Rating: 
Summary: Mixed emotions
Review: How to explain my feelings about _Lady of the Forest_? A romantic historical novel about Maid Marian and Robin Hood, it was an enjoyable escape and post-work-stress-reliever for a couple of weeks. I did enjoy it. Unfortunately, when I shut the back cover, I realized I had just read a six-hundred page book containing almost no surprises.Marion Zimmer Bradley, author of the stellar _Mists of Avalon_, gushes about this book in the cover blurb, and so I was hoping for a novel that would make me rethink the Robin Hood legends, just as Mists made me look at the Arthurian corpus differently. Part of what made Mists fascinating was that it took an old tale and reexamined it, humanizing the "bad guys" and telling another side of the story. Mists questioned all of our assumptions about Arthur and Morgan. _Lady of Sherwood_ questions nothing, challenges nothing. The characters are just what we expect them to be... It doesn't rethink the legend any more than does Disney's kids' movie on the same theme. It may be a nice romance, but it's not in the same league as the best historical fiction. If you want a romance, you might like this, but for a haunting tale of mysterious forests and renegade Crusaders, go read _The Black Chalice_ by Marie Jakober.
Rating: 
Summary: An enthralling book for early teens to adults!
Review: I am a really young reader, 12 years old to exact...almost 13, but anyways...my mother lended me the book to read...at first I was like well, since I am going to be an author when I grow up I might as well read it. And boy, am I glad I did! It was an awesome story. I loved that it was mostly in Marian FitzWalter's point of view! Trust me on this statement I am about to make "once you start reading that book, you won't be able to put it down." I know I didn't...I read it in 2 days! It's almost 600 pages. I was constantly up in room reading...and I begged my mom to let me stay up and read more...I took it to school and had my nose in it any time a could sneak in a few paragraphs...I even took it in to a resturant...and stayed up WAY to late reading it. I am currently reading the sequel<~~(is that how you spell it?)"Lady of Sherwood" it is well written so far and I love it just as "Much". I recommend this book if you like any of the following ADVENTURE, ROMANCE, EXCITEMENT, THRILL, WELL EXPRESSED EMOTIONS IN A BOOK!! And now I am hunting to find anything possible on Maid Marian and Robin Hood! Great job Miss Jennifer Roberson!!
Rating:
Summary: One of the best books I've ever read.
Review: I can't say enough just how amazing this book is. So far, I have read if 5 times and after I'm finished with my current books, I'm going to read it again. Everything from the writing style to the character development to the storyline is just wonderful. I definitely recommend this book to everybody.
Rating: 
Summary: Not Jason Connery
Review: I had to laugh at the reader in San Diego's comments about this book being a fantasy inspired by Jason Connery in ROBIN OF SHERWOOD. Not quite! I far preferred Michael Praed in the role, and made Robin blond in the book so fans of the series wouldn't be confuse my Robin with Praed. Didn't even think about the Connery connection; gee, perhaps I should have made him a redhead? As a point of clarification, Robin is and was straight, so there was no attempt to change his orientation. I portrayed the Lionheart as attracted to Robin, who very much resembles the lute-player Blondel (who was reportedly Richard's lover), but there was no reciprocation. And Marian resembling the author? That ain't what I see when I look in the mirror! Lastly, for those of you who actually enjoyed LADY OF THE FOREST, you may be interested to know a sequel will be published in November 1999, titled LADY OF SHERWOOD.
Rating:
Summary: Loved Every Minute of It!
Review: I have never tried to understand my fascination with the tales of Robin Hood. I have loved the films for many years and had expected to be content with what lay before me. It wasn't until one day I happened upon a copy of the Lady of Sherwood that I was shown something even better. I read the index and was so excited to hear of another retelling of Robin Hood. I grabbed a copy of the Lady of the Forest and the Lady of Sherwood and headed home. I read them in order and stayed up the entire night reading the Lady of the Forest. I couldn't put the book down! When the sun started rising and I still hadn't gotten a moment of sleep I knew that I was hooked for good!
This book is such a rich retelling of the tales of Robin Hood that I haven't yet been able to find another that can match it. The books included all of my favorite characters from the films and more. There is a new side to Marian and Robin that is most facinating. Marian isn't just a whimsical lady of great beauty and Robin isn't a perfected charmer of grace and strife. Each character is brought to life with each page that will draw you back a few centuries deep into the forests of Sherwood. I would recommend this book for anyone who has dreamed and let their imagination turn to a forest in England where adventures await.
Rating:
Summary: Easily the best book I have ever read
Review: I have read and re-read this book an innumerable amount of times, and each time I read it, my appreciation grows for Jennifer Roberson. I love the story line, and I particulary enjoy the boldness of Marian in this retelling. Being a (somewhat reluctant) 13 year old, I also like the fantasy that the story itself provokes.
