Sherwood by Meagan Spooner

Title: Sherwood
Author: Meagan Spooner
Genre: Historical, Retelling
Source: HarperCollins
Goodreads

Robin of Locksley is dead.

When news comes that he's fallen in battle at the King's side in the Holy Land, Maid Marian doesn’t know how she’ll go on. Betrothed to Robin, she was free to be herself, to flout the stifling rules of traditional society and share an equal voice with her beloved when it came to caring for the people of her land.

Now Marian is alone, with no voice of her own. The people of Locksley, persecuted by the Sheriff of Nottingham, are doomed to live in poverty or else face death by hanging. The dreadful Guy of Gisborne, the Sherriff’s right hand, wishes to step into Robin’s shoes as Lord of Locksley, and Marian’s fiancé. Society demands that she accept her fate, and watch helplessly as her people starve.

When Marian dons Robin's green cloak, and takes up his sword and bow, she never intended that anyone should mistake her for Robin, returned from the Holy Land as a vigilante. She never intended that the masked, cloaked figure she created should stand as a beacon of hope and justice to peasant and noble alike. She never intended to become a legend.

But all of Nottingham is crying out for a savior. So Marian must choose to make her own fate and become her own hero...

Robin Hood.

Review by Nara

Sherwood is the second of Meagan Spooner's retellings, and I couldn't help but compare it to Hunted. Quite understandably it didn't have the same fairy tale feel that made Hunted so great to read, seeing as though it's a retelling of a less magical folktale rather than a fairytale per se.

I did feel the pacing of the first half was quite slow, but things sped up quickly to a good pace towards the end, with the conflicts being nicely set out and resolved. I think one thing that Spooner does quite well throughout all of her novels is the character development, and the directions is which she takes her various characters- which are not always the expected.

Overall, a good release from Spooner but not quite at the level of her other novels.

Liked it

Ratings
Overall: 7/10
Plot: 3/5
Romance: 3/5
Writing: 3/5
World Building: 3/5
Characters: 3.5/5
Cover: 4/5