In the Hall of the Mountain King had a really peaceful feeling historical atmosphere for me as a reader. I suppose considering it is the aftermath of some war or other it is meant to have a more stilted and awkward atmosphere but I couldn’t help but enjoy the whole thing.
Eve(rard) is the third son of some bad guy lord who sells him off as the bride of Marquis Oderic as part of a surrender agreement. Lady Eve (as he is officially known) grew up in a monastery since he was a child and was suddenly sent to be the bride of a widower.
Eve doesn’t take well to his new role but he tries his best.
The art style is really pretty and fits well with the story itself. There are only rare instances of colour and the black and white drawings remind me of the illustrations in old books. This styling adds to the careful and distant relationship between the main characters.
I am going to spoil something because it is driving me crazy, but Everard was sent to the monastery when he was 10 and lived there for over twenty years. He’s older than Marquis Oderic! Even the little explainer that through fudged paperwork for this marriage he’s pretending to be a couple of years younger than the marquis baffled me. I thought this guy was meant to be like 20 or something. I guess his naivety and inexperience in his role as a noble make sense considering how he grew up, but now I realise I was not sad enough whilst reading this story!
I will say, I’m pretty upset with the ending — in the sense that I hate that this story had to end at all! I really hope to see more from Dol soon because I need to be able to escape into one of their worlds again soon!
Hush Nili 