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Fantasy. Fiction. HTML: After losing everything he owns, forester Will Scarlet embarks on a search for none other than King Raven, whose exploits have already become legendary. After fulfilling his quest--and proving himself a skilled and loyal companion--Will joins the heroic archer and his men. Now, however, Will is in prison for a crime he did not commit. His sentence is death by hanging--unless he delivers King Raven and his band of cohorts. That, of course, he will never do. Scarlet continues Stephen R. Lawhead's riveting saga that began with the novel Hood, which relocated the legend of Robin Hood to the Welsh countryside and its dark forests. Lawhead's trilogy conjures up an ancient past and holds a mirror to contemporary realities..
User reviews
I liked the first book of the trilogy, Hood, more than this one, but this one was still really, really good. I particularly liked the romance between Scarlet and Noina and I just had to keep reading to see if they would ever finally get married.
This book was told in the perspective of a character newly introduced and at first, I couldn't get a handle on who was telling the story, but it worked out rather quickly. Another clever
Whether you are a Lawhead fan, or just a fan of reading, this series is proving to be an excellent read!
Told predominantly in the first person narrative of Will Scarlet, there is greater fullness and intimacy in Lawhead's prose writing. He captures the injustices and disorganization that ensue for many Britons after the Norman Conquest and that continue under his son, William Rufus, often with the help of Norman church ministers. This book delivers great characters, interesting plot, solid historical background, and an authentic voice in Will Scarlet. Highly recommended.
Scarlet's verbal tics (calling people "fella"
I also have a rough time getting excited about the whole two-popes/warring kings drama that drives the plot. It's far too distant to have any emotional impact, and it never really informs the actions of the villains except in the very big picture - all the pointless puppy-kicking that happens onstage is just to establish that they're Bad Guys.
There's no real resolution to anything other than the immediate crisis, either, which is not atypical for the middle book in the trilogy, but it doesn't really whet my appetite so much as dull my enthusiasm. And Lawhead's Christian focus, which was such a beautiful, fundamental part of the Pendragon Cycle, just comes off as forced, here.
(Also, I just wanna say, while I like the use of Welsh myths to foreshadow plot points in theory, he did it a hundred times more elegantly in Merlin, and WITH THE SAME STORY. Jeez, man, now you're just getting lazy.)
Full Review at Grasping for the Wind