Thursday 14 November 2013

Knight Night by Owen Davey (Templar Publishing)


Knight Night

Written and Illustrated by
Owen Davey

Published by Templar Publishing

Owen Davy's sublime "Laika" was a well deserved book of the week not so long back. Since then we've been tracking down his other works, and "Knight Night" had been recommended to us by several folk who also think Owen Davy's books rock.

We definitely can't disagree. A fairly simple tale of a young boy's imagination, spurred into action as he makes his way to bed, takes on magical depths as we see his real life tightly intertwined with his imaginary quest as an armour-clad Knight, embarking on a gallant mission to fight fearsome foes atop his noble steed.

It's worth remembering that this book predates the complete mania surrounding all things Knightly (which seems to have been a direct result of a certain rather bland and annoying TV-based Knight. Seriously, it can't have escaped people's notice that knights are definitely big moneyspinning business now, right?)

We loved this very much, Owen's illustrative style is so utterly gorgeous - and I loved the constant switching between the real and the imagined. A thoroughly brilliant and wonderful book that deserves a place at anyone's round table.

Charlotte's best bit: Here be dragons!

Daddy's Favourite bit: Beautiful illustrations and a fabulous running theme switching between real and surreal. Wonderful stuff Owen!