Sworn Sword (Hedge Knight II) (v. 2) [Hardcover]

George R.R. Martin (Author), Ben Avery (Author), Mike Miller (Illustrator)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 18, 2008

Adapting New York Times best-selling author George R. R. Martin's The Sworn Sword The long-awaited sequel to The Hedge Knight tells the story of the adventures of Ser Duncan and his squire one year after their initial meeting at the tournament in Ashford. After traveling the land in search of the puppeteer girl Tanselle, Dunk and Egg find themselves in the charge of Ser Eustace, an aged knight who has accepted Dunk as his sworn sword. But Ser Eustace has another knight in his service who is nothing but trouble, and he will make Dunk's life far more difficult when he rashly attacks a peasant and causes grief to a local noble, the Lady Rohanne Webber. But the Lady Rohanne has problems of her own - and she knows the truth about Ser Eustace and the side he took in the battle of Redgrass Field. Collects Hedge Knight II: Sworn Sword #1-6.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 152 pages
• Publisher: Marvel (June 18, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0785126503
• ISBN-13: 978-0785126508
• Product Dimensions: 1 x 1 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #116,069 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

George R.R. Martin sold his first story in 1971 and has been writing professionally since then. He spent ten years in Hollywood as a writer-producer, working on The Twilight Zone, Beauty and the Beast, and various feature films and television pilots that were never made. In the mid '90s he returned to prose, his first love, and began work on his epic fantasy series, A Song of Ice and Fire. He has been in the Seven Kingdoms ever since. Whenever he's allowed to leave, he returns to Santa Fe, New Mexico, where he lives with the lovely Parris, and two cats named Augustus and Caligula, who think they run the place.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A great story continuation, November 18, 2008

By 

Justin M. James "J.Ja" (Columbia, SC) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Sworn Sword (Hedge Knight II) (v. 2) (Hardcover)

Most of the time, when you see a number in the title of a book indicating that it is a sequel, you know it will be bad. This time is different. Hedge Knight II continues the story of Dunk the Hedge Knight and his squire Egg, in the same tradition as the first. Dunk is a good hearted man of honor who is treated with contempt due to his status. He holds firm to the values that he was taught, while he has every incentive not to. If you like the Dunk and Egg characters, this is a winner. If you don't, you won't like this one either.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A great follow up to an already great series, July 28, 2008

By 

Rafael Martinez III (Brooklyn, New York) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Sworn Sword (Hedge Knight II) (v. 2) (Hardcover)

When I read the first Hedge Knight, I was blown away by the story, art and detail. I never expected Marvel to adapt Song of Ice and Fire to a graphic novel. I was kind of skeptical at first...but then i read it and it was everything and more. The Sworn Sword is the follow up to the Hedge Knight, the tale of a young Ser Duncon the Tall of the Kingsguard (Dunk), and his young squire and soon to be King Aegon "The Unlikely" Targaryen(Egg). It starts out with the two heroes pledging their swords to an aged knight with past glory, Ser Eustace of the Chequay Lion. It isn't as big of a story as the first, being the whole trial and lords of the Seven Kingdoms in the past, but the details surely make up for the action and big cast of characters. All in all if your a GRRM, SOIAF fan than yes pick it up. If your into reading graphic novels and your looking for a new fresh series to read, this will satisfy your hunger even if you havn't read SOIAF. Great read and a very hooking story to keep you turning the pages till your done!

10 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Not as Good as the First, August 20, 2008

By 

M. W. Harris (APO AP United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Sworn Sword (Hedge Knight II) (v. 2) (Hardcover)

While I'm a huge fan of the Song of Ice and Fire series from GRRM (which the first Hedge Knight graphic novel (The Hedge Knight - Second Edition [Graphic Novel) turned me on to), I was left somewhat disappointed in Hedge Knight II: Sworn Sword. I wasn't disappointed in GRRM's story, which makes me want to reread the entire series again to see if I can find the characters in HK2SS mentioned somewhere in the series so I can put them in the correct perspective. Very entertaining story line and I look forward to its continuation. My problem is with Marvel's graphic treatment of the story. I don't know anything about the theory or rules for creating a coherent story line in a graphic novel, but I don't believe those rules were adhered to in this book. On several occasions I found myself sure I had turned two pages instead of one because the continuity from one page to the next was so fractured. This also happened between panels on the same page, but of course in those cases there was no doubt that something the author intended to show was poorly illustrated by the artist (no page turning involved). I also found the way Dunk's thoughts were portrayed (usually at the bottom of the panels and in very small letters) as difficult to read (in general) and difficult to fit into their proper place in the stream of interactions with other characters (in many cases). All in all, I think it was an example of poor editing and/or editorial direction on the part of Marvel combined with perhaps inexperienced artist(s) and letterer (oh, and there were several words misspelled which again, I think, supports my conclusion). Overall, this book has the feel of something Marvel wanted to bring to press quickly and with a minimum of effort. The artwork itself is not bad (and in some cases it's gorgeous), but, again, I think some rules weren't followed for continuity purposes.

One thing I want to point out for those who read the first Hedge Knight graphic novel (The Hedge Knight - Second Edition [Graphic Novel): if you'll recall at the end of it, after the pages showing the heraldry of the various houses and people, there was a short story of a battle recounted to Dunk and Egg by some old guy. I couldn't figure out why it was there. Well, turns out this is embedded pretty much unaltered in HK2SS, and you find out the "old guy" is Sir Eustace, the person Sir Duncan has "sworn" his "sword" to, ala the title. Still not sure why they put it in the first graphic novel, but it's nice to see where it fits into the overall story. Maybe it was just a teaser.

Bottom line: I would recommend this only to those with a "thing" for complete collections, or for those want really want to see what the characters look like. Otherwise, I recommend you purchase the book-version of the story (a short story by GRRM which can be found in Legends II: Dragon, Sword, and King.