I started reading this to prepare myself for the final season of the show. I’d previously read the first of the three short stories but I re-read it as part of this collection this year as it had been many years. I won’t comment, at least not too much, about the show but I must say that if you loved the books but don’t want the commitment of re-reading all of them (it’s a lot!) this is the perfect re-introduction to the series and a great reminder of how good A Song of Ice and Fire really is.
A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms is comprised of three short stories about Dunk and Egg. There is a little reveal about one of the characters in the first short story that is fun but also pretty obvious that I prefer not to ruin for anyone. The premise for each story is that a Hedge Knight, a knighted man who has not sworn fealty to any specific house, named Sir Duncan the Tall and his squire roam about Westeros and have adventures. That’s it. The first story involves many characters that have been referenced in the main series though all three have connections. This is a really good collection and worth a read. I bought it when it first came out even though I knew it was a money grab using older backlog titles and works to sell new books but I was not disappointed in anyway. You’d have to buy three very random collections in out of print books to track these down. Most importantly though, A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms reminds us how good GRRM really is. Also, I wish these stories were one of the possible HBO spinoffs.