Kiss Sherwood Forest, and the rest of England goodbye; move the story to Wales and the plot from an Englishman who robs from the rich and gives to the poor to one of an impetuous, young Welsh nobleman caught between destiny and desire. Finally, change the names Robin Hood, Little John, and Friar Tuck to Rhi Bran y Hud, Iwan, and the monk Aethelfrith and you’ve got the basis for Stephen R. Lawhead’s book Hood, the first in the King Raven series. The sequels are Scarlet and Tuck.
After his father’s war party is butchered by an invading Norman army that staked a claim to his homeland in the name of their king, the Welsh prince Bran ap Brychan travels far from his home for an audience with the king in the hopes of regaining control of his homeland and returning justice to his people.
Suffice to say, the meeting doesn’t go as well as planned.
Drawing from historical references dating back to the 13th century, Lawhead sets out to methodically recreate what he feels is a more historically accurate telling of the tale of Robin Hood, and he does a convincing job of it. A nice touch comes after the final chapter where he provides some insight for the new context by briefly discussing weapons of the era, the people that were most adept at using them, and the terrain that seemed most amenable to Robin’s adventures. He finishes by saying that the story of Robin Hood was most likely Anglicised as it entered the popular consciousness of the conquering Saxons.
With some minor exceptions, most notably when his teacher speaks a few lines to a disembodied voice (ala Yoda and Ben Kenobi in Empire Strikes Back) there are not a lot of overt clichés in this novel. Granted, it’s a bit odd when French speaking characters who are speaking with one another (for our benefit in English, of course) revert to their native tongue for specific phrases the author writes in French. That technique was a bit lost on me, but that’s minor.
The story is well written. The plot is entertaining, and the multiple narrative strands are bursting with coherent political intrigue and manipulation that’s right out of Machiavelli’s book, The Prince. Aside from getting your head around all of the different characters, Hood is very readable, and one I would recommend.
The Daily Gronk 