A consideration of the
early life, adventures, misdeeds, and marriages of Prince Daemon Targaryen, as
set down by Archmaester Gyldayn of the Citadel of Oldtown.
Anyone looking to get a little extra fix of ‘A Song of Ice
and Fire’ could do a lot worse than pick up the anthologies that GRRM edits
with Gardner Dozois. I've still to read some (OK, most) of them but I know that GRRM has a rather welcome habit of
popping ‘ASOIAF’ stories in these collections; usually right at the end.
With the forthcoming ‘Rogues’ anthology (I would have loved
to have seen a ‘Rogue Squadron’ story here but can totally see why that didn't
happen…) GRRM has given us a tale of the ‘Rogue Prince’ Daemon Targaryen and
how his actions helped contribute to the tragic ‘Dance of Dragons’. I've got to
say that Daemon doesn’t come across as particularly roguish in my eyes; sure
there is a large amount of whoring and general dallying with royal cousins etc
but the staid tones that GRRM has his narrator adopt rob Daemon’s actions of
the kind of vibrancy that you would expect from a rogue. This isn't a story so
much as it is a recounting of events and while there is a lot to recommend ‘The
Rogue Prince’ the energy that it really needed to thrive just isn't there. GRRM
also doesn't do himself any favours having Gyldayn question the veracity of the
sources and introduce contradiction to the tales. Not only does Daemon come
across as not particularly roguish but the reader is left wondering if certain
things actually happened at all…
I get why GRRM took this approach and, when you look at the
tale from its perspective as a historical text it’s an approach that works very
well (posing the kind of questions that such a text would ask). It just doesn’t
seem to work in the context of the collection that the story is a part of. Oh
well…
That’s not to say that ‘The Rogue Prince’ doesn't work at
all though. As a tale of dragons, courtly intrigue, a king who just wants a
quiet life and knights hitting each other with big swords it’s an awesome read
that I found myself really getting into. What I love most of all are the little
details that open up GRRM’s world and leave you wanting to find out more. This
time round it was mention of the Black Swan, a courtesan who rose to rule the
city of Lys in all but name. Martin has a lot to finish off first but I’m
hoping that one day, little asides like these will blossom into much longer
works.
‘The Rogue Prince’ is an odd one then. While it has
everything that makes GRRM’s work compelling reading it feels like it doesn't
quite work as part of this anthology. Enjoy it for what it is though and I reckon you’ll
be fine.
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