Scarlet

By A.C. Gaughen

Posing as one of Robin Hood’s thieves to avoid the evil Lord Gisbourne, Scarlet has kept her identity a secret from all of Nottinghamshire. Only Big John and Robin Hood know the truth—that the agile thief posing as a whip of a boy is actually a fearless young woman with a secret past. It’s getting harder to hide as Gisbourne’s camp seeks to find Scarlet and drive Robin Hood out of Nottinghamshire. But Scarlet’s instinct for self-preservation is at war with a strong sense of responsibility to the people who took her in when she was on the run, and she finds it’s not so easy to turn her back on her band and townspeople. As Gisbourne draws closer to Scarlet and puts innocent lives at risk, she must decide how much the people of Nottinghamshire mean to her, especially John Little, a flirtatious fellow outlaw, and Robin, whose quick smiles and temper have the rare power to unsettle Scarlet. Full of exciting action, secrets, and romance, this imaginative retelling of the classic tale will have readers following every move of Robin Hood and band of Thieves.

 

I’ve waited a while to read this book, but was a little ify when I started because of a few scathing reviews I found on Amazon. I decided to give it a go anyway, and found myself really disliking it, but not for the reasons others disliked it. So, if you know the basic Robin Hood story, you’ve got a good idea of the character of Robin Hood and his men right? Well, I really didn’t like what the author did to Robin. She made him all moody and weird.  I greatly disliked it, and also, Little John is not a player! Good grief. I hated the characters and the plot seemed to be secondary to the stupid love triangle that was going on. There was a lot of potential for me in the story about who Will Scarlet really was, but cross-dressing characters must be handled with care. Jimminy. I was going to try to give an objective review, but the more I write about it the more I get worked up. I really didn’t like this, but I think there are people out there who would really love it. It’s a love story first and foremost, a girl-power attempt (in my opinion) and really not about the poor overtaxed people at all. Sure, that’s what brings the lovers together, but other than that, they stay in the background. Oh, oh, and Guy of Gisborne really ticked me off. He was portrayed as pure evil (pretty much) and I disliked that. I liked how BBC portrayed him so much better…and okay I have a little mini-crush on Richard Armitage as well, so I’m a little biased toward the character now. Anyway, read at your own pleasure if you enjoy that sort of thing, but I cannot recommend this book at all.

 

I give it a 1 out of 5