George R. R. Martin - The Hedge Knight - Review

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Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

The Hedge Knight is a graphic adaptation of a short story by George R. R. Martin. It takes place about a hundred years before the opening of the first of the Ice and Fire novels, in Good King Daeron's reign, with the realm at peace and the Targaryen dynasty at its height.

In this prequel story to Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire, night falls over the life of one noble knight and brings the dawn of his squire Dunk's knighthood. Dubbing himself "Ser Duncan the Tall," Dunk sets forth to the tourney at Ashford Meadow in search of fame, glory, and the honour of upholding his oath as a knight of the Seven Kingdoms. Unfortunately for him, the world isn't ready for a knight who keeps his oaths, and his chivalrous methods could be the very cause of his demise. During his journey to the tourney, Dunk is joined by a bald little boy by the name of Egg, who turns out to be quite more than he seems...

As I haven't read the original short story I can't compare the two side by side, so I will focus on the graphic adaptation alone. Initially I was sceptic of how well any writing by Martin could be translated to a comic form, but by the end of the graphic novel, all my fears had been dispelled. The graphic novel does not seem to sacrifice details in favour of a more flashy and action-oriented presentation, so The Hedge Knight is quite wordy (in a good way!). The art is exceptionally beautiful and very fitting in style to the story itself, so I think a perfect balance between story and art has been achieved. There is enough of both to keep everyone satisfied.

Fans of magic might be a bit disappointed as they won't find any fireballs flying around in The Hedge Knight, since all the action scenes revolve around standard medieval warfare and equipment. However, there is a unique magic to this graphic adaptation as well. As I've already mentioned, the art is beautiful, and attention to detail painstaking. Those of us who delight in medieval armour, weapons, heraldry, philosophy and so on will really be sucked into the story. Which, being Martin's, is proverbially good. There is more to every character than meets the eye, as well as an important lesson to be learned by all. Dunk's is that truly chivalrous behaviour can come at a steep price, and that few good deeds ever go unpunished.

If I had to nitpick I'd point out that on a few pages the print is too close to the spine of the book so it is hard to read the text there or see the entire image, but this is just a minor annoyance. I would also appreciate page numbers (as there are none) for easier referencing, though I suppose this could potentially break immersion, so the book might be better off without them. All in all, The Hedge Knight is a brilliant introduction to the Ice and Fire saga, or, if you've already read the books, a valuable addition to the Ice & Fire lore collection. Highly recommended.

(I got my hands on the second edition of The Hedge Knight, though as far as I can tell, the only difference between this one and the original, besides the cover art, is some nice new artwork of a few characters in the back of the book. So if you have the first edition, you're not really missing anything.)

 

Short story, you mean? The Hedge Knight is based on a short story of Martin's only published in some fantasy collection as far as I know.

I heard Dunk is also mentioned in the actual Ice and Fire books though, and I've only recently started reading A Game of Thrones. I've had the first two books in my pile of to-read books for like 2 years, but I was always reading something else. They got priority treatment after I finished The Hedge Knight though.

 

I think you misunderstood me. It wasn't really an argument for anything. I just mentioned it for those who are new to Ice and Fire and expect magic to be standard fare like in FR. I knew why there wasn't any magic, actually...