"Tales of Dunk and Egg" by George R.R.Martin

I know George R.R.Martin as a creator of "Game of Thrones" naturally, although so far I have actually not attempted to read the novels because I was so much enjoying TV serial. But I will eventually get there. However, he was one the authors represented in "Legends: Short Novels by the Masters of Modern Fantasy" collection, which I just finished and I must admit that along Stephen King, he by far towered above everybody else in the book. I did liked the other authors more or less, but George R.R.Martin was a real deal - his story "The Hedge Knight" was a top class and I felt completely lost in this  quasi-medieval world of lords and peasants, squires and knight competitions. The main character is extremely likable Dunk who is basically outsider from the very bottom of society but is strong, young and brave enough to search for some recognition in this world of knights, perhaps good position in some aristocratic castle under protection of influential lord. But first he needs to prove himself in knights tournaments and there is a whole saga about his arrival in town and how destiny throws him around from one trouble to another, while along the way he even gets himself a squire who turns out to be much more than just a sulky boy - when the dust settles, it is the relationship between Dunk and Egg that I enjoyed more than anything else, I truly loved both of them and when I finished the collection, I looked immediately for "Legends II" where another tale of these two was published.

This is actually something outside of "Game of Thrones" - same world, same universe but is happening some hundred years before - "The Sworn Sword" continues the story exactly at the spot where we left the guys last time around and it felt just perfectly to find them together again. This time Dunk gets involved with fight between two feudal powers and has to protect elderly Ser Eustace Osgrey from far more powerful Red Widow who turns out to be completely different from what we expect. There is a lot of sword fighting, lots of talk about ancient wars and even some interesting ideas about what makes a winners and traitors (basically just a wrong choice of the side) but the best of all is again the interaction between brave Dunk and his young helper Egg, how they love each other in their own way and yes, I gulped it all in one sitting with the greatest pleasure (I even skipped some pages because I was so engrossed in the story). I could just read about these two forever. When I finished, I thought how this could easily have been a western - with different clothing and scenery, one can easily imagine them somewhere in Colorado - basically it is a good guy fighting bad ones. As it happens right now Fantasy is very popular genre but some 50 years ago this would have been fantastically successful Western. 

There is a third story floating somewhere around and I am dead serious about finding and reading that one as well.