Knight's Wyrd is a subtly mutli-layered fantasy by Dr. Debra Doyle and her husband James D. Macdonald. Originally released in 1992, this reformat and re-release as part of the Tor Essentials (Macmillan), is a compact 208 pages, and is available in hardcover, paperback, audio, and ebook formats. It's worth noting that the ebook format has a handy interactive table of contents as well as interactive links and references throughout.

It's not derivative of anything, but it reminds me of a trippy mashup of Spirited Away, Gawain & the Green Knight, and a smidgen of A Series of Unfortunate Events. It's a short book, and sometimes moves at whiplash speed. Readers who keep their hands inside the vehicle at all times and enjoy the scenery without too much analysis, will undoubtedly enjoy the ride more.

Historically significant and worthy of inclusion in this series. The publishers have included some useful erudite analysis in this volume and the other entries in the series. The commentary in this edition is provided by Sherwood Smith.

Four stars. Worth acquisition for public library collections, as well as fans of medieval tales and semi-Arthurian-legend.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.

This was such a fun read. I loved the medieval setting and the whole cast of characters was interesting. I loved Will and all his friends and the shenanigans they got up to. This isn't a super complex story, but the enjoyment for me came from the simplicity. It was easy and comforting to sink into a story where the magical creatures and character archetypes were familiar. I enjoyed the twists that came with the almost romance and the prophecy.

I highly recommend for any fantasy fans!

Book Summary:

Will Odosson has spent much of his life working toward becoming a knight. Now, on the eve of his knighting, everything will change. After saving an old woman, he is warned that not only will he never inherit his father's title, but he won't even live out the year.

My Review:

Knight's Wyrd is a different sort of historical fantasy. It's been on my TBR list for ages, and when I saw that Tor Books was re-releasing it, I knew that now was the time to give it a go. (It seems like this is a trend for Tor this year, and I love it).

Overall, I enjoyed Knight's Wyrd. It had several different elements to help it stand out among the knight/historical fantasy genre. It also had a surprise twist for the conclusion, which I adored.

Highlights:
Fantasy
Knights
Destiny

Knight's Wyrd by Debra Doyle is a dark medieval fantasy that feels ahead of its time. The story follows our main character, Will Odosson, who learns of his impending death on the eve of his knighting. Determined to change his fate, he goes on a journey filled with mythical creatures and unexpected challenges.

This book has all the elements of a captivating fantasy: trolls, mermaids, dragons, and an overall sense of foreboding evil. It's a hidden gem in the genre, with an authentic portrayal of the Middle Ages that adds to its uniqueness.

If you're a fan of medieval fantasies that blend rich world-building with a gripping narrative, I think it woul resonate with both YA and adult readers alike.

Macmillan provided the arc

Medieval time aren’t for me. But I love the idea of man eating trolls
I’ll definitely try to give it another try but also. This cover. Definitely not. So glad. It’s been changed

Will Odosson, is a about to become a full knight and is conflicted in pursuing his prophesied future in this fast paced story set in a medieval Europe inspired setting. Knight's Wyrd is a hero's journey that at first seems to follow the traditional knight's story of going forth to abide honor, loyalty and find love, but Doyle and Macdonald wonderfully subvert these tropes taking Will on a journey that doesn't end quite happily ever after.

At the opening of the story, Will is a squire, due shortly be knighted. As he joins a hunt the day before this event, he gives chase to a white stag that brings him to a woman and her pig who are facing off against two bandits. Thanks to his training, Will is able to kill these two brigands with minimal injury and on returning home, spends the night in vigil preparing for his life as a sworn knight. During this vigil, he is visited by a wizard who provides his wyrd (prophecy/destiny) saying he will never inherit his father's title. Following the knighting ceremony he travels with a fellow knight taking part in a tournament where he does well. Then he goes North to visit the kingdom where his betrothed is, and it is here that Will gets caught up in local troubles with great implications that shape the rest of the books narrative.

While inspired by historic Europe, this is a world with magic and fantastical creatures. Travel is by foot, cart, boat or horse. But below bridges, trolls might lurk or one can hunt a unicorn. It still feels like a very lived in world, however Doyle and MacDonald are expedient in their plotting, often simplifying lengthy journeys in a sentence, noting that nothing of importance happened in those day(s) or week(s) of travel.

