I'm pretty open about my dislike for George R.R. Martin's untimeliness, but it has given me a chance to further explore more of his works. There are some decent works outside of Westeros, but as I am a big fan of the ASOIAF books (going so far as to own the Game Of Thrones cookbook), I couldn't help exploring the alleged 'prequel' novellas involving the characters Dunk and Egg. And, boy, did I fall for one hell of a marketing ploy - an unnecessary one at that! If you're picking up The Hedge Knight (A Knight Of The Seven Kingdoms) in hopes of exploring your favorite ASOIAF characters, in which there are plenty of stories that could be told about them, prepare to be sorely disappointed. This novella is a prequel to the state of the world, not the inhabitants you've been following for the better of... seemingly forever. No, The Hedge Knight aims to take you back to a simpler time - when things like chivalry and honor still existed, somewhat, in the Seven Kingdoms. There is no magic, dragons, Whitewalkers, zombie bears, wildlings, incestuous relationships... but there are Targaryens, and you can bet that wherever they are, there is sure to be a little political intrigue. With The Hedge Knight, Martin dials back his staple of massive multi-character story-lines, and instead opts to tell the entirety of the tale from the viewpoint of Dunk, a simple man who aims to put himself in the boots of a Knight, as his master was. While Dunk is a relatively good-natured man, he doesn't shy away from lying to get what he wants. For instance, he's never been Knighted, but he knows enough about the process to lie and enters the tourney. Of course, he soon finds that this world of Knights and Lords is a little different then he imagined - more of a popularity contest, then he imagines, and his views on Knighthood often clash with everyone else's. It's a smaller struggle then those you'd see in the main ASOIAF series, but I feel like it was a issue that a man would have in this world - at least, while war, magic, and metaphysical beings weren't threatening everything. A good portion, though I admit not as much as I'd thought, of this story is the relationship between Dunk and a boy he meets, Egg. Both of them are oddities in this world: Dunk being a honest, yet not so intelligent, man who seems things in a rather simple way, and Egg, who is a young, extremely intelligent, boy who has strong opinions on what a Knight should be, and is drawn to Dunk because of this. The latter also has a backstory that ties heavily into the plot, but I'll try not to spoil it for you. Together these two oddballs attempt to enter a tourney, with Egg as Dunk's squire . No, they don't really get embroiled in some massive plot, but there is a bit of intrigue to be had near the end of this tale. Which is nice and doesn't pull the story so far from whats expected from ASOIAF that it's completely alien. There are more of these stories out there, and I honestly am surprised more people don't know about them. It's true that The Hedge Knight is not the most complex thing Martin's wrote, nor is Westeros as dark and gritty as it's portrayed in either the original book series or the GoT television series. However, there really is enough of that to be had in the books, and I really enjoyed exploring a more contained plot in a friendlier world - The Hedge Knight shows readers how far the Seven Kingdoms have fell in a span of roughly a hundred years, -L. BROOKS
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Some years ago, I picked up the A Song of Ice and Fire series in hopes that, perhaps, enough time had passed since the last book that it's writer, George R.R. Martin, might finish the series. Maybe it was a stupid assumption, or hope, but the fame of the television series really had me sure that, maybe, Martin would pull together and complete his most successful series. He wouldn't. I can't tell you how many times, over the last several years, that I've followed every possible tidbit about the forthcoming book 'The Winds of Winter,' getting my hopes up every time Mr. Martin claimed that 'it will be finished this year' or how far progress was coming, how he was writing it, or how it was about to be dropped as this massive 1500 page epic that editors and publishers would just hate for the length alone. Aside from a few iffy preview chapters, almost none of this amounted to anything. Constant delays, theories that the writer was looking for other writers to possibly take up the mantle if he passed on. Yeah, the George RR Martin was busy too - hitting up every single book related event that you could think of, soaking up fame, appearing in documentaries, expanding side projects, hosting airings of the HBO adaption of ASOIAF in Sante Fe, and just about everything but finishing this series - even to this day he does these things. Where the hell is 'The Winds of Winter'? Well, recently, it's apparently come to light that the book will be released during, or possibly after, the final season of HBO's Game of Thrones, a show that had dipped in quality since and failed to be faithful to its source material for quite a while. There are talks of this decision being made due to spoilers, but that is a flimsy excuse - as I've said, the television show has not been faithful for some time, and, wouldn't you know it, 'The Winds of Winter' isn't even supposed to be the final book. No, that is supposed to be 'A Dream of Spring' - does that mean that the television series will not feature even a scant depiction of this content, or is it that elements have already been put into the series? What is going on here? Well, to me, it feels like maybe George RR Martin is enjoying all the fame and respect he's garnered over the books and television series. He is an old man, but he's also a writer who has worked very hard to obtain little in his lifetime - now he has something he can hold onto in his age. Every bout of fame for him, as I've gathered from numerous interviews and Q&As, has been extremely momentary, and whenever his ideas strayed too far from a path others found acceptable, he suffered for it (example: The cancellation and handling of the original Beauty and the Beast TV series). There are even moments in his life that he's spoken of, in interviews, where people had become his friends in times of fame and fortune, only to abruptly drop him when they were over. It wouldn't be too far-fetched to think that maybe these delays and happening because Mr. Martin doesn't want to fizzle out of the spotlight. Things are good, he's cemented himself in both television and literature, but he knows well that these things are fleeting. Who would want to lose that? Nobody, I'd gather. -L. BROOKS |
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