel is a compilation of the Tales of Dunk and Egg, a set of three novellas that were written between 1998 and 2010.

I've been looking forward to reading this book since it came out (although college got in the way until now). It takes place about one hundred years before the events in A Game of Thrones and follows the story of Dunk, "Ser Duncan the Tall," and Egg, Aegon Targaryen. (For context, "Egg" is  Aegon V, the grandfather of Daenerys Targaryen's father -- making him her great-grandfather.)

Although this book is not the sweeping, epic drama that the ASOIAF series provides, it is a well written jolt of light hearted entertainment and a glimpse at the history of the ASOIAF world. The stories bypass great battles and crises, instead centering on the adventures of Dunk -- a hedge knight -- and his unlikely squire, a young Targaryen prince. Their unlikely friendship is the ultimate odd couple; they travel across the Seven Kingdoms, meeting trouble and tourneys at every turn. I won't go over all the details, but suffice it to say that it is a fine piece of GRRM storytelling with plenty of twists and turns. (Also, as an added treat, the illustrations are amazingly gorgeous).

Young Egg with a Dragon's Egg

However, the central point of Knight is the slow and tumultuous decline of House Targaryen. Throughout the novel's three hundred some odd pages, we see Targaryen heirs die and rebellion foment -- not to mention that the Blackfyre rebellion is still a fresh wound. Succession crises set aside, A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms makes it clear that the final Targaryens were poor leaders (at best) in troubled times. Avid readers of ASOIAF will realize that the events of Knight are really quite recent in the scheme of Westerosi history, especially considering that the plot of ASOIAF leans heavily on the backstory of the Targaryen dynasty. I know that I will definitely have Knight in the back of my head the next time I re-read ASOIAF. At the very least, true fans of the series will love glimpse at the folkloric, Westerosi heroes who dot the ASOIAF series. My favorite moment was the brief appearance of Maester Aemon, who pronounces Dunk one inch short of seven feet tall.

All in all, I enjoyed this book (who can resist a peek at Maester Aemon's little brother). It differs from ASOIAF in tone, however, with GRRM's masterful storytelling and Gary Gianni's beautiful illustrations, it is well worth a read. Sit down, lean back, and read and enjoy as you wait for the Winds of Winter.

Valar dohaeris