Book review: Knight's Fee by Rosemary Sutcliff

The sixty-third book I read in 2017 was Knight's Fee by Rosemary Sutcliff.  Another historical novel set in Britain, it is not explicitly part of the Eagle of the Ninth series, as the green dolphin ring makes no appearance.  Set around the turn of the twelfth century, it deals with an orphaned dog-boy whose life changes dramatically when a new lord arrives to take over the manor.  Having drawn the ire of the new lord, Randal is saved by the intervention of a minstrel, who plays a game of chess for his life. 

Raised alongside the grandson of another lord, Randal serves as varlet and then squire, attaining a life far beyond any he could have hoped for as a child-drudge, but he believes that knighthood will remain forever beyond his reach, as he has no wealth or possessions that will enable him to pay his knight's fee to any lord.  Think of Arthur and Kay in T.H. White's The Sword in the Stone, if Kay were an actual likeable character and not an unbearable snob.  The bromance between Randal and Bevis is perhaps the most affecting since Marcus and Esca's in Sutcliff's most famous work, albeit experienced from the lower-status side this time around.

This book would make a good companion to a module on feudalism and knighthood in the Middle Ages, but it is also an enjoyable read on its own.