"The Letter for the King", by Tonke Dragt | And here comes Netflix... again.

 Some time ago, maybe a year or two, (who's counting anyway?), I watched this show on Netflix titled "The Letter for the King". It was "ok", not very good, a bit confusing and with some major plot problems. But it did take my mind of the world for a day or two.

Then I found out that it was based on a book, by a dutch author named Tonke Dragt (she has quite an interesting live story as well). And so I added the book (the english translation of course - there is no portuguese translation for now) to my wishlist and waited for the proper moment to buy it. The opportunity came a few months ago, and then it took me a few more months to start reading it.

And here we are, I'll now proceed to rant about the book and the Netflix series.

**Warning: The text below might contain spoilers and a fair amount of sarcasm**

**Disclaimer: All of this is purely my personal opinion. That means that it's not worth anything for anyone but me.** 

  

"The Letter for the King" is a book for children, and it must be read as such. Don't go into it expecting an elaborate plot or extreme gore and violence, nor any kind of explicit scenes.

"The Letter for the King", the Netflix series is for... well it's not for kids... it's not for adults either, for teenagers? Maybe... it doesn't really commit to anything. It's stuck in some weird limbo... maybe that's why it failed. The show shares the title, the names of the characters and the main plot with the book, but that's about it. The main character, Tiuri, must deliver a letter to a king, yes, that's true on both the book and the series. Then the series just goes wild with the story (sometimes to a point where it doesn't even make sense).

In the beginning of the show it says: "Based on the novel by Tonke Dragt"... it should say "Inspired by the novel Tonke Dragt". The show completely destroys the story and themes of the book. 

 

The book is a fantasy, a very low fantasy. In fact, the only fantastical thing is that the story is set on an imagined land, divided in three kingdoms, Dagonaut (to the East), Unauwen (to the West), and Eviellan (to the South).

Due to some circumstances, Tiuri must take a letter from around the city of Dagonaut (main city of the kingdom of Dagonaut, ruled by king Dagonaut... yes very original, but again, it's for kids) to the king of Unauwen, also named Unauwen, that is in the city of (you guesses it) Unauwen. While trying to fulfill this task, Tiuri is chased by some "red riders" from Eviellan, a land ruled by one of the sons of the king of Unauwen. Simple, a bit predictable, but effective in the sense that the story is about the journey. 

 

In the show, Tiuri must accomplish the same task. It's the way in witch it is presented that changes everything. Straight away, the first two kingdoms are presented normally, and then the third is presented like: "a land known only... as Eviellan" *insert spooky sound here*. Prepare yourselves for a running theme from here forward. The show portrays Eviellan as an evil land, ruled by an evil king, with evil dark magic, prophecies of darkness and a hero to save the world.

 

In the book, Eviellan is just a land... like the others, there is no magic, no prophecies nor heroes, just a boy trying to deliver a message. This makes it much more grounded. Along the first part of the way, up until the Great Mountains (known only as "the Great Mountains" *spooky sound*) that devise the two kingdoms, our main character (known only as "Tiuri" *spooky*) is on the run from his chasers (known only as "the red riders" *uhhhhh*). Tiuri meets many friends and foes, while preserving the secrecy of his mission.

    

 

Hello... now you are thinking: "what the hell is happening, why did this buffoon stopped talking about the book and started ranting again?" Well, my dear nonexistent reader, it's been about eight months since i started writing this rant. I can not remember why did i stop writing it, probably work got in the way. So, since so much time as passed, i will leave the "life updates" for the next entry (also coming out today) and attempt to quickly finish this one. 

 

In essence, the book is much different from the Netflix series. I would say that the main theme of the book is friendship, while the series is... errr hard to say...

There are not big plot twists (reading it as an adult ... shit i'm an adult...), nothing in the story will blow your mind and, sometimes, you can feel the "age" of the story, more so than in other "older" books. Actually, the Netflix show does have some interesting plot twists (but those would not make any sense in the book).

 

Overhall i give the book a solid 4/5, and the series a 3/5.

 

See you soon, on the next short rant, coming right up...