Cover of “See No Weevil” by Kenyon MorrI’m back with another book review, and this time I’m reviewing “See No Weevil” by Kenyon Morr! This is the third of three books associated with the King’s Quest game franchise. I was lucky to get a physical copy of the first book to read and review, but I obtained files of the last two books through a post on the King’s Quest fan-run Reddit, where a commenter posted files to download and read. I’m so glad to have the opportunity to read all three books, especially since they’re out of print and have no official ebook copies available.
Here’s a quick summary so we know what it’s about:
“With the royal family expected to attend a wedding in faraway Cumberford, 15-year-old Princess Rosella plays sick and skips it. And now she has just what she wants–a chance to run Daventry on her own. A few days later, 100 rampaging Three-Toed Sloks and millions of magical weevils later, she’s running Daventry alright–right into the ground. And she can’t understand what kind of parents would leave a 15-year-old princess alone at a time like this…”
Character Development: 5 out of 5 stars
I really enjoyed reading Rosella. She’s a teenager, so she’s at that point in life where she still has ‘childish’ traits, such as a lack of manners at times and being a bit impulsive or not thinking ahead all the time. But she’s also trying to mature and be more like her parents in ruling Daventry properly. It’s really fun to read her insecurities, but also see a lot of confidence in her decision-making. Though she does make mistakes, she’s quick to try to fix them. She also does some amazing judgements in court in one of the early chapters, showing off her intelligence and quick-thinking.
I also enjoyed reading Farquhar, her new tutor that helps her out from time to time. Both had some amazing interactions. Farquhar is definitely not used to being among nobility, given his humble origins. In a way, he’s like Graham since both came from not-noble origins. The main differences are that Farquhar is much more blunt at times, and also a skilled magic-user. I was worried the book would make him out to be a fully-annoying mentor character, especially since he clashed with Rosella in the beginning. But I grew to like him quite a lot after reading the whole book thanks to his and Rosella developing so much.
The other characters don’t have as much spotlight, but they’re also fun to read overall. The side and minor characters provided helpful moments, or were amusing to read at least.
Plot Development: 4 out of 5 stars
This book takes place presumably after the events of “Kingdom of Sorrow.” I believe this is the case since 1. Rosella is still a minor and 2. Alexander also doesn’t show up in this book. Given that, and since Rosella and Alexander are already adults by King’s Quest III, this book also takes place between King’s Quest II and III.
The story itself as a whole was fun to read. I enjoyed reading all the chaos that Rosella and all the other characters got into. My only complaint was that the middle of the story felt a bit too long. There was a lot of back-and-forth with dealing with weevils and sloks in thi book. Much of that action didn’t necessarily take away from any worldbuilding or character development, but I wish it was slightly shortened.
I also thought that the ending was a little abrupt compared to past books. However, I did enjoy reading it.
Worldbuilding Development: 5 out of 5 stars
It’s fun to see more of the Kingdom of Daventry itself in this book. Most of the King’s Quest games often take place outside of Daventry with the main characters traveling to several different places and/or lands. Because of this, it’s nice to see the actual kingdom that the main characters come from. There was a lot of opportunity to see its inner workings through Rosella’s point of view. Though the focus of the story mainly took place in Daventry castle (and occasionally outside of it, though not too far), I still enjoyed reading about it.
I also thought it was fun to read about the weevils and sloks, who serve as the main thorn in Rosella and everyone else’s sides. Rosella referring to the encyclopedia about them didn’t feel out of place since she has little experience with them, and same with the reader. It was also great to learn more about the creatures and other plot-relevant elements through characters’ discussions as well. The worldbuilding did feel quite well-rounded overall.
Overall, I’m rating this book out 4.75 of 5 stars!
I highly recommend this book (as well as “The Floating Castle” and “Kingdom Of Sorrow”) to anyone who’s a fan of the King’s Quest series. I truly enjoyed reading all of the books. It’s a shame that they’re out of print and hard to obtain.
Usually, I’d also rate the series overall. However, these three are books that are their own separate stories. They are not necessarily in continuity with each other like other trilogies and series I’ve ranked, so giving an ‘overall series’ ranking seems unnecessary. However, I do plan to post a book ranking post for all three books in the future, so stay tuned!
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