The Outlaws of Sherwood – Robin McKinley

     The Outlaws of Sherwood starts out by introducing Robin Hood, Marian, and their friend Much. Robin accidentally kills a bully who is threatening him and has to run for his life. While it is clear case of self defense/accident, the Sheriff of Nottingham has always hated Robin’s family and carries a grudge because the girl he was in love with married Robin’s father. In this version of Robin Hood, Robin is a pretty crummy shot, somewhat of a pessimist, and a reluctant leader. He starts his band of outlaws thinking that they will be caught any minute and most of his decisions are based around trying to get as many of his followers away so they don’t share his fate. As time moves on, all of the well know characters become part of the band. Eventually, the final battle takes place and everyone’s fates are decided.

     Now, there’s good things and bad things about this book and it all revolves around the characters. The original (or original to me anyway) characters seem to have more thought put into them and their back story. You learn Cecily’s and Much’s background but Allan-a-dale shows up and the only info you get about him is that he’s a minstrel and his lady-love is to be married off to someone else. Nothing else is said about him or his reactions to things until the final battle. It feels like the well-known characters are just there and not really participating in the story, except for Friar Tuck and even then his dogs get more “air time” than he does. The ending was also unbelievably anti-climatic. After a large battle, the author leads you to believe there is about to be a bigger til-death battle between Robin’s outlaws and the Sheriff of Nottingham’s army. However, the battle is interrupted by King Richard before the first arrow is even shot. I felt cheated and it was way too neat of an ending. It was like everything Robin and others were worried about were tied up with a nice neat bow and thrown out the window along with the Sheriff and his followers. On the whole, if you can find this book at a used bookstore for a nice price or at the library (especially if you are a fan of Robin McKinley), I’d say pick it up but don’t pay full price.