I am a medievalist at heart, and I especially love the stories about King Arthur and the knights of the round table. So, I was pretty excited to see this retelling based on Chrétien de Troyes Yvain story by M. T. Anderson and in graphic form to boot. Essentially, it is a story about vengeance, love, and redemption, with a lot of action in between.

The tale begins when a young knight, Sir Calogrenant, returns to King Arthur's court beaten and defeated. He tells the court how he can upon a fountain with a magical stone which, when water is poured on it, promises plenty of adventure. He is immediately confronted by another knight claiming Calogrenant has attacked his domain by drenching the stone. The two men joust and Calogrenant loses, limping home weak and wounded.

It is his cousin Yvain who vows to avenge him, traveling to the fountain, pouring water on the stone, and jousting with the same knight, Sir Esclados, who attacked Calogrenant. When Sir Esclados dies from his wounds, his widow, Laudine, wants Yvain found and killed. But Yvain is already in her castle, and seeks the help of Lunette, handmaid to Laudine. However, as soon as he sees Laudine, he falls in love with her, and now wants Lunette to help him with her over. Which she does, and Yvain and Laudine are soon married.

But it doesn't take long for Yvain to want to go off with King Arthur and Gawain to prove his valor to Laudine through jousting and feats of arms. Laudine agrees, but tells Yvain he must be back in one year or her love will turn to hate. True to her word, when the allotted year ends and Yvain isn't back yet, Laudine's love becomes bitter hate and she refuses to forgive Yvain.

Dejected, out of his mind with rage and self-hate, Yvain leaves, becoming a hermit. When he saves a lion from a violent attack, the lion becomes his faithful companion. When Yvain discovers that Lunette is about to he put to death for advising Laudine to marry him, and who now feels betrayed by Lunette. Yvain promises to be her champion and defeat three of Laudine's courtiers to save Lunette from death. But can Yvain redeem himself and become the knight he once was, even winning back Laudine's love?

More sophisticated than most graphic novels, both Anderson and Offermann have captured the real essence of the medieval courtly romance. Originally, these were adventure stories told for entertainment in aristocratic court circles about knights going out on quests in search of adventure, often for the love of a lady. And that is just what happens in this interpretation of the Yvain story. But it is so much more than that. The original knight errant story focuses on the knight - everyone else is there only as extensions to his questing. Anderson has highlighted both Laudine and Lunette as strong women in their own right, they are more than just there to put a spotlight on Yvain. Even Yvain's lion has a personality and part of his own.

This is such a beautiful interpretation of the Yvain story. Anderson does stick to the basic Chrétien story - avenging his cousin's defeat, falling in love with and marrying Laudine, even unknowingly jousting Gawain, then being persuaded to go off on a year of adventuring after much goading on Gawain's part, going mad when she rejects Yvain, rescuing a lion and deciding to win back Laudine. It's all there but with a new sensibility.

Originally, knights didn't much care about anyone but themselves. Even the ladies they adventured and fought for were only there as beautiful objects, not because of any real love or loyalty. Anderson's Yvain begins the same way - a knight seeking glory for himself. Yvain gets a real wakeup call when he is rejected by Laudine, never really expecting that ignoring her request to return at the end of a year would have such serious consequences. Laudine is a woman with political power, feelings and emotions, and apparently capable of real anger, all on display here.

As much as I always loved Medieval literature, my favorite was always Parsifal because you can see his growth from a flawed boy who doesn't understand what it means to be a knight to an man who does. In a way, that is the Yvain that Anderson gives us. Already a knight of the Round Table, he too is a flawed character, still having much to learn about love and loyalty. And unlike the original Arthurian tales, in this version, Yvain doesn't always win his jousting adventures.

Anderson does, indeed, give us a wonderful, energetic retelling of Yvain, and Andrea Offermann's graphic art is quite simply spectacular. She apparently spent a lot of time studying medieval tapestries and each panel felt to me like an illuminated manuscript from that time. Many of the spreads are wordless, and though they are sometimes a bit violent and grisly, they easily move the story forward.

Yvain: the Knight of the Lion is an excellent book for anyone interested in Medieval literature, Arthurian tales, adventure stories, or graphic novels.

