1998.
396 pages.
Eos Fantasy
Paperback.
First published novel in the Tales of the King’s Blades series.

In the kingdom of Chivial, it is the task of the Loyal and Ancient Order of the King’s Blades to supply the king and his chosen servants with bodyguards. Boys, unwanted troublemakers for the most part, are taken in around the age of thirteen, practices with the Order for approximately five years, and then serve either in the Royal Guard or as a private Blade for ten years or so.


The Gilded Chain follows one such Blade, Sir Durendal, throughout his career. It covers an impressive number of years, considering its relative brevity (when compared to most other High Fantasy authors, Duncan can almost be considered a minimalist), from Durendal’s youth and into his old age. Into all of this Duncan also manages to squeeze Martinesque court intrigue, a bit of romance, and an exciting little quest-based side-plot, before rounding it all off with some bleak Man Against The World desperation.

Impressively, The Gilded Chain doesn’t feel strained. The characters are engaging, and while one could perhaps have wanted a little more flesh on some bones, these bones don’t really contribute much to the main plot. It is thus understandable that they have been kept brief, but Duncan’s characters are for the most part so likable, I personally wouldn’t have minded seeing more of them.

Luckily, while the novels in the series, Tales of the King’s Blades, can be read separately, characters from one book occasionally make guest appearances in another. Apparently, this is the source of much of the series’ renown. As you read the novels, and have finished two (after what I’ve heard), you will have noticed certain discrepancies between the tales, inconsistencies that will supposedly only be straightened out if you also read the third one.

Granted, I haven’t seen any of these yet, and I’m very close to the end of the second book now. But even though it’s an intriguing idea, at least my enjoyment of the novels do not depend upon it; the mixture of something approaching realism and more traditional Romance tropes works brilliantly, combining into almost just my cup of High Fantasy.

The Gilded Chain is a most entertaining novel, which also attempts to explore more serious topics. These topics may not be the most original, and neither is the environment Dave Duncan has created to develop them in, but the overall result is still good enough that I’ll recommend this to anyone who is craving some Realpolitik realism while they’re waiting for the dragons to dance, but who also don’t mind a little Farseer-like Romance in their reading.

8.5 out of 10.