Author: Maurice Druon
First Published: 1955
Publisher: Harper Collins
Series: The Accursed Kings #1
327 pages (paperback)
My sister spotted the “This is the original Game of Thrones” — George R. R. Martin tagline thingy at the top of this book and immediately thought of me, because I am obsessed with Martin’s A Song of Ice & Fire series (lalalala I won’t hear anyone say anything bad about it!). She thoughts I might like this book so she picked it up for me. (I also want to add that such a random act of generosity is rather out of character for my sister, haha). I had never heard of this book previously — and small wonder, it was published in French in 1955 and only now is being published in English for the first time. However, like the mindless ASOIAF fan I am, I made up my mind that I must read this book because Mr. Martin has recommended it (heh).
While this book certainly shares the same themes as ASOIAF such as secret intrigues, backstabbing, medieval warfare, and so on, this is not a fantasy novel at all. It is actually a historical novel, which is perfect for me because if you follow my blog or Goodreads account, you will see that I am a big historical novel fan as well, particularly European royalty, particularly England and France …. which is exactly what The Iron King is about! What made this novel doubly fun for me was that I knew it was based on history but I actually have no idea what is going to happen because I’m pretty ignorant about France during this time period. This is my first time reading about Philip the Fair at all … There’s just something really exciting, for me, to read a story about something that once really happened, and not know how it all goes down (sadly, I cannot derive this same pleasure from reading a history textbook :(
The Iron King is about King Philip IV of France, also known as Philip the Fair, during the late 1200’s to 1300’s. His kingdom of France and his family are in a good position at the beginning of the story. France is powerful, he has three sons to succeed him, his daughter is Queen of England, and he has a grandson by his daughter, who will one day be King of England, thus ensuring peace between the two kingdoms. Life’s pretty good for King Philip. However, his decision to destroy the Knights Templar (believing they had too much money and power), was the beginning of the end for Philip. Grand Master Jacques de Molay is a templar and thanks to the royal torturers, has admitted everything the King needs him to admit to destroy the order and kill the templars (even though nothing he admits is true — torture does that to a person). As Grand Master Jacques de Molay burns at the stake, de Molay loudly curses the king and his family to the 13th generation. After de Molay’s death, a series of events begin to spell his downfall, including scandals that bring shame to the family and deaths of close advisors. Coincidence? Or the curse working?
I can certainly see where George R. R. Martin drew some of his inspirations from this novel/history. Well, it’s pretty well known by now that Mr. Martin has drawn a lot of inspiration from real European history, and The Iron King shows how fascinating and intriguing the past can be. Sometimes real life events are stranger than fiction. While I can see the sources of inspiration, I don’t think The Iron King is much like ASOIAF at all. With that said, that doesn’t mean I didn’t like it. On the contrary, I really loved The Iron King. Even though there is no fantasy, the curse that Jacques de Molay screams and the ‘coincidental’ (?) tragedies that befall King Philip can sometimes seem a little mystical. As well, I’ve personally love it when scandalous secrets are revealed to the other characters and read about the huge fallout that happens afterwards.
There’s a huge cast of characters, a lot of them are royalty, but I loved how there are non-royalty characters mixed in as well, people who you wouldn’t really expect to affect much, but actually cause ripple effects to the story. King Philip in particular is pretty complex and well developed character, in my opinion. To outsiders, he is unreadable, but when you get into his mind, you find he is constantly trying to balance justice and fairness, hoping that his son will be a good king after him but also being realistic and realizing he probably won’t (he laments that his daughter Isabella would have been the most suitable to be king, but alas, she was born a girl). Near the end, he wonders what good he has done as a king and has all sorts of epiphanies and realizations. He’s a pretty deep character and definitely a favourite.
My second favourite was Isabella, even though she was only in the beginning of the story but kind of faded out afterwards. (I do hope she will make a return, especially given that the second book is titled The Strangled Queen). Pardon my cliche, but she is a strong and independent woman, who cares about her family and is kind of depressed being away from them in England. Also, her husband the king is rumored to be a homosexual and rarely spends time with her, which I bet will make her loneliness worse. She only has her darling son, and it’s hinted that she has big plans for him, more than just being the future king of England.
So, a historical fiction fan, I really enjoyed this book and am certainly going to seek out book two. I think people who like ASOIAF will enjoy this book as well as it has the same elements of mystery and scandal and uneasy alliances that make ASOIAF so fun to read.
My Rating: 4/5
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