A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms (HBO Tie-In Edition)

A Song of Ice and Fire

By: George R. R. Martin

Narrated by: Harry Lloyd

AN HBO ORIGINAL SERIES, COMING JANUARY 2026

Taking place nearly a century before the events of A Game of Thrones, A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms compiles the three official prequel novellas to George R. R. Martin's ongoing masterwork, A Song of Ice and Fire.

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY LOS ANGELES TIMES AND BUZZFEED

These collected adventures recount an age when the Targaryen line still holds the Iron Throne, and the memory of the last dragon has not yet passed from living consciousness. Before Tyrion Lannister and Podrick Payne, there was Dunk and Egg. A young, naïve but ultimately courageous hedge knight, Ser Duncan the Tall towers above his rivals—in stature if not experience. Tagging along is his diminutive squire, a boy called Egg—whose true name is hidden from all he and Dunk encounter. Though more improbable heroes may not be found in all of Westeros, great destinies lay ahead for these two . . . as do powerful foes, royal intrigue, and outrageous exploits.

A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms is a must-have collection that proves chivalry isn't dead—yet.

“Stirring . . . As Tolkien has his Silmarillion, so [George R. R.] Martin has this trilogy of foundational tales. They succeed on their own, but in addition, they succeed in making fans want more.”—Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

Critic reviews

“Readers who already love [George R. R.] Martin and his ability to bring visceral human drama out of any story will be thrilled to find this trilogy brought together and injected with extra life.”—Booklist

“The real reason to check out this collection is that it’s simply great storytelling. Martin crafts a living, breathing world in a way few authors can. . . . [Gary Gianni’s illustrations] really bring the events of the novellas to life in beautiful fashion.”—Tech Times

“Stirring . . . As Tolkien has his Silmarillion, so [George R. R.] Martin has this trilogy of foundational tales. They succeed on their own, but in addition, they succeed in making fans want more.”—Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

“Pure fantasy adventure, with two of the most likable protagonists George R. R. Martin has ever penned.”—Bustle

“A must-read for Martin’s legion of fans . . . a rousing prelude to [his] bestselling Song of Ice and Fire saga . . . rich in human drama and the colorful worldbuilding that distinguishes other books in the series.”—Publishers Weekly

I was worried about the reader...

because it wasn't Roy Dotrice. But I shouldn't have been. Excellent narration and an excellent story. This is a great addition to The Song of Ice and Fire stories while we wait FOREVER for the next book!

Good, Not Great

The story gives some history of Westeros but doesn't offer anything of necessity. I only recommend if you need a GoT fix until book 6 is released.

The performance is really good however, Harry Lloyd would read a bit too quiet at times for a line or two. It made it rather difficult to hear while driving but he didn't do it long enough to make any real negative impact. Lloyd's narration and acting is up there with the best I've heard from audiobooks.

“Do you want a clout on the ear?”

George R. R. Martin’s A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms (2015) collects three entertaining novellas about the odd knight and squire couple Dunk and Egg. The stories take place about 100 years prior to the events of The Game of Thrones and add texture and pleasure to the rich, long history of Martin’s famous secondary world.

In the start of “The Hedge Knight” (1998) teenage Dunk, already closer to seven feet tall than to six, buries Ser Arlan of Pennytree, the man who rescued him from life as a street urchin in Flea Bottom and made him his squire, teaching him how to ride and fight and be an honorable hedge knight, loyally serving whatever lord he chooses to work for, protecting the weak, and keeping himself clean (which means bathing once per month). Before dying, Ser Arlan knighted Dunk. The new knight goes to participate in a tourney at Ashford Mead, where he gets a new suit of armor, a new name (Ser Duncan the Tall), a new sigil (shooting star over an elm tree), a new unattainable love interest (the Dornish puppetress Tanzel Too Tall), and best of all a new squire, a bald boy with violet eyes and the odd name Egg. “Dunk the lunk, thick as a castle wall” finally learns that his new squire is more than he seems. Egg is a superb companion: intelligent, knowledgeable about heraldry and history, loyal, and mouthy. Dunk is always warning him, “Do you want a clout on the ear,” a comical refrain because he (almost) never hits the boy.

