Customer Reviews

Beowulf: Monster Slayer (Graphic Myths & Legends)

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Recommended by an English professor, I ordered this comic book version of Beowulf to supplement my reading of the original. Not a comic book reader, I was greatly impressed by the compressed version of the Beowulf tale this book presents, and would recommend it for anyone wanting to introduce themselves, or their children to this classic adventure tale. My son (6) promptly stole this off my desk, and reluctantly returns it to me, only to steal it again the next day. I would also like to add that the end of this book includes excellent source information, and additional suggestions if you (or your children) are interested in finding out more about this tale and time period.

I've ordered some others in this series and hope they will be as good!

This is a very nice comic book (graphic novel) version of the Beowulf story. My 10-year-old son LOVED it. He is normally a reluctant reader, but he read this in less than a day! This is a perfect book for reluctant readers who enjoy the fantasy genre.

Bought it for him a couple of weeks ago and I've had to read it to him every night. I have to say, this is a great way to introduce younger children to some of the Classics - I picked up Thor & Loki: In the Land of Giants: A Norse Myth (Graphic Myths and Legends) at the same time and he enjoys that, but not as much as Beowulf. The graphic novel stays faithful to the original story, altho it omits Beowulf's battle with the sea monsters - but it covers the Fight with Grendel, the slaying of Grendel's Mother and Beowulf's death battling the Dragon very effectively.

The illustrations are really well done, and the detail is apparantly based on genuine artifacts and weapons from the period in which Beowulf is set. Very educational, in that I spent a lot of time answering my boy's questions on everything - the ships, the swords and shield and armor, the way the hall of Heorot was built, who the people were, where they lived, you name it ....).

Recommend this highly, both for it's own sake as a great graphic novel version of the story, and as a version suitable for younger children. Necessarily, there is a bit of blood and the odd body part (you can't skip over ripping Grendels' arm off or hewing off the head of Grendel's mother or Beowulf being killed by the Dragon at the end without missing the key parts of the story after all) but that's usually not a problem for young boys! But overall, the gore isn't too graphic if that worries you.

Next, we're on to Gilgamesh the King (The Gilgamesh Trilogy) and ancient Sumer.

Gift for grandkids - they like visual language and high adventure stories. I like the myths being introduced at such a young age -elementary school ages.