Ella Lyons

I was really disappointed by this book. I had hoped for a fun, light story inspired by Robin Hood in a historic setting - I love historical romance and Robin Hood and this could have been great! Unfortunately, the story begins with a dark and traumatic event and spends too much time for a romance novel talking about the death and destruction that bandits have caused to Marian's village. I had to push through, hoping for a great pay-off. There wasn't.

The writing is mediocre. It was impossible to tell exactly how old the characters were in the first half, though the chapter index suggested a time skip later. I kept pegging Marian at around 10 or 11 years old, but apparently she's much older, since within weeks, there's talk of getting her married, and she's developing a romantic relationship with Robin. It was really awkward to have Marian acting so much like a little kid who doesn't know anything than like a teenager. This wasn't helped by the strong anti-femme elements - the nonsensical complaints about corsets and city life and dressing up, which is so much more modern than medieval. Honestly, a lot of the story in Nottingham in the second quarter of the book made me think of a modern story with medieval costumes, rather than actually being historical fiction. I tried to think of it as fantasy instead, but even then, Marian's complete unfamiliarity with the customs and culture in which she lived was jarring. (This is why she read as a little kid to me, and that made the romantic relationship with Robin a little bit gross.)

After several days of trying and trying but completely failing to maintain interest in the book, and only complaining about it, I decided to move on to something else and give this up for lost. I hated that I actually paid for this book outright, rather than trying a sample chapter first. I have such regrets.

Maybe the romance novel aspects in the second half of the book are good, but I'd have no idea since the characterizations and setting in the first half are so bad.… (más)