King's Quest: See No Weevil

This is the third of the three official King's Quest novels. See No Weevil was written by Kenyon Morr (pseudonym of Mark Sumner and Marella Sands).

Rosella feigns an illness to avoid going to a wedding in a neighboring kingdom. With her parents safely out of the way who left Oswold in charge, she begins meddling in kingdom affairs. She "pulls rank" whenever she can, spends money without heed, and scorns and belittles anyone she feels is "less" than she is.

This causing a plague of weevils and then lizard-like sloks across the land.

Summary

When the king's away, the weevils (and sloks) will play... While King Graham and the queen attend a wedding in faraway Cumberford, Princess Rosella plays sick and skips it. After her speedy recovery, she gets to run Daventry, as the highest-ranking royalty in the kingdom. It shouldn't be too difficult—after all, she is almost fifteen.

Rosella begins preparations for the great Harvest Festival, changing time-honored traditions to fit her superior tastes. Ignoring warnings of doom, she has an ugly old tree stump removed from the festival grounds. It's a definite improvement—except for millions of magical weevils that pour out of the ground, eating everything in sight. And the weevils ruin a Piper's spell that was leading a herd of vicious three-toed sloks out of Daventry. Rosella's at a loss now. Her kingdom is being overrun by magical insects and giant lizards. And she doesn't know what kind of parents could leave a fifteen-year-old princess alone at a time like this...

Behind the Scenes

According to Ken Williams, Sierra had little to do with the books beyond licensing another company the permission to write them, and arranging publishing. The series were also mentioned in InterAction Magazine as a way to experience the magic of King's Quest without a computer, that would allow readers to follow their favorite characters in an all new adventure-fantasy stories. In addition according to the copyright page, while the book is copyrighted to the authors Mark Sumner and Marella Sands (as well as to Sierra On-Line), all original characters introduced in the story are copyrighted characters of Sierra On-line. Sierra's name and seal appears on the back of the book.

This book is sometimes listed on book websites such as Amazon.com as "King's Quest 3: See No Weevil" although there is no evidence of this numbering in the book itself.

Chronological placement

The book takes place over a period of a little less than two weeks. It is said that Rosella would be 15 in a few weeks. It is supported by KQ3 which takes place in late summer. The story takes place during summer but moves into autumn. It is stated that her 15th birthday will occur in a couple of weeks.

The beginning of See No Weevil takes place during the summer, she slept under ten wool blankets in the summer's heat to appear as if she was sick so she could avoid going to wedding in neighboring kingdom. Another place, Rosella mentions she will arrest, a couple of sisters, and bring them out "next summer", and ask for their confession again. A bit further into the second day of the story, the first yellow leaves of autumn poked out from among the green foliage of the trees. It is mentioned that the festival grounds have become overgrown with several small bushes since last fall. By the third day of the story, the sycamore trees in Daventry town were yellow and some of the leaves had fallen. It is said a little bit later (still in the 3rd day) that they are at the end of the summer. By the 8th day or so, the land was filled with "cool autumn air".

Betony was born three months before the story, so about spring.

Fairytale & myth inspirations

The book makes several references to myth, fairy stories, and other tales. This includes, a reference to Solomon and trial over custody over the baby, there is a reference to Daniel and the Fiery Furnace stories in the bible through the spell, Demogogue Dan's Spell of the Fiery Furnace, the Piper is a reference to the Pied Piper of Hamelin, there is a reference to Sleeping Beauty (in the idea of everyone in Daventry falling asleep for a century, and the castle being overgrown with thorn bushes). There is a reference to legendary princesses who can make birds land on them (see a number of characters including Snow White, and Cinderella). There is a reference to pink elephants or heffalumps and woozles (a dream of dancing pink sloks and purple weevils). There is a reference to a cursed desert that has similar properties to the Deadly Desert in the Oz books. There is also a reference to the American cowboy, in men in a far away land riding horses, lassoing steer/bison type creatures, and wearing dusty pants, a faded shirt, and wearing a wide-brimmed hat. The gnome characters are largely similar to gnome characters in the games.

Title listings

This book is often listed as King's Quest 3: See No Weevil (in bookstores such as Amazon) although its not clear where this  title originates from, it doesn't seem to appear in the book itself.                             

The publisher listings give it this description:                             

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.