"Four days later, the coronation of Roland was held in the Plaza of the Needle. The juggler did not see it; he had been beheaded on the executioner's block behind the Needle three days before that."

(teddybear170)

I like the writing style of king in this book, he adds much humor, and it is quite easy to read (my daughter is also reading it, and she is 8).

It amused me the way the king handled his young bride, (ie "kings iron") and that it is obscure enough for my daughter not to quite get it, you know what I mean??

Sasha was a good mother, who wanted to teach her child proper manners and felt it even more important to do so because he would one day be king, rather than let him do as he pleased for the same reason.

I also was glad that the king went against flagg and allowed peter to continue to play with the castle.

(tirnambeo)

(Nat)

(Nat)

(baskerville)

"A door to the left of the great courtroom led into a narrow hallway. The hallway stretched perhaps 40 paces, and then the stairs began. They wound up and up, around and around, all the way to the top of the Needle, where the two rooms Peter would live in henceforth, until the day he died, awaited him. There were 300 stairs in all. We will come to Peter at the top, in his rooms, and in good time, his story, as you will see, is not done. But we will not climb with him, because it is a climb of shame, leaving his rightful place as King at the bottom and marching, shoulders back and head erect, toward his place as prisoner of the Kingdom at the top - it would not be kind to follow him or any man on such a walk."

(teddybear)

"In the years ahead, the nightmare sometimes came again - his father accusing his hidden, spying son and then doubling over, smoking, his hair on fire. In those years, Thomas discovered two things: guilt and secrets, like murdered bones, never rest easy; but the knowledge of all three can be lived with."

(Nat)

"He was sometimes a cruel boy, often a sad boy, this pretend king, and he had almost always been a weak boy ... but even now I must tell you that I do not believe he was ever really a bad boy. If you hate him because of the things he did - and the things he allowed to be done - I will understand; but if you do not pity him a little, I will be surprised."

(Nat)