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4.05 AVERAGE
4.05 AVERAGE
Lex Croucher has once again combined history and fantasy and created a beautiful sapphic novel.
Almost impossible to put down, only for moments of kicking my feet and going “I wish that were me”. This book is for any of us who have watched the animated Robin Hood film from the 1970s and gone, that’s the life for me.
With secret alliances, stolen kisses and some dastardly villains to boot, this book is going to take the historical fantasy world by storm this August.
Almost impossible to put down, only for moments of kicking my feet and going “I wish that were me”. This book is for any of us who have watched the animated Robin Hood film from the 1970s and gone, that’s the life for me.
With secret alliances, stolen kisses and some dastardly villains to boot, this book is going to take the historical fantasy world by storm this August.
adventurous
emotional
funny
lighthearted
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
emotional
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
funny
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
emotional
funny
lighthearted
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
adventurous
emotional
funny
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
challenging
funny
tense
medium-paced
Thank you to NetGalley and Wednesday Books for providing an ARC of this title in exchange for an honest review.
This is my second Lex Croucher book--the first being 2023's Gwen and Art are Not in Love--and, on the whole, I enjoyed this more than its predecessor. It contains many of the things that I thought made Gwen and Art wonderful, including goofy, tongue-in-cheek, The Princess Bride-esque dialogue (without ever veering into out-and-out silliness) and historical queer romance. Because this book is only telling one love story as opposed to two, I felt like the plot had a lot more room to breathe and the relationship more room to develop, and it's clear that Croucher was having so much fun playing with the Robin Hood story, taking our heroes on adventure after adventure at a steady pace that made this a fairly quick read. I also appreciated that the world Croucher has built is queernormative and contains diversity among its cast of secondary characters, with no over-explaining of why there are non-white people in ye olde England (as if diversity hasn't always existed). If I have a single quibble with this fun, lighthearted read, it's that the conflict felt resolved a little too quickly, and (without getting into spoilers) a series of betrayals near the end of the book left me wondering who, exactly, I was supposed to be mad at. I also had a hard time at times with the main relationship, but that could be a matter of personal preference; this book markets itself as leaning into the "grumpy/sunshine" relationship trope, and it certainly does that well (I love Clem!), but sometimes Mariel's grumpiness went to such an extreme that I wondered what a kind, positive person like Clem even saw in her, apart from that she was hot. But overall, very enjoyable and very satisfying; I hope Croucher has some more queer historical romances up their sleeve!
This is my second Lex Croucher book--the first being 2023's Gwen and Art are Not in Love--and, on the whole, I enjoyed this more than its predecessor. It contains many of the things that I thought made Gwen and Art wonderful, including goofy, tongue-in-cheek, The Princess Bride-esque dialogue (without ever veering into out-and-out silliness) and historical queer romance. Because this book is only telling one love story as opposed to two, I felt like the plot had a lot more room to breathe and the relationship more room to develop, and it's clear that Croucher was having so much fun playing with the Robin Hood story, taking our heroes on adventure after adventure at a steady pace that made this a fairly quick read. I also appreciated that the world Croucher has built is queernormative and contains diversity among its cast of secondary characters, with no over-explaining of why there are non-white people in ye olde England (as if diversity hasn't always existed). If I have a single quibble with this fun, lighthearted read, it's that the conflict felt resolved a little too quickly, and (without getting into spoilers) a series of betrayals near the end of the book left me wondering who, exactly, I was supposed to be mad at. I also had a hard time at times with the main relationship, but that could be a matter of personal preference; this book markets itself as leaning into the "grumpy/sunshine" relationship trope, and it certainly does that well (I love Clem!), but sometimes Mariel's grumpiness went to such an extreme that I wondered what a kind, positive person like Clem even saw in her, apart from that she was hot. But overall, very enjoyable and very satisfying; I hope Croucher has some more queer historical romances up their sleeve!
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
