Sherwood

Rating:
Summary: My Favorite Book
Review: I'm a self admitted Robin Hood fan. For some reason I love everything to do with this legend and Delve into every aspect of it when I find a new story.
This is my favorite fictional version of the legend so far. The characters have very distinct personalities, taking the well known characters in new directions, and the background is very believable. You really feel you are there. Despite bad reviews saying it wasn't "accurate" enough, I say: "It's a STORY!", and a good story at that. Accuracy is not a focus point in fiction, and even with the changes Park Godwin has made to the timeline, the world itself is very accurate.
Overall my favorite character in the story has to be Marion though. Far from the sterotype of damsel in distress that she so often gets shoved into, in this version, she's very self reliant and strong. In the sequel, she even gets to chase off some Normans on her own. Have to love that.

Rating:
Summary: My Favorite Book
Review: I'm a self admitted Robin Hood fan. For some reason I love everything to do with this legend and Delve into every aspect of it when I find a new story.
This is my favorite fictional version of the legend so far. The characters have very distinct personalities, taking the well known characters in new directions, and the background is very believable. You really feel you are there. Despite bad reviews saying it wasn't "accurate" enough, I say: "It's a STORY!", and a good story at that. Accuracy is not a focus point in fiction, and even with the changes Park Godwin has made to the timeline, the world itself is very accurate.
Overall my favorite character in the story has to be Marion though. Far from the sterotype of damsel in distress that she so often gets shoved into, in this version, she's very self reliant and strong. In the sequel, she even gets to chase off some Normans on her own. Have to love that.

Rating:
Summary: Meet the REAL Robin Hood!
Review: Parke Godwin is one of our finest writers of historical fiction, and "Sherwood" is one of the two books which firmly cements that reputation (the other being the masterful "Firelord"). This retelling of the Robin Hood legend is a smashing success on virtually every level.

Forget Errol Flynn, green tights, and "Good" King Richard. Godwin, with his characteristically thorough knowledge of historical setting, places his story at the advent of the Norman Conquest, almost a hundred years earlier. The wealth of historical detail provides both form and distinctive flavor to the tale; from the contents of a wayfarer's wallet to Saxon battle tactics, you are there! This works to great effect, and raises both the situational and emotional stakes of the book tremendously; indeed, William the Conqueror and Queen Matilda are characters of considerable importance, and by the end the reader will know them as well as any of the heroes. Godwin's Robin is no laughing adventurer; he is a pragmatic man who believes in simple justice, who is driven to become a hero by his need to protect his people and his refusal to accept laws and edicts "that ent right". Marian, far from a fluttering noblewoman, is strong, competent, loyal, and brave. The words 'loyal' and 'brave' also apply to Robin's nemesis Ralf Fitz-Gerald, the Sheriff of Nottingham, and this is one of the book's most fascinating (and satisfying!) aspects. We watch Ralf's story unfold right along with Robin's, and I found myself developing a real sympathy with this good man who does bad things. Not wishing to spoil the story, I will say no more about plot or characters, except to mention that Godwin's slightly unorthodox takes on other familiar names - Little John, Will Scarlet, Much, Friar Tuck, Alan-a-Dale - are no less riveting than his principals.

This is a perfect blend of historical accuracy and high adventure. Godwin's characters are real people, caught up in extraordinary circumstances and set on paths they never dreamed of. Along the way, there's courage, betrayal, blood, pain, romance, and glory. Read this book, and savor it. The Robin Hood legend might have really started this way; and if it didn't, it should have!

Rating:
Summary: Meet the REAL Robin Hood!
Review: Parke Godwin is one of our finest writers of historical fiction, and "Sherwood" is one of the two books which firmly cements that reputation (the other being the masterful "Firelord"). This retelling of the Robin Hood legend is a smashing success on virtually every level.

