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3.7 AVERAGE
3.7 AVERAGE
I really enjoyed this re-telling of the classic tale in a new environment. I'm looking forward to reading the next two books in the series.
Yes, I began this book 9 months ago. It had been sitting on my shelf forever, but was something I definitely looked forward to reading and finally I was ready to begin.
I knew that Lawhead was a meticulous writer and his novels seem to be thoroughly researched. The idea of Robin Hood being of Welsh origin felt right and adds depth to the stories, however the pace was sooo…verrrrry…..sloooow! I lost interest and book the book down for about 7 months.
I decided to pick it back up to finish and while it didn’t suddenly get exciting there were moments that were interesting and that about sums the book up for me. It was mostly tedious scene setting with some moments that were interesting. I would have fared better with more interaction interspersed with some moments of scene setting.
Sadly, I do not plan to read the other books in the series. I am afraid they will be more of the same.
I knew that Lawhead was a meticulous writer and his novels seem to be thoroughly researched. The idea of Robin Hood being of Welsh origin felt right and adds depth to the stories, however the pace was sooo…verrrrry…..sloooow! I lost interest and book the book down for about 7 months.
I decided to pick it back up to finish and while it didn’t suddenly get exciting there were moments that were interesting and that about sums the book up for me. It was mostly tedious scene setting with some moments that were interesting. I would have fared better with more interaction interspersed with some moments of scene setting.
Sadly, I do not plan to read the other books in the series. I am afraid they will be more of the same.
I love Robin Hood, and I love Wales, so I was excited to give this book a try. I enjoyed it overall, although I was pretty confused as to who all the bad guys were (I could not keep the different Barons apart) and I didn't like what happened with Merian's character. Hopefully the next book will address that. Also, Bran doesn't take up the mantle of Robin Hood until more than half-way through the book. I have a great interest in Welsh history, so I was super into the early parts of the book anyway, but your mileage may vary on that.
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
HOOD is an above-average stab at the fantasy-meets-historical fiction genre, if only in its creative reimagining of the Robin Hood legend. If you're a bit of a Robin Hood geek (as I am), you'll spot references to the common legend well before they are clumsily pointed out to the more casual reader. The first book in the King Raven trilogy, HOOD is a solid start and shows promise for the books to follow. SCARLET, the second book, is due out in September.
No longer British, Lawhead’s reimagining of the legend of Robin Hood makes him Welsh, and a king-to-be in his own right. Lawhead recreates Robin Hood in the harsh light of the eleventh century, where William the Red has seized power from his older brother Robert in England, and seeks to gain Welsh lands through his barons and counts as well as expand his French holdings through active warfare in Normandy. Though Bran was born to the kingship, he starts out as a do-nothing prince to his father, the king of Elfael (anyone besides me just keep thinking “Elf!” when they read this name?). This book is more about transforming Bran to become Robin Hood and setting up all the big players rather than advancing the story of Robin Hood itself.
While I found the overall pacing of the story somewhat slow when not in battle or in big “action” scenes, it did well to give us rich, prosaic details and descriptions. There were some very poignant, succinct lines scattered throughout, in addition to flowing paragraphs of introspective and descriptive views, both of which I enjoyed (some of which I have quoted below).
Possibly one of my favorite areas of the book in regards to character development is when Bran is being nursed back to health by Angharad, and the slightly-more-obvious-than-truly-subtle character changes he goes through while under her care. The entire section is clearly turned so that Bran grows up and evolves into the man he will need to be to become a legend, but the way that Angharad manipulates him through her stories, through waiting until he is ready/ripe to hear what she has to say, was an enjoyable ride. This despite how while reading it, I felt a sense of detachment from what Bran was experiencing and feeling and how it translated into his actions. There seemed to be some sort of disconnect, where we were told about his internal changes, but it was harder to show their effects in later events.
Also, making use of the Welsh pronunciation guide in the back of the book enriches the experience, and seeing how Lawhead has intertwined English, Welsh, and French throughout this book makes it an even more linguistically interesting read.
The good being said, there were primarily two things which irked me about this book. The bigger of the two is that every time a new key player in the Robin Hood mythos was introduced (i.e. Mérian, Baron de Neufmarché, Count Falkes, Guy de Gysburne, Abbot Hugo), they were given at least a page or two of a “close-up” which told us more than showed us about their characters and their motives. Basically, they got character description information dumps, which when contrasted with the comparatively more subtle character descriptions and evolutions notably of Bran, felt rather out of place. The second one is when Bran would get upset and his vision would become “blood-tinged” –
Overall, I'm on the fence about whether or not to continue reading the trilogy. Maybe my opinion is too clouded by seeking the traditional Robin Hood story when we are getting a reimagining. Or maybe it is because this book took so long just to evolve (despite character introduction info-dumps) that I wonder what the next two books hold and am reluctant to have to read two more slow-to-unfold books to get a full story.
