About a week ago I picked up the new Warriors anthology, which contains Martins' new Dunk and Egg story, The Mystery Knight. All in all, a pretty good tale. Again, we are treated to a piece of history, and one that would give away a large secret of the story if I were to give it away. The story itself invovled D&E, on their way north, come across a party of nights and lords on their way to a wedding, where the winner of the joust will receive a dragon's egg as his prize. Hoping to win some money and perhaps some fame, and to get some warm food for themselves, Dunk decides to attend with several other hedge knights he meets up with along the way.
As always, Martin weaves an interesting tale, and this time only pays token respect the Egg's secret. The real mystery in this tale is who is attending this wedding, and why. As the story progesses we are treated to the intrigues and adventures that fill his SoI&F novels, though on a smaller scale, and all the mysteries are wrapped up by the end. We are also treated to more information about Bloodraven, who comes across as one of the mroe itneresting characters in Martin history of Westeros, and I think will end up playing a larger role in these stories. I sometimes wonder if Martin isn't also writingthese as companion pieces to ASoI&F, to help lay the groundwork for events that will happen in the story.
We also learn a little more about the dragon eggs, though truly only a little more. And the story mentions at least 3 other eggs that are different than the ones Illyrio gives Dany (one white, one gold and one red, as opposed to his black, cream and green). At first I though that one or mroe of the dragon eggs might match with the ones we are used to, but upon futher checking that wasn't the case. We also learnthat Maester Aemon had an egg, but do't know what it looked like.
Still, an enjoyable read, and a nice addition to the world of Westeros. Sure, I'd rather be reading Dance, but I'll take event his little taste for the time being.
