Robyn Hood: A Girl's Tale

By K. M. Shea

The ballads lie. Robin Hood, the Bold and Brave Outlaw of Sherwood Forest, is cowardly, spineless, and a girl.

Robyn unwittingly starts the Robin Hood farce when she is mistaken for a male while saving her friend, Marian, from two foresters. Forced into hiding, Robyn unwillingly collects “Merry Men” while grudgingly robbing from the rich fools that wander through Sherwood. What starts as small scale robbery blows up into complex heists when Little John and Will Scarlet join her team, and the idiotic Prince John and his legion of soldiers comes to town. However, Robyn can’t stop the theft—not when King Richard is being held ransom.

Cowardly Robyn’s best chance to raise money for King Richard’s release is to rob his brother, Prince John. Will she survive the heist, or swing in the gallows?

Reluctant female Robin Hood? Cool. I had reservations about this book because I had recently read the book Scarlet, which similar in regards to changing the gender of an iconic character, that of Will Scarlet. This book, thankfully, was much better than Scarlet, which was a huge let down for me. Robyn Hood is a girl that just wants to be left in peace to lead her life, and is cajoled by her merry men into becoming their leader. She is someone that they can rally around and also protect. The dynamic of the group was fun because it was kind of like Robyn was a little sister to the Merry Men, but they all love and protect her in every way possible. The only issue I had with this book was that I didn’t know before I started it that it is a two-part story. There is a pretty huge cliff-hanger in the end and it felt incredibly abrupt. So of course I had to go get the second book immediately to finish it. I kinda think that the author could’ve just put the two books together into one, as they really aren’t that big. Oh well.

This first instalment gets a 3.25 out of 5

Robyn Hood: Fight for Freedom

By K. M. Shea

Robyn left her band of Merry Men after losing an archery contest against Little John and runs to the last place her men would expect: the courts of Prince John. Robyn successfully masks her identity until Little John and Will Scarlet locate her with Marian’s help. Unfortunately the Merry Men are found out, and the Sheriff of Nottingham makes plans to hang them. Robyn must save her men and find a way out of the locked Nottingham Castle, or she will lose her trusted partners to the noose.

The Merry Men aren’t the only friends Robyn is fighting for. Marian—Robin’s childhood friend—will be unwillingly married to the persistent and violent Sir Guy of Gisborne if Robyn can’t stop the wedding.

Can Robyn save her men, her closest friend, and finally pay King Richard’s ransom.

The second half of Robyn Hood is much more creative than the first, seeing Robyn in the courts of Prince John acting as a courtier from a distant county. Robyn is pretty much pouting for the first half of this book, and majorly embarrassed when she discovers that some of her Merry Men have fallen in love with her. She’s a girl who isn’t one for drama, and what’s more dramatic than romance? Not only that, but she is also trying her best to ransom King Richard, and save her best friend from a truly horrible marriage. This is a fun conclusion to an interesting take on the classic myth. I enjoyed the read even if it wasn’t the best book I’ve ever read.

I give it a 3.5 out of 5

Princess of the Silver Woods

By Jessica Day George

Petunia is the youngest of King Gregor’s twelve daughters who together battled their way out of a curse that had plagued the family for years. But while on her way to visit an elderly neighbor, Petunia’s carriage is ambushed by bandits and Petunia finds herself falling headlong into another conflict—this one between a hidden forest community and the powerful kingdom that has stripped them of their wealth. With the line between enemies and friends suddenly blurred, and a handsome young thief her only hope at escaping the clutches of the King Under Stone, it will take all of Petunia’s courage, and a little help from her eleven older sisters, to put an end to the curse once and for all and restore their kingdom to right.

This is the third installment from Princess of the Midnight Ball, and we get to hear from Petunia, the youngest of the twelve dancing princesses. This is a sort of Robin Hood/ Little Red Riding Hood retelling in a loose sense that I ended up enjoying more than the previous two books. Petunia is this little petite thing with a wicked aim and a big heart. She meets Oliver and things snowball from there. While I enjoy Jessica Day George’s books, this particular series is definitely not my favorite. From her fairy-tale retellings, Sun and Moon, Ice and Snow is my favorite, and I very much liked her Dragon Slippers books more than these. I do read a lot of fairy-tale retellings and these just aren’t my favorite. They aren’t memorable for me, just fluff and fun.

I give it a 3 out of 5- average 

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