Rating:
Summary: Robin of the Hood
Review: I just recently finished this book. I absolutely loved it. A new telling of the love between Robin and Marian is really good. We see how horribly corrupt Prince John is, wanting the crown for himself and willing to keep his own father prisoner or dead to do so. The sheriff is one of the most despicable of all. His lust of Marian destroys many around him. He ruins the lives of those who used to be loved ones to get any attempt to just get her inti his bed. Even though she loved Robert of Locksley (aka: Robin Hood). Anyways, Robin wants the king back and so he and some bandits (met varius times throughout the novel) of Sherwood start stealing from noblemen such as the sheriff to pay for the King's ransom, while at the same time Marian always seems in some sort of danger, wheather its trying to get sexed up by the sheriff or being accused of witchcraft by the sheriff (because of her refusal to submit to him) or even when she was kidnapped (from the sheriff!) by an outlaw murderer (who ends up helping Robin in the end!). Plus we get to see more inside Marian as she questions the womans role in that time period. Those who "wait" for their men to return. They are the ones to wait, worry, clean, and bear children, and submit themselves to any man. Marian, as the novel progresses, grows a spine and begins to challenge the male society. If you like this book, finish up tha story with LAdy of Sherwood. I would also recommend Marian Zimmer Bradley's Avalon books, Arthurian and Avalon legend from female persepectives. Very good readings.
Rating: 
Summary: Very good with just a couple quibbles
Review: I liked both this book and the sequel, "Lady of Sherwood". I read both when they first came out and have recently re-read them and still enjoyed them. Marian is believable as the docile woman of the times growing into something more, and realizing that if she can stand to pay the consequences, she can be who she wishes to be rather than who she is expected to be. What more could one ask for? Robin is convincing as a sensitive man traumatized by war. I do wish some of his history could have been more fully realized. We are only allowed disjointed glances that don't really convey the depth or development of his friendship with King Richard, or the alien-ness of being a captive of the Saracens. They are experiences that have apparently changed him profoundly in some respects, but we are unfortunately not allowed to share them with him. One thing Ms Robinson does - more in the first book than the second - that drives me nuts is that she doesn't write in "scenes". She will, for example, have Robin confronting the Earl at the same time Marian is confronting the Sheriff and skips back and forth between the two confrontations as if trying to convey "real time" actions, instead of letting first one confrontation occur and build to a conclusion, and then switching to the other and letting that one do the same. This makes for very disjointed writing, and if you have to put the book down, you lose the tension of the situation and it's hard to keep track of who is doing what. It makes me want to grab the scissors and "cut and paste" the book into the proper order! Also, in every major fight in the first book, Robin loses. Little John beats him at the log bridge, Marian has to step in against the Sheriff...how did this guy ever survive the Crusade if he's that inept of a fighter? Thank goodness he won at archery! The book is also decribed as taking place in early spring (Richard finally came back to England in March of 1194), but she describes Sherwood Forest as dark, green, and leafy. I don't think a hardwood forest in England in March is any of those things, even if it is the primeval Sherwood. Those things aside, it's a good retelling, and far more believable than the obviously heroic, always clean portrayal of the 1938 movie (although I adore that movie), the sterilized belligerance and brutality of the original tales, or the more often lame than not "Prince of Thieves".
Rating: 
Summary: A Fantasy about Jason Connery
Review: I wanted to like this novel: I really did! Unfortunately, I am a big fan of the Robin Hood legend and the British TV series it inspired. I became angry as I noticed the amount of overlap between this book and the series: Much, the halfwit; Little John, the humble shepard; Will Scarlet, the hothead with a vendetta against Norman soldiers. The only character that didn't match the TV show was Marion whose description matchs that of the author. Coincidence? I don't think so. Especially since the entire plot involves changing comely young Robin's orientation... and I'm not talking about compass direction.
Rating:
Summary: A exceptional book for an average writer
Review: I was not a fan of Jennifer Roberson before this book came out.
Her Tiger and Del series started well and then became to much of a men vs. women bicker-fest and I never finished the series.
The Chesulyi books drove me crazy with their sloppy characterization and unsympathetic protagonists.
This book however is a rare gem of history, fantsy and strong characters.
Marion is a wonderfully crafted heroine her strength and intelligence is inspiring. Robin and the other male charaters are not the negative stereotypes she has written before. The descriptions of Sherwood are excellent you can truly see the places and people of this story. And this book is missing the negative men vs. women debate that turned me off of the Tiger and Del series.
I enjoyed it from begining to end. This book also has a sequal which I have yet to read but it is on my list of must reads. I hope it is as enjoyable for me as this one was.
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