I walk to work every day.. it’s about a 10k round trip. If I didn’t walk I’d probably get a bit larger round my waist as I am a bit of a piggy. I think the magical link between my stomach and brain might be broken. There’s a real disorder that causes people to have a constant desire to eat.. I wanted to spell it Prada Willy but to save embarrassment I looked it up and it’s actually Prader-Willi. I prefer my version.

I enjoy the walk, I’m not sure if that’s because I like walking or because I listen to audio books and that distracts me enough to do it every day. Anyway I digress, I’ve put this entry under books, but as you may have guessed I actually listened to the Audio book. I listen to books via Audible, yes I know Amazon own Audible and they are the anti-christ but I’ve not found a good alternative yet.

I’ve read (not listened) to all the current Game of Thrones books, and I liked them all. Which led me to this, it’s a collection of the first three official prequel novellas which are The Hedge Knight (1998), The Sworn Sword (2003) and The Mystery Knight (2010). It’s 9 hours 59 minutes long (in case you were wondering) and is narrated by Harry Lloyd. The books don’t really tie in or compliment the main series, they are just nice little novellas.

I don’t want to explain the whole plot here as I hate it when I read book reviews and they contain spoilers. So I’ll just give you the basics of whether I thought it was the best thing since sliced bread (another British only saying?), or complete and utter codswhallop (I’m on a roll with phrases now) or somewhere in between.

The style of writing to me appears very different to the Game of Thrones series, the writing style is informal, almost jovial and care free rather than the usual deep, descriptive style. But in parts of the books you can see the tell tale signs of Mr Martin in the descriptive content . The two characters, Egg and Dunk are likable which always helps me engage with a story. The characters aren’t complex in the history provided but there’s enough information for you to care about them both, especially by the end of the third book.

“all men are fools, and all men are knights, where women are concerned.”

The three stories tell how Dunk and Egg meet and their adventures together, it’s a tried and tested formula in Fantasy and one which if it wasn’t linked in to the Game of Thrones series wouldn’t have enticed me to read it if I’m honest. My favourite book out the three was The Hedge Knight, it’s a cheeky little story and feels like the most complete of the three. 

I think the narrator Harry Lloyd does a really good job here, his style of narration really suits the books and I’ve nothing to complain about.  I’m pretty sure I’d still have enjoyed the text version, but if you do have the facility to listen to the audio book I’d recommend it. If you like fantasy books and have read and enjoyed The Game of Thrones series then I’d definitely give them a go, or perhaps if you don’t like the politics in the Game of Thrones series but do like easy going fantasy then give it a go. Other than that they may not be for you.

I looked forward to listening each day while I walked, they made me smile and I’d give them a good healthy 4 out of 5. Thanks George.