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3.7 AVERAGE
3.7 AVERAGE
Lawhead has reimagined Robin Hood in the form of Bran, a prince in Wales in 1093AD, as he struggles against the Normans who have taken his land. He does a good job of making you believe in each of the characters of legend as flesh and blood people, and the setting fits the story well. Unfortunately, the character development is nonexistent, his explanations of historical events are lacking, and his pacing is juvenile. I never felt like I had a good sense of the hierarchy of titles or what was going on in the world around the characters, and there was such a large cast that none of them seemed to get enough page space. Would recommend to those who really love the Robin Hood legend.
I know this is supposed to be an origin story but I just never felt anything for any of these characters. Bring back the Men in Tights
Robin Hood historical look. It is a series. Wade recommended it. Good read. I purchased the series.
adventurous
dark
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I struggle between giving a 3 or 4 star review. While I enjoyed the story, I found it easy to put down as needed. I came to cheer for Bran and for the Welch. It is definitely a slow burn.
adventurous
inspiring
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Oh my! What a well written tale during the times of struggle, Baron & Lord ruling and the corrupted churchmen.
It was a long read, but one I would willingly read again. The legend of King Raven is surely where the the tale of Robin Hood originated, in the dense unpolluted forests of the March, in the times of the Cymry.
I loved this book. It was so heartbreaking as I saw the dwindling pages left to be read, I cannot wait to continue this amazing 'folk tale'!
It was a long read, but one I would willingly read again. The legend of King Raven is surely where the the tale of Robin Hood originated, in the dense unpolluted forests of the March, in the times of the Cymry.
I loved this book. It was so heartbreaking as I saw the dwindling pages left to be read, I cannot wait to continue this amazing 'folk tale'!
I think this book had a lot more potential than I actually give it credit for. Problem was, I kept getting caught up in a million tiny things. While I really liked that Lawhead gave us a very feasible explanation for the beginning of the Robin Hood legend, I couldn't help but trip on a multitude of things. It wasn't his descriptions or characters or development or anything like that. I thought all of that was done wonderfully well. My problem was that he introduced characters with very old names ("Iwan" for example) and then would have them renamed "Tuck" or "John" (to 'hint' at where they fall in the legend). Fine and dandy. The problem was that literally on one page, it would be Athelfrith, and the next page it would be Tuck. Now, I kept up. But I know some readers who would stumble and fall over and over again at that. I know others still who would give up on the book just by seeing that. It doesn't mean it was bad to give the characters time-period names. Merely that he should have chosen one name and stuck with it. The only other thing that bothered me was some of the names and having no clue how to pronounce them. It's like what Orsen Scott Card said in his book "Writing Science Fiction and Fantasy" - if the reader can't sound out the name, it just becomes this image in our head and no longer is it a name for a character. You get to that word and you go, "Oh, it's the I guy. Got it." This doesn't have to be a problem - just give me a pronunciation guide please. Otherwise, a really good read. Looking forward to when I have time to read the rest.
I randomly picked this up a while ago from the shelf at the used book store and thought it looked interesting. I was more in the "save money" mode, so I made a note to see if the library had it. I finally decided to pick it up the other day.
I really wanted to like this. After seeing all the other series the author wrote with themes I also would like, I REALLY wanted to like this. But mostly I just felt kind of bored. There were lots of characters with odd names that I couldn't sound out. It made it VERY hard to keep people straight in my head. I had to make myself get through this one. Not that it was such a chore to read, just that I didn't care for it much. In the end, it was okay, but I have no desire to read more. In the least.
I really wanted to like this. After seeing all the other series the author wrote with themes I also would like, I REALLY wanted to like this. But mostly I just felt kind of bored. There were lots of characters with odd names that I couldn't sound out. It made it VERY hard to keep people straight in my head. I had to make myself get through this one. Not that it was such a chore to read, just that I didn't care for it much. In the end, it was okay, but I have no desire to read more. In the least.