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kiiouex's review
DNF at 100 pages after a couple of weeks.
It's just too much work! it is sapping my reading energy knowing I will have to pick up this again. I don't even think it's bad it's just heavy and dull. Someone out there is living for this queer robin hood story but it is not me. (and skimming reviews to see if anyone else struggled, and discovering it ends on a cliffhanger, is something of a final straw)
It's just too much work! it is sapping my reading energy knowing I will have to pick up this again. I don't even think it's bad it's just heavy and dull. Someone out there is living for this queer robin hood story but it is not me. (and skimming reviews to see if anyone else struggled, and discovering it ends on a cliffhanger, is something of a final straw)
dok_plague's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
inspiring
mysterious
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
this is definitely not a light reading, but wonderfully enjoyable with an ending that will leave you trembling
shile87's review
5.0
4.75 Aye Mi fell in love stars
WARNING!! GUSHING AND QUOTES:
No spoilers, i hope?? Maybe unintentional ones.
Silence. Darkness. Only a charred lump of ash remains… and the horns, blackened. Then the lump… moves. Rises. Covered in ash, dark as the Horned Lord had been, the figure is tall, and hooded, and it reaches for him….
First of all... GAAAAAAHHH!!!
Second of all..... GAAAAAAAHHH!!!
Now that that is out of the way.
This book is incredible. Fantasy is not my go to genre because most of the time i don't understand half the shit that is going on. That said, i have found myself enjoying the ones i have read and this was no different. I was confused at the beginning didn't understand half of the shit going on, when i reached in the middle of chapter 4, i realized i was reading it wrong, i.e i was concentrating on not getting shit, instead of going with the flow, so i went back to the beginning and starting it all over again and let me tell you it was;
This story is the re-imagining of the legends of Robin Hood. I know nothing deep about Robinhood except the little the movie i watched showed me. While reading this i felt the passion the author has when it comes to this legend. The writing is stellar, very engaging and detailed. She gave me more that expected. She mixed this with old religion, i am not a fan of anything to do with religion. I find it so hypocritical and sometimes that takes me out of the story. Ms. Hennig did an amazing job with balancing. The religion aspects was not shoved in my face and i found myself feeling sorry for the some of characters instead of wanting to strangle them. Some i wanted dead.... Like torture-ry dead. GAAAAAHH!!
The characters are soo well developed. The author took her time developing each character.
Our Main MCs:
Rob - Robinhood and Gamelyn were two complete opposites. It's true what they say about opposites. They really do attract. From the moment Rob is introduced, i fell in love, it was instant. He is one stubborn character, resilient, knows what he wants and is not afraid of going after it. One who will do anything for those he loves. Gaaaahhhh!!! .. Mi loves Rob.
So he concentrated on eating. And most abjectly did not notice Gamelyn’s hands, deft and economical with the knife as he trimmed the rind from the cheese and cut pieces of apple to dole out between them. Or the way his lashes brushed his cheeks, tipped with bronze not unlike the freckles scattered beneath them as he looked down at what he was doing.
Gamelyn! Gamelyn! milord Gamelyn!! Mmmhhhh!! This guy is complex, I wanted to smack him so hard sometimes and hug him at the same time. He is battling some inner demons that i wanted him to stop and shake off the demon on his shoulder. He brought out the Dr. Jekyll and Dr. Hyde in me. I love him too, like i love Jeffrey Dean Morgan.
Gamelyn had fully intended to head straight to the library after the meal. Instead he had come as far as the door out into the courtyard, seen the commotion there—soldiers gathering gear and getting ready for their escort duty on the morrow—and parked his buttocks in the window next to that door to watch
Ok! You see that girl in the back? The one on the cover with long hair? Yeah that one!!! her name is MARION! She is Rob's sister and she is FREAKING AWESOME!!!! WE all LOVE MARION.
I will not go into details about the other characters, because if i did, we might be here waiting for Dinosaurs to not become extinct. Because, i have rants and praises that rivals the book pages. Just know they are not one dimension.
This is not your typical Romance driven story. That said, the relationship between Gamelyn and Rob develops at a pace that i love, so effortlessly, they just fit. Two opposite humans that just FIT!! GAAAAAAAAHHH!!!
I believe i said something about the writing, if not, i will repeat it again, The writing is incredible, and this book shines in the humor department. I was loling so hard, you want my to won my reading heart give me humor, the good kind only! and you will have my reading heart, you can do with it whatever you want as long as you keep making me laugh until i feel like peeing. The humor is incredible, if you blink you miss it.
But maybe Gamelyn did like Marion better. Which was also irritating, and for no good reason.
“Aye, well then,” Will murmured with a wink. “Simon thinks you’re prettier. But he’s a tunic lifter, just like you—”
“Sod you, Scathelock.”
Long story Long!!! AYE READ THIS BOOK!!!!
Thank you to Cristina, Ele, Linda, Moony, Rosa, Teal and Xia for this epic buddy read. Let the adventure continue in book 2 and hopefully 3, 4 and 5.
WARNING!! GUSHING AND QUOTES:
No spoilers, i hope?? Maybe unintentional ones.