Some choice quotes which illustrate some of my above points:
The birds had feasted well. There were gaping hollows where eyes had been; flesh had been stripped from faces; ragged holes had been wrested in rib cages to expose the soft viscera. Human no longer, they were merely so much rotting meat.
No! These were men he knew. They were friends, riding companions, fellow hunters, drinking mates – some of them from times before he could remember. […] To see them now with their empty eyes and livid, blackening faces, their ruined bodies beginning to bloat, was more than [Bran] could bear. – page 55
“It is unjust,” granted Ffreol, trying to soothe, “but that is ever the way of things.”
[…] “It could at least be fair,” muttered Bran. – page 60
“What has England to do with us?” Bran demanded. “Why can’t they leave us [Cymru] alone?”
“Answer that,” replied the monk [Ffreol] sagely, “and you answer the riddle of the ages. Throughout the long history of our race, no tribe or nation has ever been able to simply leave us alone.” – page 91
“To be sure,” agreed Falkes. “God willing.”
“Oh, God has already willed it,” Philip assured him. “As sure as William is king, there is no doubt about that.” He paused, then added, “None whatsoever.” – page 158 – Ah, the lovely light touch of foretelling to the contrary.
As Bran’s knowledge grew, so did his appreciation of the stories themselves. He began to behold possibilities and portents, glimmerings of distant hope, flashes of miracle. The things he heard in Angharad’s songs were more than mere fancy – the stuff of itinerant minstrels plied – they were tokens of knowledge in another, deeper, rarer form. Perhaps they were even a form of power, but one long dormant. At the very least, these songs were markers along a sacred and ancient pathway that led deep into the heart of the land and its people – his land, his people – a spirit and life that would be crushed out of existence beneath the heavy, unfeeling rule of the coldhearted Ffreinc. – page 194-195
page 239: A description of how to make a bow/bowstring/arrows!! I possibly enjoyed this passage more than I should have…
This realization […] was, perhaps, the first time a thought like this had ever taken hold in Bran, and after the initial jolt passed, he found himself enjoying the unique freshness of the raw idea – divining the spirit of the Greene Wood, he called it. He turned it over and over in his mind, exploring its dimensions, delighting in its imaginative potential. – page 270
[Mérian and Lady Sybil] gazed at each other across the ditch of language gaping between them. – page 434
Bran offered a bitter smile. “If we must sleep with the devil, let us do it and be done. […]” – page 453
“But now,” [Bran] said, his words falling like a shadow between [him and Mérian], “it is time for this raven to fly.” – page 467
I just have to say, I especially enjoy how Lawhead played with the Welsh language to give us the roots of our own familiar “Robin Hood” in Rhi Bran, later called by the folk of his lands in Elfael “the Hud” – a sorcerer or enchanter. Rhi Bran the Hud transforms easily into Robin Hood.
While I found the overall pacing of the story somewhat slow when not in battle or in big “action” scenes, it did well to give us rich, prosaic details and descriptions. There were some very poignant, succinct lines scattered throughout, in addition to flowing paragraphs of introspective and descriptive views, both of which I enjoyed (some of which I have quoted below).
Possibly one of my favorite areas of the book in regards to character development is when Bran is being nursed back to health by Angharad, and the slightly-more-obvious-than-truly-subtle character changes he goes through while under her care. The entire section is clearly turned so that Bran grows up and evolves into the man he will need to be to become a legend, but the way that Angharad manipulates him through her stories, through waiting until he is ready/ripe to hear what she has to say, was an enjoyable ride. This despite how while reading it, I felt a sense of detachment from what Bran was experiencing and feeling and how it translated into his actions. There seemed to be some sort of disconnect, where we were told about his internal changes, but it was harder to show their effects in later events.
Also, making use of the Welsh pronunciation guide in the back of the book enriches the experience, and seeing how Lawhead has intertwined English, Welsh, and French throughout this book makes it an even more linguistically interesting read.
The good being said, there were primarily two things which irked me about this book. The bigger of the two is that every time a new key player in the Robin Hood mythos was introduced (i.e. Mérian, Baron de Neufmarché, Count Falkes, Guy de Gysburne, Abbot Hugo), they were given at least a page or two of a “close-up” which told us more than showed us about their characters and their motives. Basically, they got character description information dumps, which when contrasted with the comparatively more subtle character descriptions and evolutions notably of Bran, felt rather out of place. The second one is when Bran would get upset and his vision would become “blood-tinged” –
Spoiler
in the first instances, the described scene which immediately followed that change of mental state was imagined, but the final time it actually happened. Given how much more mature/better mentally “trained” Bran was by the end of the novel, the blood-rage taking him over and him actually attacking the thieving cardinal instead of just imagining it was a shock and seemed to go heavily against his evolved character.Overall, I'm on the fence about whether or not to continue reading the trilogy. Maybe my opinion is too clouded by seeking the traditional Robin Hood story when we are getting a reimagining. Or maybe it is because this book took so long just to evolve (despite character introduction info-dumps) that I wonder what the next two books hold and am reluctant to have to read two more slow-to-unfold books to get a full story.
