KNIGHTS WITHOUT CEREMONY

This first installment in Magnusson’s projected middle-grade duology follows a teenage boy who dreams of being a knight but learns that he’s destined for much more.

Thirteen-year-old Ettan and his younger brother, Gerit, are orphans whom King Sarlamon, the ruler of Gorum, took in. To honor his friendship with the boys’ late father, the king gave the boys jobs and a place to live; currently, both Ettan and Gerit oversee the Royal Hennery. Raising chickens and selling eggs is an honorable profession, but Ettan aspires to a career as a knight. To that end, he’s training for the upcoming Battle Games, in which victorious combatants can prove their worth as potential knights. Meanwhile, the kingdom of Gorum has been at war with neighboring Norvar for three years, and the bloody conflict has reached a stalemate. With tensions high, many residents of Gorum just want the war to end, but a secret group of conspirators (led by wealthy landholder Lord Geldstone and power-hungry religious leaders) is plotting a coup that would essentially turn the kingdom of Gorum into a tyrannical church-state. A growing movement called First Kingdom, promoting fear and hatred of “foreigners,” adds another layer of complexity to Ettan’s struggle, as he was born in Norvar. When the king sends Ettan on a top-secret mission, the boys’ lives are turned upside down. Not only is the world a much bigger place than Ettan ever realized, but it’s also filled with people who value gold and power over honor and decency—and one such person abducts Ettan before his grand adventure can truly begin.

Many elements of Magnusson’s novel are noteworthy, including its brisk pacing and relentless intensity, which make it difficult to put down. The character development is also exceptional, as all the main players have deep, relatable story arcs that address Ettan’s search for answers about his late father’s mysterious life, Gerit’s entrepreneurial acumen, and the struggle of Lord Geldstone’s son, Drogue, to separate himself from his immoral father and find his own path. The novel’s secret weapon, though, is its courageous exploration of weighty and timely topics, including racism, xenophobia, and the rise of authoritarian regimes. Numerous sequences are chilling in their examination of an extremist political landscape: “Once a community believes something, it becomes self-reinforcing,” says the Veritarch, a religious figure, to Drogue at one point. “If a man were presented with a fact that proved what I said was a lie, that man would be faced with a difficult choice. If he told this fact to his community, his community would reject him. They would think that he was lying.” The brilliance of the novel is in the author’s presentation of such ideas, which offers social commentary in the natural flow of the narrative. Along the way, young readers will be able to process the characters’ decisions and actions on their own and come up with their own conclusions.

A page-turning and thought-provoking adventure that insightfully explores a range of important issues affecting young people’s lives.