Book: The Letter for the King
Author: Tonke Dragt
Rating: 4 Out of 5 Stars

I would like to thank the publisher and Netgalley for providing me with this ARC. Well, I guess it’s not really an ARC since the book was published a long time ago, but this is a new edition.

So, I have never heard of this book until now. I don’t know how it could have slipped by me, but it did. The Letter for the King has everything that a great fantasy needs. It has adventure, excitement, and well written characters. It is written in a more traditional, classical fantasy style. Think Lord of the Rings here people.

The writing is amazing. Although, there were a few times that I found myself wincing. Like the Lord of the Rings, Dragt does tend to tell us what is going on instead of actually showing us in a few places. This is always a big issue for me, because whenever I am being told what is going on, it kind of feels like they are either trying to cut corners or the publisher is making them cut their book down. I don’t know which one it is.

The characters were well developed and well written. There is a lot of them, but I didn’t have any trouble keeping them straight. It felt like that none of them were trying to get their chance in the spotlight and everyone was important. There are a lot of books that I read that just add characters for the sake of having a large cast and this is not the case here.

This really is one of the most underrated and overlooked books that I have read in a long time. People really do need to find this book and pick it up for themselves. I think they really will be in for a surprise.

(Already posted review on Goodreads)

Book Review
When my friend and book blogger posted this glowing review of Tonke Dragt’s “The Letter for the King” last year, I was intrigued because it appeared to be all about knights and chivalry and adventure. Who doesn’t like the sound of that? A month or so ago, I found this book waiting to be reviewed on NetGalley, and my heart leapt! Thanks to Pushkin Press and NetGalley, I got a copy, and I finished reading it yesterday. Here is a summary from Pushkin Press before I move on to the review.
A young messenger. A secret mission. A kingdom in peril.
It is the dead of night. Sixteen-year-old Tiuri must spend hours locked in a chapel in silent contemplation if he is to be knighted the next day. But, as he waits by the light of a flickering candle, he hears a knock at the door and a voice desperately asking for help. A secret letter must be delivered to King Unauwen across the Great Mountains – a letter upon which the fate of the entire kingdom depends. Tiuri has a vital role to play, one that might cost him his knighthood. Tiuri’s journey will take him through dark, menacing forests, across treacherous rivers, to sinister castles and strange cities. He will encounter evil enemies who would kill to get the letter, but also the best of friends in the most unexpected places. He must trust no one. He must keep his true identity secret.
Above all, he must never reveal what is in the letter…
The Letter for the King is the thrilling story of one boy’s battle against evil, set in an enchanted world of chivalry, courage and true friendship.
Thrilling is an understatement. As soon as I reached the last page, I was Googling to see if there is any way I could procure the sequel, “The Secrets of the Wild Wood.” I couldn’t wait to go on an adventure with Tiuri again.
The Letter for the King reinforces classic values like bravery, loyalty, and chivalry throughout Tiuri’s journey. But what makes the book rise above an average boy’s adventure is the fact that Tiuri is flawed despite having so many good qualities. He is impulsive, his bravery sometimes borders on foolhardiness, and his good heart sometimes comes in the way of his progress.
In most cases, though, Tiuri’s sensibilities save him from slippery situations. In fact, that’s the other aspect of the book. You would think that a story about knights set in the Middle Ages would have tons of action with swords and blood and gore. The Letter for the King barely has any swordfights and, in fact, hardly any skirmishes.
The entire book moves forward on the themes of intrigue, plotting, and little pockets of suspense. Every few pages, Tiuri comes up against an obstacle, and his fate hangs in balance for a while before it’s resolved lending the book a fairly predictable cadence. At times, due to this, it reads more like the tale of a solo traveller on a hike across the Camino rather than an action packed tale.
Friendship is another strong theme in the book. Apart from Tiuri’s steadfast friendship with Piak, the quick bonds formed with the various people he meets on his journey, and the strong brotherhood that the knights share are all admirably and beautifully played out. But in that sense, it’s one of those books that you would stereotypically first think of for boys rather than for girls with its lack of any other emotion and significant women characters.
Mostly, the principles in the story never go to the grey area, and there is not much ambiguity. People are either good or bad, Tiuri has either friends or enemies, and they all mostly stay that way.
Written in the traditional manner of a good, old-fashioned adventure, the tale of Tiuri the knight has long served as one of the most loved bedtime stories for children, and a popular fantasy among adults in The Netherlands. It has been frequently compared to The Lord of the Rings where we have Frodo going on a mission, very similar to Tiuri. But I think the canvas of Tolkiens’ epic is way larger, more complex, and much darker.
At over 500 pages long, this is one long adventure. But I never the felt the weight of time even for a second as Tiuri’s encounters kept me enthralled.

This is an English translation of a Dutch book that was published back in 1962. It's an epic fairy tale about a young man named Tiuri who is hoping to be a knight. He's got to spend one more night in isolation before the knighting ceremony, when someone knocks on the door of the chamber and asks him to deliver a letter to the king. Tiuri agrees and sets off on a quest. The quest is immediately filled with peril, as the person he seeks is murdered. The story has lots of interesting plot twists, evil characters, good characters, and thrilling events. However, there's a lot of repetition to the story-just about every time Tiuri meets a new character (and there are a lot of them), he has to go over many of the previous events. The characters also have complicated, unfamiliar names which leads me to believe that my students wouldn't really be interested in a book like.