Silence. Darkness. Only a charred lump of ash remains… and the horns, blackened. Then the lump… moves. Rises. Covered in ash, dark as the Horned Lord had been, the figure is tall, and hooded, and it reaches for him….
First of all... GAAAAAAHHH!!!
Second of all..... GAAAAAAAHHH!!!
Now that that is out of the way.
This book is incredible. Fantasy is not my go to genre because most of the time i don't understand half the shit that is going on. That said, i have found myself enjoying the ones i have read and this was no different. I was confused at the beginning didn't understand half of the shit going on, when i reached in the middle of chapter 4, i realized i was reading it wrong, i.e i was concentrating on not getting shit, instead of going with the flow, so i went back to the beginning and starting it all over again and let me tell you it was;
This story is the re-imagining of the legends of Robin Hood. I know nothing deep about Robinhood except the little the movie i watched showed me. While reading this i felt the passion the author has when it comes to this legend. The writing is stellar, very engaging and detailed. She gave me more that expected. She mixed this with old religion, i am not a fan of anything to do with religion. I find it so hypocritical and sometimes that takes me out of the story. Ms. Hennig did an amazing job with balancing. The religion aspects was not shoved in my face and i found myself feeling sorry for the some of characters instead of wanting to strangle them. Some i wanted dead.... Like torture-ry dead. GAAAAAHH!!
The characters are soo well developed. The author took her time developing each character.
Our Main MCs:
Rob - Robinhood and Gamelyn were two complete opposites. It's true what they say about opposites. They really do attract. From the moment Rob is introduced, i fell in love, it was instant. He is one stubborn character, resilient, knows what he wants and is not afraid of going after it. One who will do anything for those he loves. Gaaaahhhh!!! .. Mi loves Rob.
So he concentrated on eating. And most abjectly did not notice Gamelyn’s hands, deft and economical with the knife as he trimmed the rind from the cheese and cut pieces of apple to dole out between them. Or the way his lashes brushed his cheeks, tipped with bronze not unlike the freckles scattered beneath them as he looked down at what he was doing.
Gamelyn! Gamelyn! milord Gamelyn!! Mmmhhhh!! This guy is complex, I wanted to smack him so hard sometimes and hug him at the same time. He is battling some inner demons that i wanted him to stop and shake off the demon on his shoulder. He brought out the Dr. Jekyll and Dr. Hyde in me. I love him too, like i love Jeffrey Dean Morgan.
Gamelyn had fully intended to head straight to the library after the meal. Instead he had come as far as the door out into the courtyard, seen the commotion there—soldiers gathering gear and getting ready for their escort duty on the morrow—and parked his buttocks in the window next to that door to watch
Ok! You see that girl in the back? The one on the cover with long hair? Yeah that one!!! her name is MARION! She is Rob's sister and she is FREAKING AWESOME!!!! WE all LOVE MARION.
I will not go into details about the other characters, because if i did, we might be here waiting for Dinosaurs to not become extinct. Because, i have rants and praises that rivals the book pages. Just know they are not one dimension.
This is not your typical Romance driven story. That said, the relationship between Gamelyn and Rob develops at a pace that i love, so effortlessly, they just fit. Two opposite humans that just FIT!! GAAAAAAAAHHH!!!
I believe i said something about the writing, if not, i will repeat it again, The writing is incredible, and this book shines in the humor department. I was loling so hard, you want my to won my reading heart give me humor, the good kind only! and you will have my reading heart, you can do with it whatever you want as long as you keep making me laugh until i feel like peeing. The humor is incredible, if you blink you miss it.
But maybe Gamelyn did like Marion better. Which was also irritating, and for no good reason.
“Aye, well then,” Will murmured with a wink. “Simon thinks you’re prettier. But he’s a tunic lifter, just like you—”
“Sod you, Scathelock.”
Long story Long!!! AYE READ THIS BOOK!!!!
Thank you to Cristina, Ele, Linda, Moony, Rosa, Teal and Xia for this epic buddy read. Let the adventure continue in book 2 and hopefully 3, 4 and 5.
kaqueershi's review against another edition
3.0
3.5
I'm not sure how I feel about this. It's very well written but I dont know how much I actually connected with it. Hoping I like the second book more.
I'm not sure how I feel about this. It's very well written but I dont know how much I actually connected with it. Hoping I like the second book more.
chocolatemeerkat's review
5.0
Gods almighty I am going to need time to recover and write a proper review for this was amazing. Also irony in finishing this on the eve of beltane.
rangerinblack's review
4.0
This was as confusing as it was mesmerizing. It ended just like I knew it would, so while I am anxious to pick up book two to see a, hopefully, satisfying conclusion* I may need a minute to recover from the emotional toll.
*I know there are three more books but from the afterword in this book it looks like it was originally written as a duology, which makes sense as this book seems to be a prequel of sorts to the Robin Hood story we are more familiar with.
4.25 stars if I'm being precise.
*I know there are three more books but from the afterword in this book it looks like it was originally written as a duology, which makes sense as this book seems to be a prequel of sorts to the Robin Hood story we are more familiar with.