This book is recommended for readers age 12+
This book was an EARC received from NetGalley, but it was so wonderful, I bought my own copy of it for my personal library.

This book is beautiful! It's a lovely adaptation of the Chretian de Troyes' Yvain ou le chavalier au lion that gets to the heart of the knightly struggle while making the medieval poem accessible to a wide variety of readers.

Much as I love graphic novels, I often struggle with American graphic novels, preferring manga and manhwa with their many volume stories. A couple hundred pages with very little text don't seem like enough most of the time to tell a complex and nuanced story. There's not enough time to invest in the characters because the book's so soon over.

Though I like Arthurian legend, I didn't really get the point or desired audience for this. I don't feel like this is especially compelling teen fare, especially as it's not really retold in any exciting fresh way. It does feel antiquated. The afterword talks about how there was a goal of highlighting the role of women, and I can see that Anderson tried, but ultimately it's still decidedly not a feminist title, with a woman forced into marrying and then forgiving Yvain.

I'd have liked to see a true retelling that put a brand new spin on the tale, rather than a regurgitation of the original accompanied by illustrations. Maybe I'm wrong and teens will dig it, but I didn't really get the appeal.

Note: the eARC was missing words on some pages, but I don't think this made a marked difference in my reading experience.

YVAIN: THE KNIGHT OF THE LION by M.T. Anderson is a graphic novel set in the world of King Arthur’s court.

Based on Chrétien de Troyes’ 12th century epic poem, Sir Yvain is a knight who encounters two women who are each powerful in their own way. Sword fights and battles with dragons provide balance to this medieval romance. The book concludes with an excellent author’s note and illustrator’s note detailing the background and inspiration for the book.

Librarians will find teens who enjoy medieval stories and graphic novels drawn to both the story and the illustrations. Fans of M.T. Anderson will be happy to see him embracing the graphic novel format. Graphic novel lovers will enjoy the sophisticated graphics and well-illustrated story. Teachers may wish to weave this graphic novel into a literature course.

Published by Candlewick on March 14, 2017. ARC courtesy of the publisher.

I apologize but I can't review this book because the pdf that I had downloaded to Adobe expired before I got a chance to read it. I'm usually very interested in graphic novels, but my problem is when NetGalley doesn't pre
warn that it's in that format, because I have problems with keeping up with the expiration dates. I deeply apologize but thank you for giving me the chance to read this!

The story follows Yvain, a knight of the round table, as he goes on adventures and wins the heart of a fair lady. But it's more complicated than that. In true medieval fashion. Yvain kills the lady's husband, then sees her and falls in love. She marries him for the good of her people since he is the only one who can protect them from a certain magical threat. It's kind of squicky by modern standards but it spot on for a medieval story. And the author makes a note about this in the back, explaining how unique the source story is for giving voice to the lady's anger.
The art is best when showing action, and the illustration of the storm stone and it's namesake storms are beautiful. By comparison the art doesn't work quite as well when depicting people on their own. But I'm definitely going to see what else Andrea Offerman has illustrated, there are some stunning illustrations in here.
This is a great graphic novel for those who like Arthurian stories.

While I enjoyed the art style and the visual aspect of the page, the story was less than engaging. I was struck by the combined feminism and lack thereof - while the story revolves around the women in Arthurian legend, the limited agency of those women was noticeable.

I am a sucker for anything Arthurian, and I knew I had to read this! The book is visually very beautiful and the story held my attention. The writing was wonderful and I can't wait to see what this author comes up with next!

I've read M.T. Anderson's novels before and knew I'd want to try out his first graphic novel, especially when I saw some of the gorgeous artwork. This is his take on the tale of Sir Yvain, one of Arthur's Knights of the Round Table and his adventures. I loved that the style of the artwork reflected the Middle Ages and I loved the story itself and the research the author had obviously put into his story, while still making it his own. I have lots of raves for this one and few quibbles. If you're a fan of the Arthur stories, if you're a fan of graphic novels or this style of art, or if you're a fan of the authors, this is a solid choice.

Happily my coworkers already ordered this book, so I can read it. I was postponing reading the digital copy until this weekend, but alas, the file expired.