Will Odosson as a character is a young innocent. Quick to trust, but has trouble seeing beyond the appearance of things. He holds to the honor of knighthood and acts within his understanding of these values. At many points he is given advice that only takes on greater dimension later.

Knight's Wyrd is short but well considered life changing journey for Will. It is a welcome addition to the Tor Essentials series, where Tor "presents science fiction and fantasy from recent decades, reintroduced for readers of today." Not is all that it seems, but the cautious and attentive may survive.

A magical and fun adventure that I will be sure to recommend to other fans of fantasy! I saw other people talking about how this brought back their childhood and I’m sad I didn’t get to read it as a kid but happy that it found me now.

My ears pricked up as soon as Sherwood Smith's introduction mentioned Rosemary Sutcliff. I loved Sutcliff's books as a kid, and anything that had the same flavour sounded great to me -- and the good news is that there was some of that realism, some of that taste and smell of another era (even though this is also fantasy).

I hadn't heard of it before, so it was all new to me... sort of. It feels familiar and mythic in its structure, in the way that Will's destiny plays out, but with a touch of that earthiness that I associate with Sutcliff, grounded in small details of everyday life. Will's a likable protagonist, someone who generally wants to do the right thing even though he is not, in himself, particularly heroic. He sees something he can do, should do, and he does it -- but not without thinking about the inconvenience of whatever it is.

It's not a super-complex story, but there's a virtue in the simplicity of it and the straight-forwardness of its protagonist. I enjoyed it very much.

[The review link will be live on my site on 13th May.]

I loved this, it was deeply weird in the exact style of the The Green Knight and other classic stories of that nature which is always something I find fascinating.

A reissue of a book from the 90s which falls outside the usual lines. One of the co-authors had a strong background in early English literature, which shows through but without being constantly thrust in your face. It's not, as Sherwood Smith says in the introduction, one of those books with thin characters who speak forsoothly in a world of Look At My Research (I think I'm paraphrasing slightly). The third-person POV protagonist is the only really rounded character, but that's to be expected in a relatively short book, and the others at least have believable motivations.

The potential romance is averted, the prophecy turns out otherwise than expected, and in general it's the opposite of cliched. It also feels relatively authentic to a story of the era of, say, Gawain and the Green Knight, while also working as a modern piece of fiction. All of this is difficult to achieve, hence its place in the Silver tier of my Best of the Year list.

Returning to that Sherwood Smith intro, I was enjoying it up to the point where Smith started telling me the entire plot of the book I was about to read, which I preferred to discover by actually reading it. I skipped the rest of the introduction for that reason.

The book itself steers a careful middle course between depicting the realities of being a medieval knight (such as the dangers of riding through a forest in a closed helm) and retaining the feel of a chivalric tale, in which there's inevitably a lot of idealization and abstraction. Not every nobleman in it is noble, and not every knight is chivalrous, but some of them are, notably the protagonist. It also features wizards, and monsters such as ogres, so it's definitely fantasy, but they are much more like their medieval versions than what you would tend to encounter in most contemporary fantasy written after the advent of Dungeons & Dragons.

Recommended if you want something a bit different from standard fantasy that's also well-executed.

On the night Will Odosson receives his knighthood, he also learns of his wyrd. Will is destined to meet death before the year has passed. Shaken by this proclamation, Will decides to leave his home and all he knows behind and head north to fight in a round of tournaments. Will sets out on his journey, but nothing could prepare him for what awaits him. From trolls to treachery, Will soon finds himself facing a bigger threat than he could’ve imagined and learns that sometimes destiny is what you make of it.

I was intrigued by the premise of this story, but something about it didn’t work for me. I never felt like I was fully invested in what was happening. I liked Will as a character and following him on his journey, but none of the secondary characters stood out. The setting was interesting, and I loved all the medieval flare, but there were so many names of places thrown at you, and I had a hard time keeping track of them. It is jam-packed with adventure and fighting that did help keep my attention. Sadly, the overall story ended up not being for me.

I requested this one because it might be an upcoming title I would like to review on my Youtube Channel. However, after reading the first several chapters I have determined that this book does not suit my tastes. So I decided to DNF this one.