3-1/2 stars. Very long, too many men madly pursuing the one woman, and a dreadful Harlequinesque cover that I won't record. Aside from that, a really interesting retelling of the legend and how it got started. It was neat watching all the characters come together. Marion was a bit too independent modern woman, but what the heck, I'm all about willing suspension of disbelief. ( )

The prose is very effective -- I was quickly engrossed, invested in Marian’s story! But I took months to finish the final third, and nearly DNF, because there are so many unpleasant men who keep getting POV sections. Ugh. If it had just been Robin and Marian, I would have felt quite differently about it. ( )

A weaving of the fragments of the Robin Hood legend into an entertaining story, with an aspect of female empowerment and PTSD on the survivors of war. ( )

Not one of the stronger stories I have read based on Robin Hood. It would have helped if it had been less repetitive, had tighter prose, and if just a dozen less male characters had wanted to bed Maid Marian. ( )

This was unexpectedly lovely, and unexpectedly complex. Not only does it focus on Marian and play the Marian/Robin romance beautifully and hit all the other major episodes from the Robin Hood legend, but also:

the political situation (Richard imprisoned, John making a power grab, etc.) factors strongly into the plot rather than sitting as background to Robin’s adventures
Robin is a former Crusader with PTSD
it tackles sexism head-on without breaking with the medieval setting
the Sheriff is despicable for more than his increased taxation
you get the POVs of pretty much everyone, including the Sheriff, every Merry Man, side characters new to this version, and Robin’s dad.

It’s good medieval fiction in its own right, though I think some of the “known facts” when Roberson was writing have now been debunked, and it uses the cultural awareness of the Robin Hood legend to its advantage—you know X is coming, but not exactly how, and oh gods, that twist made things so much worse, of course it happened that way. I think new headcanons might have been formed.

I would like to thank a friend for recommending this one. She was pretty spot-on with “If you like Outlander, you might also like…”.

8/10 ( )