Wattmag Issue #4

The Art of Killing

The Iron King by Maurice Duron is the most recent book that managed to catch me off guard. Before reading it I had never heard of this book or of the other seven books which compose The Accursed Kings series. If it had not been by the pool of tears A Dance with Dragons by George R.R. Martin left me in I would have never found it. Before reading it, of course, I did what any other millennial would do...I googled it. The description blew me away, here laid another backstabbing royal drama, with meddling nobles, knights, and a kingdom at stake. All thumbs up for me since I LOVE fantasy and fiction, yet this book was NOT fiction, The Iron King is based on real fourteen-century French History. Every character was born, lived and most importantly died in the same way it is described in the book.

You must be thinking "Daniel is such a nerd. Who reads historical drama.... BORING!" Well, in the past I might have agreed with you. However, when I read of the glorious yet terrifying scene where the Knights Templar is burned alive, on a small island in the middle of the Seine River, staged in a theater-like atmosphere, and witnessed by no less than all of Paris, I was hooked on this series. This moment from book one is the pivot of the entire series, because here Templar Grand Master Jacques de Molay being burned at the stake, curses his accusers: Pope Clement V, Guillaume de Nogaret and non-other than the king of France, Philip the Fair. Not only does de Molay curses them to die a worse death than his, but also curses their families to the thirteen generation, yes 13th!

By this point, I knew Pope Clement V, Guillaume de Nogaret, and King Philip would die at some point in the series, so I put my curiosity on time-out and abstained from googling how these men would meet their fates. As of now, I am on the book five of seven, and oh boy have I been surprised! Mr. Duron is a genius at killing his characters, no wonder George R.R. Martin calls this book "the original Game of Thrones" and it's evident from where and how Martin these series as inspiration in style and in the method of killing characters.

1.1 To Kill or Not to Kill