I love M.T. Anderson and was really excited to read this graphic novel! I think perhaps I'm simply not the right reader for this. I was really intrigued about the Arthurian background to this story, which my knowledge is admittedly limited. I found it a bit challenging to get into lacking that knowledge, and wonder if that will be a barrier for others as well. However, I think for readers out there that are interested in this history and literature, it will be a great fit!

One thing that this graphic novel proves? It's that M.T. Anderson really is a jack of all (book) trades. From his amazing YA "Feed", to his non-fiction "Symphony for the City of the Dead" and now to this historical graphic novel...what can't he do?!

Besides being a fan of Anderson, I also have a strong passion for the Arthurian legend, and everything related to it. So I was very excited to see what he could do with this! But I will say... I liked it, it was a simple retelling, and told it nicely, but it didn't bring anything new to the table. The illustrations were nice and on some pages they were quite stunning, but I also found moments of it quite messy. The whole thing left me with a slight sour taste on my tongue. Which disappointed me. Not that anything was inherently bad or terrible, it just didn't quite reach the mark for me, not enough to really get a strong reaction from me.

Having said that, as a graphic novel retelling, it's a pretty nice edition!

Sir Yvain sets out looking for adventure and finds it when he defeats a knight in battle. This act brings him into the lives of Lady Laudine and her maid Lunette. Sir Yvain quickly falls in love with Lady Laudine, but their love is destined for hardship and Sir Yvain must endure many more adventures during their time apart. This graphic novel interpretation of the 12th century poem will have new readers falling in love with the Arthurian stories and hopefully looking for more. Readers who have already fallen in love with King Arthur and his nights will be enchanted by this version and all readers must slow down and enjoy the graphics that add additional insight into this poem. Yvain: The Knight of the Lion is a quick read and fun escape.

I liked the flow of the graphics, but I did not enjoy the story. The women in here really get the short end of the stick, and it was hard to read about one of the main characters forced into an arrangement that made her miserable. Yvain himself is blindly self centered and oblivious to other people's feelings.

Not really for me.

I love medieval literature, and the fact that they are being made more accessible to a visual audience makes me so glad. I enjoyed this graphic adaptation of the story of Yvain and his adventures. I would love to see this used in a university classroom!

This was kind of...strange. This graphic novel is based on the Medieval text and so it doesn't read like a modern story, and because of that it's rushed and the characters have little personality, and the wants of women are ignored. Yvain is meant to be kind and chivalrous and yes he saves a lot of people, but the story starts out with him killing a man and then falling in love with the man'a wife and she only marries him because she needs someone to protect her fountain. And why on earth is her lady-in-waiting forcing this man upon her? This story is weird from beginning to end. I found the art really interesting and it made this story a little more compelling.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for sending me a digital ARC of “Yvain: The Knight of the Lion” by M.T. Anderson. I have always been fascinated by Arthurian legend and therefore read quite a bit on the topic. I was impressed by how the medium and pacing of the story made Arthurian legend something exciting that will be of interest for a new generation of readers. The artwork is beautiful. I discovered that the library where I work has already purchased this book and the finished result is wonderful!

I really enjoyed this! I love Arthurian adventures, so the setting and characters were perfect, although I don't think it's at all necessary to know anything about King Arthur, Queen Guinevere, the knights, etc. before diving into this one. It might've just been a pdf thing, but the illustrations were not as detailed as they could've been. This is my only gripe - but, again, I'm not sure if this is because it was an e-book and not the print version. Definitely recommend to those looking for a fun, fast read and to those that like Arthurian legend. I'd be interested to see if there will be a sequel or another similar story by Anderson in the future.

This graphic novel was a beautiful retelling of the story of Yvain. The art work is really outstanding, and even when the panels aren't perfect (some of the facial expressions are not the best), the backgrounds are really gorgeous. The book itself is just 139 pages in the e-version so at times the plot feels very rushed.

For students not familiar with the Arthurian legend, this would be a good way to introduce them to the story. It would also be a great supplemental text for teaching some of of the denser works based on the legend (like White's Once and Future King) to show different interpretations of the legend.

I received this copy from Candlewick Press via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.