Druon, Maurice, “The Iron King” (Harper Collins: 1955), tr. Humphrey Hare
Link :Amazon, Goodreads. Price at time of review: £6.99
At the beginning of the 14th century King Phillip IV is trying to release France from an age of serfdom at the same time as managing incompetent sons, faithless daughters-in-law and a scheming Queen of England (who happens to also be his daughter.) But will it be his final, bloody victory against the order of the Knights Templar that the brings an end to his reign and launch Europe into the hundred years war?
The 1st book of Maurice Druon’s famous “Accursed Kings” series is packed with intrigued, sexuality, betrayal, and bloody murder. He somehow manages to turn his detailed knowledge of the period (Druon was a celebrated historian, member of the académie française and holder of the legion of honour) into the sort of page turner you cannot put down.
I am now going to move directly onto unjustly insulting GRR Martin. Martin, author of the Song of Ice and Fire series popularised by television’s “Game of Thrones.” Martin wrote the preface to the edition of The Iron King I own, in which he included the classic “if you love Game of Thrones you’ll love this” line. He is right. However, it might have been more accurate to say that if you love Game of Thrones you may be ready to graduate to the Accursed Kings.
The Iron King is superior in every way. The writing is fluid, concise, and fast moving; his world building is superb (which might seem strange, as he’s building a world that actually existed – but he makes you feel like you are there as well as teaching you history in the way you wish your history teacher had); he never wastes a moment on unnecessary detail (cough Martin cough), and manages to build a strong empathy with these strange childlike adults who hold the power of life and death like an infant holds unwanted Lego. Equally, and again like Game of Thrones, these are adults who might die at any time – no matter how much you care for them– and that makes every page exciting.
So, having done Martin a disservice, I will add that his preface is utterly modest, and without his intervention it’s possible that the last books in the series might never have been translated into English – I do rather like Game of Thrones (not so much A Song of Ice and Fire) but Martin’s greatest service to literature may end up making more people read Druon.
If you like historical fiction, this book is an essential. If you liked A Song of Ice and Fire, take Martin’s word for it, and read Druon. If you like dark fantasy, serious fantasy, fantasy more focused on characters than dragons (i.e. You can survive a fantasy book where nobody fires magic missile or makes a werewolf joke), then you really owe yourself to give this a try as well.
The best thing? There are six more in the series. On top of that, these stories are based on stuff that actually happened. If nothing else, it will make you re-evaluate Donald Trump on the world list of incompetent leaders (although probably not by much.)
Rating: *****
PS. For all my cheap shots, it is well worth checking out GRR Martin as he is a good writer – particularly some of his older science-fiction (not to mention he was the guy who proved you could write Science-Fiction Horror, and thus is a precursor to, amongst other things, Alien). Saying you are not as good as Druon is a bit liked saying you don’t deliver free kicks as well as David Beckham. That still gives you plenty of room to be good at football!