This story astounded me. It definitely stands the test of time, and I cannot wait to share it with a new generation of young readers!

Old fashioned, gentle tale of Knights, valour and friendship.

This is the English translation of Tonke Dragt’s 1962 The Letter for the King, a highly revered and much beloved Dutch classic.
It’s set in the middle ages, a coming-of-age tale that opens with 16-year-old Tiuri, who has been confined to a chapel for a night of prayer before being made a knight in the morning, hearing urgent knocking and a plea from behind a door. Although he has been given strict instructions not to leave the chapel, on pain of losing his knighthood, his conscience does not allow him to ignore the appeal of someone who may need help. He anxiously opens the  door to a mysterious stranger, who hands him a sealed letter and gives him a secret quest that takes him across mountains, through forests and rivers, hunted and waylaid, all the way to a mythical kingdom and into adulthood
It’s not a fantasy novel as such more of a tale of adventure in the Arthurian mould and translates into a very ‘English’ novel.It’s an old fashioned, very simple, archetypal coming of age tale and that’s what makes this book so beautiful but at the same time a little disappointing.
The Pacing isn’t perfect but some chapters are, short and sweet with cliffhangers but others appear to be filler and unnecessary and tend to meander.
The plot is, at times, gripping but again sometimes loses it’s way and a little pointless. The book does drag at times and suffers from being overlong and there is no real tension or threat to keep you on the edge of your seat.
It could be the perfect book to read out loud in little chunks before bed but only if it was shorter.
There are some great characters, Tiuri, the protagonist, is a perfect role model with a traditional,strong, moral compass as you’d expect in a time of chivalry and valour. His relationship with Piak is lovely and helps to explore the strong themes of courage, loyalty and friendship. Modern children could learn a lot from this.
There is a potentially impressive villain in the the form of the mysterious Slither. When he appears he is sinister and seething but unfortunately is woefully underused.
I wanted to love this book but ended up just liking it. I found it very formal and literal and a bit stiff and at times a little dull. I’m hoping that this may be because of the translation, Dutch readers who have read both appear to agree and voice that in Dutch it is a different book and does not suffer from the issues with the English translation. It could be that my disappointment was due to my being an adult and hopefully a child may find it splendid.
Thanks to NetGalley for an ARC, in return for an honest review.

All of his life Tiuri has wanted to be a knight, but on the night before his accolade, a knock on the door turns his whole world upside down. Instead of kneeling before the candles keeping vigil in the chapel, he opens the door and accepts the quest given to him by a desperate old man. From there, he ends up finding a dying hero, receiving a mission to the king of the neighboring country, being chased by the nefarious Red Knights, and crossing impassable mountains to a land more beautiful than anything he has ever seen. But with danger all around can he keep the letter safe, the mission secret, and the kingdom free from a threat he does not fully comprehend?

The fantasy world in this novel was light and bright and unique. There were certainly evil characters in the story, but the dark atmosphere and foreboding evil from a book like The Lord of the Rings was not present. Along the way, Tiuri makes friends in unlikely places with helpful monks, honorable lords, a friendly lord’s daughter, a wise hermit, and a shepherd boy who becomes his best friend. Every farmer he meets offers him a place to sleep, and the general atmosphere of the land he travels feels kind and God-fearing. This book reminded me a little bit of Howard Pyle’s adventures of King Arthur and his knights.

The structure of the story was in an older style, with characters Tiuri meets telling discursive stories about past history. At the same time, however, the plot was also fairly fast moving with lots of different adventures and challenges. I particularly liked the bookends of the story that address whether Tiuri will have to give up his dream to become a knight when he goes on the adventure that is every knight’s dream.

The book is listed for grades 7-9, but I think children grades 5-6 would enjoy it as much if not more. Originally published in The Netherlands in 1962, it has sold over a million copies worldwide. The author, interestingly, was originally from Indonesia, but after being placed in a Japanese internment camp during World War II, she immigrated to The Netherlands. The book has a sequel (which I am going to try to get my hands on) about Tiuri’s further adventures in the Wild Wood.

Disclosure: I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher via Netgalley. All opinions expressed in this review are my own.

There were things I really liked about The Letter For The King, including the long ago setting and worldbuilding full of knights, interesting kingdoms and quests. The rating above is my personal rating, but I do believe the right target group will enjoy this story a lot better. The main element I personally struggled with is a combination of a slow pace and a writing style I couldn't become used to. I believe The Letter For The King would have worked better with a faster pace and less dialogue; with over 500 pages, I felt the story was a bit overlong. The adventure, intrigue and suspense are there, but it was kind of burried under a big pile of not that important dialogue... Still, especially younger boys will like following Tiuri on his mission.

Just as he is about to be knighted, Tiuri receives a plea for help from a mysterious hooded man. And so begins an adventure that will require him to face a difficult journey to deliver a message to the king. On the way he faces dangerous enemies, and makes friends, too.
Tiuri is an attractive hero, kind, honest and brave, and although the story lacks edge of the seat lacks a real sense of nerve-jangling danger, there's enough there to keep the reader turning the pages. Having read the first book, I can certainly imagine that young readers will want to learn more about Tiuri, and the conflict that lies ahead for the kingdoms of Unauwen and Dangria.

A wonderful middle grade adventure story about a young knight on a quest written in 1962. Lots of twists and turns.