Book Review: Robin Hood, King of Sherwood

I'll be up front before I review this book, the author is actually a friend of mine. We have both been participants on a story-writing message board for many a year now (at least 10), and have collaborated together on on-line projects before. Regardless, I thought this book was outstanding.

This is an origin story of Robin Hood. In the beginning of the book, Robin is not the leader of the Merry Men. However, he is still the Robin that we all know and love. He is a master of the bow, a charming rogue, and a man of character.

I don't want to spoil the story, but we very organically see Robin adopt his mission to rob from the rich to give to the poor. The story never feels like an origin story, which often attempts to shoehorn in certain story beats in an awkward manner to make it match the end product.

Many stories today feature shades of grey, where it is sometimes hard to distinguish the heroes from the villains. Not so here. The villains are vicious pieces of work, both dastardly and cruel. Our heroes clearly are not, though they are not afraid to kill when necessary (a reflection of the time the story is set in, as that was the way of things). It is refreshing for the heroes to be just that, heroes.

The only negatives I have about the book are that some plot points are not wrapped up by the end; though it is important to note the author did not rush to tie them up neatly (and improperly) with a little bow in the space allotted (which would have cheapened the story). This is addressed in the afterword, that if sales are sufficient there will be another volume or two published. From personal experience I know the author has a tendency to plan a single story that then sprawls into multi-part epics, so I wasn't surprised by this. As long as the rest of the story gets published, it will all work out just fine.

I also found the odd section to be rather, well, wordy. This book is historical fiction, and as such the names and terminology of the times are used throughout the book. In the opening chapter I felt it was a little heavy on this, but to be fair it may be because the author is English, the book is set in England, and I've never been there. Generally this is a strength of the book, not a weakness, just that opening chapter was a bit heavy.

All in all, this is a fantastic read for those who love adventure and right versus wrong (as opposed to law and order). I give it 4.5 arrows out of 5.