My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Summary from 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.
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REVIEW
I received an e-ARC from Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review.
I know that I am way over my head. I mean I have my October TBR list, ARCs for November AND I'm waiting for my Muse of Nightmares copy and Kingdom of Ash. But NOOOO, I had to read to read this book, because it's ROBIN HOOD and second because Meagan Spooner won me over with her first book of retelling, Hunted (which had featured Beauty & the Beast).
Robin of Locksley is dead.
The first line gripped me from the start. And as Marian tries to keep bother her father's and Robin's lands out of debt, since our dear Sherrif of Nottingham begins raising the taxes, she will discover that being a woman can mean more than being a proper lady.
A chance encounter with one of the minor characters will lead her to take the role of Robin Hood and try to steal from the rich and give to the poor. We also have Little John, Alan and few more who join later in Marian's quest, as she tries to balance her secret identity, keep her role as a grieving woman and also fight the tentative courtship of Sir Guy of Gisborne.
The Sheriff's right-hand.
Meagan's writing as beautifully descriptive, encompassing not only the world-building but also the characters perspectives. Told in third POV, the story takes place both in Sherwood but also in the known cities of the story. Marian, in contrast with everything you know about her in movies and the Disney film, knows archery, even better than Robin, and also how to fight.
But the biggest surprise was Sir Guy. I loved how he evolved through the book and how he completely made me like him as a character despite how Marian saw him through her eyes.
The scenes of horse riding and chasing were amazing and movie worthy!
If you want to enjoy something different in a story which is well-known but also have a fill of woman power, then this book is for you! ;)
About the author:
She currently lives and writes in Asheville, North Carolina, but the siren call of travel is hard to resist, and there's no telling how long she'll stay there. She's the author of the award-winning Starbound trilogy (These Broken Stars, This Shattered World, Their Fractured Light) and the Skylark Trilogy (Skylark, Shadowlark, Lark Ascending) as well as the upcoming Beauty and the Beast retelling Hunted.
In her spare time she plays guitar, plays video games, plays with her cat, and reads.
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