A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms by George R.R. MartinMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
I really enjoyed this short story collection about Maester Aemon’s brother when he was a squire for Sir Duncan the Tall. I think, perhaps, because these short stories didn’t have to do the heavy lifting for the main narrative in A Song of Ice and Fire, they get to be lighter and more fun fare. At the same time, it does fill in a bit of backstory for Westeros and provide the ability for GRRM to give us examples of how history repeats itself.
The latter two stories function almost like mysteries in which the reader is trying, along with Dunk, to figure out why things aren’t quite exactly the way they seem. As that’s one of the genres I enjoy, it was fun to see it in a medieval setting.
It was also amusing that Dunk is constantly threatening to hit Egg and yet we never see it happen. I wonder if the joke is that he never does it or that he would deign to do that to a member of the royal family.
Whether or not you enjoyed the books in A Song of Ice an Fire, if you enjoyed most of A Game of Thrones (who could possible enjoy that last season?), you should check out this short story collection.
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