4.25 stars if I'm being precise.
alisonalisonalison's review against another edition
5.0
ETA: Fourth time reading this (in a year!) and it's even more gripping now. Simply spectacular.
Absolutely amazing. I loved this so much. This is the first book in a spectacularly good historical fantasy series. It's a rich re-telling of the Robin Hood mythology set in twelfth century England and I absolutely loved it. This series is incredibly immersive and it grabbed me by the heart from the very beginning and sucked me in completely. It's magical and completely involving.
This is excellent storytelling. I love the writing--it's rich, detailed, lyrical, and full of feeling and subtext. The characterisation is wonderfully done and so strong, and these characters are full of realism and they're so vibrant and sympathetic and flawed (and so loveable). Even the secondary characters are well developed, with vivid personalities and strong presences. I feel like I really know and understand the characters and why they do what they do, even the villains. This first book is somewhat a prequel-type origin story in that Robin Hood isn't actually in this book--you'll have to read the second book for that part. Instead, this the story of teenage pagan peasant Rob, his older sister Marion, and their Christian nobleman friend, Gamelyn. All three are POV characters and I love that Marion is such a strong character in her own right, and she plays an even bigger role in the later books. The love story is beautiful and delicate. The historical setting really comes alive and I love that the social and cultural aspects of medieval life are so thoroughly a part of the story. The author's research, not only of the time period, but of the Robin Hood-related body of literature and the Old English ballads, is clear. Religion, and the conflicts between Christianity and the traditional pagan faith, is a major theme in this series and I found the discussions of the nature and the meaning of faith and G/god to be fascinating. I learned a lot reading this, not only because the book is thoughtful and full of information, but because I wanted to know more and kept looking things up.
At over 150,00 words (more than 500 pages), this is a longish book, though it never felt long and it's very much a story to get lost in. If you're looking for a quick, easy, light Robin Hood-themed m/m romance, this is not it. This is a book, and a series, full of depth and subtext that asks you to think. It is the beginning of a long and epic story (that is still unfinished). There are some very dark moments and lots of bad things happen to our intrepid heroes, but there is a beautiful love story at its heart. The ending is quite dramatic and I bought the second book, [b:Shirewode|24299065|Shirewode (The Wode, #2)|J. Tullos Hennig|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1420429274s/24299065.jpg|25781963], within minutes of finishing. These books have affected me so strongly and I've spent an entire month wonderfully lost in the reading and the immediate re-reading of the three books. Highly recommended, to say the least.
Absolutely amazing. I loved this so much. This is the first book in a spectacularly good historical fantasy series. It's a rich re-telling of the Robin Hood mythology set in twelfth century England and I absolutely loved it. This series is incredibly immersive and it grabbed me by the heart from the very beginning and sucked me in completely. It's magical and completely involving.
This is excellent storytelling. I love the writing--it's rich, detailed, lyrical, and full of feeling and subtext. The characterisation is wonderfully done and so strong, and these characters are full of realism and they're so vibrant and sympathetic and flawed (and so loveable). Even the secondary characters are well developed, with vivid personalities and strong presences. I feel like I really know and understand the characters and why they do what they do, even the villains. This first book is somewhat a prequel-type origin story in that Robin Hood isn't actually in this book--you'll have to read the second book for that part. Instead, this the story of teenage pagan peasant Rob, his older sister Marion, and their Christian nobleman friend, Gamelyn. All three are POV characters and I love that Marion is such a strong character in her own right, and she plays an even bigger role in the later books. The love story is beautiful and delicate. The historical setting really comes alive and I love that the social and cultural aspects of medieval life are so thoroughly a part of the story. The author's research, not only of the time period, but of the Robin Hood-related body of literature and the Old English ballads, is clear. Religion, and the conflicts between Christianity and the traditional pagan faith, is a major theme in this series and I found the discussions of the nature and the meaning of faith and G/god to be fascinating. I learned a lot reading this, not only because the book is thoughtful and full of information, but because I wanted to know more and kept looking things up.
At over 150,00 words (more than 500 pages), this is a longish book, though it never felt long and it's very much a story to get lost in. If you're looking for a quick, easy, light Robin Hood-themed m/m romance, this is not it. This is a book, and a series, full of depth and subtext that asks you to think. It is the beginning of a long and epic story (that is still unfinished). There are some very dark moments and lots of bad things happen to our intrepid heroes, but there is a beautiful love story at its heart. The ending is quite dramatic and I bought the second book, [b:Shirewode|24299065|Shirewode (The Wode, #2)|J. Tullos Hennig|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1420429274s/24299065.jpg|25781963], within minutes of finishing. These books have affected me so strongly and I've spent an entire month wonderfully lost in the reading and the immediate re-reading of the three books. Highly recommended, to say the least.
the_novel_approach's review
5.0
If you love epic fantasy, I can’t recommend this book highly enough. J Tullos Hennig’s writing is nothing less than eloquent, her storytelling nothing less than stellar. This is the sort of book that makes me fall in love with words and language all over again. It’s a story that drew me in from page one and didn’t cut me loose, even when there were no more words left to read.
You can read the rest of this review at The Novel Approach
You can read the rest of this review at The Novel Approach