Forget Errol Flynn, green tights, and "Good" King Richard. Godwin, with his characteristically thorough knowledge of historical setting, places his story at the advent of the Norman Conquest, almost a hundred years earlier. The wealth of historical detail provides both form and distinctive flavor to the tale; from the contents of a wayfarer's wallet to Saxon battle tactics, you are there! This works to great effect, and raises both the situational and emotional stakes of the book tremendously; indeed, William the Conqueror and Queen Matilda are characters of considerable importance, and by the end the reader will know them as well as any of the heroes. Godwin's Robin is no laughing adventurer; he is a pragmatic man who believes in simple justice, who is driven to become a hero by his need to protect his people and his refusal to accept laws and edicts "that ent right". Marian, far from a fluttering noblewoman, is strong, competent, loyal, and brave. The words 'loyal' and 'brave' also apply to Robin's nemesis Ralf Fitz-Gerald, the Sheriff of Nottingham, and this is one of the book's most fascinating (and satisfying!) aspects. We watch Ralf's story unfold right along with Robin's, and I found myself developing a real sympathy with this good man who does bad things. Not wishing to spoil the story, I will say no more about plot or characters, except to mention that Godwin's slightly unorthodox takes on other familiar names - Little John, Will Scarlet, Much, Friar Tuck, Alan-a-Dale - are no less riveting than his principals.

This is a perfect blend of historical accuracy and high adventure. Godwin's characters are real people, caught up in extraordinary circumstances and set on paths they never dreamed of. Along the way, there's courage, betrayal, blood, pain, romance, and glory. Read this book, and savor it. The Robin Hood legend might have really started this way; and if it didn't, it should have!

Rating:
Summary: The best telling of the Robin Hood legend ever.
Review: Realistic, gritty and involving - an 11th Century Robin Hood in an unromantic but realistic post Norman invasion setting.

Rating:
Summary: Intrigueing
Review: This book has a lot of ups and downs. From the start, it is clear that the author has done a huge amount of research on the time period (the Norman invasion of England in 1066), which helps most of the time to lend a real air to the story. Unfortunately, this occassionaly got a bit awkward when I as a reader wasn't as familiar with the history and lost track of what was going on.

The first hundred-odd pages of the book are very difficult to get through, switching once in a while briefly to a first person segment so you could see inside a characters head, or sometimes covering a few years in a few pages, so it feels like you are reading a history textbook.

Once you get past those first hundred pages, though, things really get going. Unfortunately, most of the characters aren't as real as the rich setting they were placed in. The most sympathetic character, Little John, is the one whome we see the least, Ralf, the bad-guy, seems like the good guy, and Robin is just running around making spontaneous random decisions. Other than those and Father Beorn, the characters are pretty if not dull, at least static and predictable.

In this regard, the book is somewhat like a Tom Clancy book. The author has the characters in there as a necessity, but he loses sight of them somewhat in favor of the story, the action, the big picture. The reader really gets a feel for what's going on all across the country all the time, the overall motivations if not for individuals then for the decisions of an entire population, and a feel for how life was lived in eleventh century England.

The reason I didn't give this book a three was that it kept me interested and informed. After getting through those first hundred pages, the book really doesn't want to be put down. If you enjoy history, I recommend this one, but if you're in it for the swords and sworcery, I'd skip it over.

Rating:
Summary: Sherwood
Review: This is a decent try at a gritty, morally complex work of historical fiction. Godwin has done his research; that he invents Saxon resistance in a specific place seems inconsequential to me, given that we don't know *everything* that went on during the period. He makes at least an attempt to portray mentality, which puts him ahead of most medieval historical fiction writers.

There are some issues, though. Godwin's writing, especially in the early part of the book, is often grammatically vague. His fight and action scenes are insufficiently structured, thus confusing. His constant identification of the Saxons with the land conveniently ignores the fact that the Saxons themselves came as invaders. The text sometimes tries too hard to be meaningful.

Characterization overall is competent. I found Robin, in his more ignorant, loudmouthed, horse-eating moments, annoying, and tended to prefer Ralf.

This is a reasonable book, I'd say, but no masterpiece.

Rating:
Summary: an interesting twist on the Robin Hood legend
Review: This version of Robin Hood is set at the time of the Norman Conquest rather than in the time of King Richard the Lion-hearted. The Sheriff of Nottingham is transformed into a Norman knight fighting for his own place in the world. The characters are well-drawn and memorable. I enjoyed the domestic portraits of William the Conqueror and his queen Matilda very much. Marian is no longer a ward of the king but a homeless refugee. Another strong female character, Judith was added. She is Robin Hood's cousin and speaks French and was educated on the Continent. Overall, I can recommend this book if you'd like to read another book about Robin Hood