Monday 9 July 2012

The Sworn Sword

Courtesy of Diana Gabaldon's website
Author: George R.R. Martin
Genre: Novella, Fantasy
Rating: A-

The second in the Tales of Dunk and Egg series, “The Sworn Sword” follows hedge knight Duncan the Tall and his royal squire, Egg, into the service of the landed knight Eustace Chequey.  Chequey’s family were once great lords in the Reach but have since fallen on hard times, made all the much harder by a drought that is ravishing the land.  It is up to Dunk and Egg to discover just what’s happened to the Chequey water, preferably without starting a war between Chequey and the Lady Rohanne, Chequey’s wealthier neighbour.  It is also up to Dunk to show Egg a bit of humility – neither of which prove to be particularly easy tasks.

I said in “The Hedge Knight” that it was nice to read a Martin story without being constantly confused; in “The Sworn Sword” this confusion returns.  Not in full force, thankfully, but there are plenty of references to what happened to the duo in Dorne that lead the reader to question just what the hell happened in Dorne – and what happened with Tanselle Too-Tall.  This story reveals a lot more of the history of Westeros, although unlike its predecessor this is more in the form of what Dunk learns about his surroundings and in the exchanges between him and Egg than in their actual actions.  I really like the growing relationship between Dunk and Egg – more so here than in “The Hedge Knight” – and I enjoy the way in which this future king is being taught.  Of course, I think I would enjoy a story that dealt with dragons more, but I understand why Martin is straying from this – it makes sense both from the perspective of the plot and from that of training Egg in general.  My one thought at the end of this story was that I really hope “The Mystery Knight” doesn’t jump too far forward, as I would really like to see Dunk and Egg at the Wall.

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