Customer Reviews

Sworn Sword (Hedge Knight II) (v. 2)

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

 

 

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.

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!

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.

This was a great follow up to the first, and something that partially slaked my thirst for Westeros while waiting for A Dance With Dragons. A great Martin story, filled with all those "shades of gray" that he is so good a portraying.

This is the second book in the adventures of Ser Duncan the Tall and his loyal squire, Egg. The land is suffering from a two-year drought. The lack of rain, combined with the unusually hot weather, create conditions that make it hard to get the land to produce food. Crops are dying, animals are dying, and people are dying. Our honorable traveling knight and his loyal squire have come out of the hedges to work in service to a local Lord, Ser Eustace Osgrey.

Trouble begins when a nearby stream, the only source of water for Ser Eustace's land, suddenly stopped flowing. Ser Dunk and Ser Bennis (another knight in service to Ser Eustace) travels upstream to determine the cause of the stoppage. They soon learn that the stream has been dammed by another landowner, the Lady Rohanne. Ser Dunk demands from the farm workers present at the site to dismantle the dam and allow the water to flow. The farmers refused the request and stated that they have been instructed by their Lady to dam the stream. The workers' refusal to cooperate causes Ser Bennis to lose his temper and cuts one of the men on the cheek with his sword.

The Lady Rohanne, known as the Red Spider, demands that Ser Bennis be delivered to her for punishment. Known for her harshness, the Lady Rohanne most likely would have handed out a very severe punishment. Ser Eustace refuses, and demands that the Lady dismantle the dam. Both Lord and Lady refuse to yield to the other. Violent bloodshed seemed inevitable. And so, our honorable hedge knight and his ever-resourceful squire (who is really Prince Aegon Targaryen V) must find a way to settle the matter with as little bloodshed as possible.

In my opinion, this second book is not quite as good as the first one. However, it is still an excellent tale. A must-read for fans of George R. R. Martin's epic series, "A Song of Ice and Fire". For here, we learn a little bit about the Targaryen family history. There are little bits of information here that will add to the pleasure of reading the main series. For example, Dunk notices that Egg is not at all bothered by the oppressive heat, even while wearing heavy woolen clothes! It has been alluded to in the main series that the Targaryens may have a very high tolerance for heat. This scene in Hedge Knight II adds evidence to this theory. In short, I highly recommend this book.

The artwork in this book is incredible and it is extremely consistent with the short story. A great addition to your ASOIAF library.

I enjoyed reading this and knew full well it was like a comic book from having read part one. Not sure how someone would not know this if they read part one and if you didn't read part one why are you reading part two? If you read part one and enjoyed it then you'll this book.

THIS IS A GRAPHIC NOVEL! The problem is not the book -- it's the way it is marketed. From reading the description, I had no idea that this was essentially a fancy comic book. I was expecting ana actual novel. This got sent back for a refund. If you're looking for a graphic novel, this may be a good one (for all I know) but if you're expecting an actual novel, then you are being mislead.

GRRRRR, I'm SO angry! Thought I was buying a book, but instead discovered that I'd bought a comic book!!