Some choice quotes which illustrate some of my above points:
The birds had feasted well. There were gaping hollows where eyes had been; flesh had been stripped from faces; ragged holes had been wrested in rib cages to expose the soft viscera. Human no longer, they were merely so much rotting meat.
No! These were men he knew. They were friends, riding companions, fellow hunters, drinking mates – some of them from times before he could remember. […] To see them now with their empty eyes and livid, blackening faces, their ruined bodies beginning to bloat, was more than [Bran] could bear. – page 55
“It is unjust,” granted Ffreol, trying to soothe, “but that is ever the way of things.”
[…] “It could at least be fair,” muttered Bran. – page 60
“What has England to do with us?” Bran demanded. “Why can’t they leave us [Cymru] alone?”
“Answer that,” replied the monk [Ffreol] sagely, “and you answer the riddle of the ages. Throughout the long history of our race, no tribe or nation has ever been able to simply leave us alone.” – page 91
“To be sure,” agreed Falkes. “God willing.”
“Oh, God has already willed it,” Philip assured him. “As sure as William is king, there is no doubt about that.” He paused, then added, “None whatsoever.” – page 158 – Ah, the lovely light touch of foretelling to the contrary.
As Bran’s knowledge grew, so did his appreciation of the stories themselves. He began to behold possibilities and portents, glimmerings of distant hope, flashes of miracle. The things he heard in Angharad’s songs were more than mere fancy – the stuff of itinerant minstrels plied – they were tokens of knowledge in another, deeper, rarer form. Perhaps they were even a form of power, but one long dormant. At the very least, these songs were markers along a sacred and ancient pathway that led deep into the heart of the land and its people – his land, his people – a spirit and life that would be crushed out of existence beneath the heavy, unfeeling rule of the coldhearted Ffreinc. – page 194-195
page 239: A description of how to make a bow/bowstring/arrows!! I possibly enjoyed this passage more than I should have…
Spoiler
As Bran watched, he listened to the sounds of the woodland transforming itself for night as the birds flocked to roost and night’s children began to awaken: mice and voles, badgers, foxes, bats – all with their particular voices – and it seemed to him then, as never before, that a forest was more than a place to hunt and gather timber, or else better avoided. More than a stand of moss-heavy trees; more than a sweet-water spring bubbling up from the roots of a distant mountain; more than a smooth-pebbled pool, gleaming, radiant as a jewel in a green hidden dell, or a flower-strewn meadow surrounded by a slender host of white swaying birches, or a badger delving in the dark earth beneath a rough-barked elm, or a fix kit eluding a diving hawk; more than a proud stag standing watch over his clan… More than these, the forest was itself a living thing, its life made up of all the smaller lives contained within its borders.This realization […] was, perhaps, the first time a thought like this had ever taken hold in Bran, and after the initial jolt passed, he found himself enjoying the unique freshness of the raw idea – divining the spirit of the Greene Wood, he called it. He turned it over and over in his mind, exploring its dimensions, delighting in its imaginative potential. – page 270
[Mérian and Lady Sybil] gazed at each other across the ditch of language gaping between them. – page 434
Bran offered a bitter smile. “If we must sleep with the devil, let us do it and be done. […]” – page 453
“But now,” [Bran] said, his words falling like a shadow between [him and Mérian], “it is time for this raven to fly.” – page 467
I just have to say, I especially enjoy how Lawhead played with the Welsh language to give us the roots of our own familiar “Robin Hood” in Rhi Bran, later called by the folk of his lands in Elfael “the Hud” – a sorcerer or enchanter. Rhi Bran the Hud transforms easily into Robin Hood.
I'm DNFing this particular edition because the narrator is absolutely atrocious. Mispronunciations of British words by an american actor truly annoyed me but then he started mispronouncing american English words.
But I must must must actually read the book! It's set somewhere between 1066 (post-Norman Conquest) and 1154 (founding of the Angevins) and features Normans, Franks, Saxons, Welsh history, and post-conquest events! This is very very very exciting! Very! Okay, so I'm kind of a nut for this time period and the history of the British island. So the story is exciting but the narrator totally freaking sucks. I'm dreading the narration so DNFing is my only option for saving the possibility of thoroughly enjoying this book. Did I mention it's set shortly after the Norman Conquest?
But I must must must actually read the book! It's set somewhere between 1066 (post-Norman Conquest) and 1154 (founding of the Angevins) and features Normans, Franks, Saxons, Welsh history, and post-conquest events! This is very very very exciting! Very! Okay, so I'm kind of a nut for this time period and the history of the British island. So the story is exciting but the narrator totally freaking sucks. I'm dreading the narration so DNFing is my only option for saving the possibility of thoroughly enjoying this book. Did I mention it's set shortly after the Norman Conquest?
adventurous
inspiring
medium-paced
adventurous
challenging
inspiring
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes