Review: The Letter for the King

If you loved Lord of the Rings and, yes, even Stranger Things, The Letter for the King should be on your Netflix watch list.

A young messenger. A secret mission. A kingdom in peril.

Created by William Davies and FilmWave for Netflix Original programming, this fantasy series based on the Dutch novel De brief voor de Koning, translated as Letter for the King, by Tonke Dragt, is a 6 episode series that was released March 20, 2020.

Featuring a young ensemble cast, à la Stranger Things, as well as some paranormal magic, this coming of age adventure will remind you of the evocative voiceover opening scene from Fellowship of the Ring.

In the middle of the first episode, young Tiuri, the hero of The Letter for the King, hears whispers in the wheat field, which immediately made me think of Gladiator starring Russell Crowe.

Call it paying homage or using touchstones to which the audience responds, these scenes kept me watching. Of course, I'm a sucker for anything with sword fighting.

I blame those old pirate movies and Zorro for my fascination with men wielding swords. (Once, in my freelance writing days, I wrote an entire series of articles for a client about swords.)

The Cast

• Amir Wilson as Tiuri
• Ruby Ashbourne Serkis as Lavinia
• Thaddea Graham as Iona
• Islam Bouakkaz as Arman
• Jonah Lees as Jussipo
• Jack Barton as Foldo
• Nathanael Saleh as Piak
• Gijs Blom as Prince Viridian
• Emilie Cocquerel as Queen Alianor
• Peter Ferdinando as Jaro.

Filmed in New Zealand (Lord of the Rings type scenery) and the Czech Republic, the series has a bit of a pacing problem.

This could have been corrected in one of several ways: shorten the length of each episode, reduce the number of episodes, or include more plotlines which would have called for more action.

Of course, I haven't read the novel on which it's based so it's difficult to know whether there was actually more story than was presented.

I do believe it's difficult to adapt a novel to the screen, and, with most fantasy novels, it's even harder because they're usually sweeping epics of unfamiliar worlds and peoples.

Watch the YouTube trailer. Unfortunately, you can't watch this unless you subscribe to Netflix, but if the story interests you, read the book!

The English translation of The Letter for the King is available on Amazon in these editions: Kindle, Audio, Hardback, and Paperback.

Takeaway Truth

All in all, I think the series should be on your list. It would be perfect for some weekend viewing—or reading.