“The Sworn Sword” (2003) finds Dunk and Egg during a drought in the service of Ser Eustace Osgrey, a sad, lonely, aging, almost senile landed knight who, due to his having fought on the losing side in a Targaryen civil war between half-brothers (one legitimate, one bastard) about fifteen years earlier, has been reduced to living in a broken down tower fort while his neighbor, Lady Rohanne Webber, nicknamed the Red Widow because all four of her husbands have died, thrives in a castle with dozens of men-at-arms and knights and crossbowmen and a maester clever at building dams. Ser Eustace has only one other knight in his service besides Dunk, the sour-leaf chewing, insult spewing, bad-cheese smelling, peasant bullying Ser Bennis of the Brown Shield. The role Dunk and Egg play in the feud between Ser Eustace and Lady Rohanne is comical, cool, and moving.

In “The Mystery Knight” (2010) Dunk ignores Egg’s advice to not participate in a wedding tourney at White Walls castle, an event attended by a handful of colorful hedge knights and lord knights, many of the latter veterans of the now sixteen-years-old failed rebellion. Just who is that Ser John the Fiddler, a handsome young hedge knight who seems too wealthy and cocky to belong to Dunk’s calling? The story shows Dunk learning lessons in drinking, jousting, betting, scheming, and wedding as well as Dunk and Egg’s relationship being suspensefully threatened and movingly affirmed.

No one does the pageantry, paraphernalia, and violence of knights--costumes, sigils, armor, weapons, rituals, betrayals, triumphs, tournaments, melees, etc.--better than Martin. Each story features violent action, humorous conversation, and sensual pleasure (bath, feast, wine, etc.). Each story features vivid descriptions, of things like a warhorse charging (“Spatters of mud spraying back”), a burnt woods (“fiery islands in a sea of ashes”), a fight to the death in a river (“The fish flashed past his face”), and a giant wedding pie (“brown and crusty and immense and there were noises coming from inside it”). Each story has a turning point that hinges on honor, a temptation for Dunk to take an easy way (say, to become a lord’s knight in a castle instead of a hedge knight on the road) that he with varying degrees of regret and pride refuses. Each also features unsentimental life wisdom, like “Gods have a taste for cruel japes,” “They all look the same after a few days on a spike,” and “Some old dead king gave his sword to one son instead of the other, and that was the start of it. And now I’m standing here.”

The audiobook reader Harry Lloyd has perfect pacing and an appealing manner, but whenever he reads Dunk’s internal thoughts, he makes his voice too low and soft, so if you don’t turn up the volume you might miss some cool self-deprecatory musings.

The three novellas are unpredictable, suspenseful, funny, and neat. They are The Game of Thrones with a protagonist who has no interest in the game of thrones and prefers to wander about Westeros with his squire, trying to become a good knight. They are The Game of Thrones without supernatural elements (no white walkers, revenants, red priestesses, and dragons--apart from their eggs). Readers who like realistic medieval stories of knightly adventures from a modern perspective should like this collection. It ends with Martin saying that the adventures of Dunk and Egg continue in as yet unrecorded tales, and I am looking forward to going out on the road with them again.

excellent narration!

a great story centering around well developed characters, typical of Martin. the distinction here is the narrator. much better than the guy who does the other books. keep him for the next one!

Any Martin is good Martin

I really wish this had been The Winds of Winter, but it isn't so that sucks for me. Despite this not being the hopefully coming soon sixth book of The Song of Ice and Fire series, it was still rivitting. Let me first say that this is not a book per say, but a group of 3 connected novelas. I have heard that they were all published separately at one point, but this is the first time I have read any of them. I very much enjoyed them all. The best part of these stories was either the writing or the characters. martin's writing is once again superb, it simply flows from the readers voice. Every sentence is carefully crafted, and the detail put into these stories for them being so short, is impressive to say the least. Also, Martin creates the most flawless characters, and even though there are a lot of them he still manages to make almost all of them well developed and believable. The characters of Dunk and Egg are of course the best, but there are many more that are worth remembering. The other aspect of this novel that really stuck out to me, was the fact that Martin manages to create short, well developed, and near perfect endings for such short stories. All three novelas accomplish this task. I would say I liked the first and second novels equally well and I still enjoyed the third one, but not quite as much. The third novela best resembles the form taken in the actual books, with Martin's complex plot and ambiguity among the characters. Finally, because the narrator is not the same one from the actual books, he is a bit hard to get use to. However, he grew on me as the story went on, and I really liked his inflection in certain parts of the book. Overall, if you are a fan of A Song of Ice and Fire this book is well worth having, and even if you are not then they are still awesome stories. As Martin hinted in the end of the book, I really hope he comes out with more Dunk and Egg stories.