A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms (Book)

 

A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms is a book of 3 short stories about a hedge knight named Dunk and his squire Egg. Set in Westeros around 100 years prior to the events of A Game of Thrones, Dunk wanders Westeros looking for work after his liege lord dies from a cold. The three separate stories form an overarching character arc for Dunk. At the end of the first story, it is revealed that Egg is actually Aegon Targaryen, a prince. Having read the books and watched the TV show A Game of Thrones, I'd say this book is written in a similar fashion. George Martin does a great job setting up scenes and the environment, but I'd say at times the number of listed characters can become a bit much to process. This is true in this book as well as in A Game of Thrones, though having watched the TV series helped me to understand the characters in the books quite a bit. A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms is also a hit show on HBO, though I haven't had a chance to watch it quite yet. I won't summarize the individual 3 stories contained in the book, but ChatGTP does a good job of summarizing the larger picture that the stories paint:

Dunk begins as an essentially nobody: a huge, poorly educated hedge knight with little money or status. Egg, meanwhile, is secretly a prince. Despite their radically different backgrounds, they become genuine friends. Egg is Aegon V Targaryen, who will eventually become king. That makes the stories especially interesting in hindsight. Dunk is essentially the common man's perspective on Westeros, while Egg gives us a window into the Targaryen royal family.

If you like A Game of Thrones then you'll like the stories in this book. They are well written and intriguing. One of my favorite parts of the book are the illustrations by Gary Gianni. Not only are they well done, but they do a good job of showing what is happening in the scene, and I think that visual cue added to my understanding of what was going on and how it would've looked. I liked having the illustrations, and I wish more books would incorporate them.