was not very proud of it." However the series was "popular and critically praised", and numbered among Druon's best known works. Lichfield noted: In his youth, Druon had cowritten the lyrics to Chant des Partisans (1943), a popular French Resistance anthem of World War II. In 1948 he received the Prix Goncourt for his novel . Though Ben Milne of the BBC noted in 2014 that Druon is "barely known in the English-speaking world", American author George R. R. Martin called the author "France's best historical novelist since Alexandre Dumas, père". Martin dubbed The Accursed Kings "the original game of thrones", citing Druon's novels as an inspiration for his own series A Song of Ice and Fire, which has been adapted for television as Game of Thrones and House of the Dragon. Martin's UK publisher HarperCollins began reissuing the long out of print Accursed Kings series in 2013, with Martin himself writing an introduction. He wrote: Writing for The Wall Street Journal, Allan Massie praised Druon's "thorough research, depth of understanding and popular touch", noting that "Druon’s re-creation of medieval Paris is so vivid that it loses nothing in comparison with the evocation of the city in the greatest of French medievalist novels, Victor Hugo’s Notre-Dame de Paris". Massie added: In 2013, Stefan Raets suggested that The Iron King could be considered a grimdark historical novel. In a 2013 Booklist Starred Review, David Pitt called the novel "historical fiction on a grand scale, full of political intrigue, family drama, and characters who, while drawn from life, are larger than it". Russell Miller wrote for Library Journal: The Sunday Times called The Iron King "dramatic and colourful as a Dumas romance but stiffened by historical accuracy and political insight" and a "blood-curdling tale of intrigue, murder, corruption and sexual passion". The Times Literary Supplement described it as "barbaric, sensual, teeming with life, based in wide reading and sound scholarship ... among the best historical novels". Les Rois maudits was parodied on French television in the successful 1973 series starring Roger Pierre and Jean-Marc Thibault. References External links French Wikipedia fr:Les Rois maudits fr:Les Rois maudits (mini-série, 1972) fr:Les Rois maudits (mini-série, 2005) Book series introduced in 1955 French historical novels Historical novels by series Novels set in the 14th century Novels set in France Novels set in the Middle Ages Historical television series 20th-century French novels Edward III of England