Review: Hood by Stephen R. Lawhead

First posted at Cosy Little World in February 09.

«The Norman conquest of England is complete – but for one young man the battle has only just begun.
When Bran’s father is murdered by Norman soldiers, he flees to London, seeking justice. The journey is long and hard – and the suffering of those he meets along the way fuels his anger.
With his demands dismissed, Bran has no choice but to return home, where a worse fate awaits him. His lands have been confiscated and his people enslaved by a brutal and corrupt regime.
Should Bran flee or protect his people by surrendering to his father’s murderers? The answer, perhaps, is known only to the Raven King – a creature of myth and magic born of the forest’s darkest shadows.»

Everyone knows the tale of Robin Hood, the Prince of Thieves, who robs the rich to give to the poor, so Stephen Lawhead decided to write a different story, more or less based on the famous tale, claiming that this is closer to the truth. His explanation at the end of the book does sound believable and although we may never know if Robin Hood truly existed, who he was or when he lived, it was certainly interesting to hear a different account of the facts, even if lacking a little on the action scenes.

Bran ap Brychan, heir to the kingdom of Elfael, is nothing but a common rake, only interested in going out drinking with his friends and chasing after women. Till the day he’s faced with his father’s death at the hands of the Normans and the seizing of his kingdom by Count Falkes de Braose. With not enough money to pay the exorbitant taxes being asked to reclaim his kingdom, he decides to flee but is waylaid by Braose’s men and left for dead.

This is where Lawhead’s book lost a star in my review, for the time that Bran spent healing at Angharad’s cave was a little too much, in my opinion, the story just dragged and dragged here. Understandably the author had to explain the transformation, the birth of the Raven King (no Robin Hood here), but I got a little tired of all the hallucinations and Angharad’s tales, I wanted the story to keep moving and to see Bran start kicking some ass. :-P

But finally the Raven King emerges and the story picks up towards the end of the book, so much so that I’m dying to read Scarlet, the second in the trilogy. This was my first book by this author and I truly enjoyed his writing, he managed to keep the story interesting and believable, even though changing a lot of details we took for granted and some of the dialogues are extremely funny, especially the interaction between Bran, Will Scarlet and Friar Tuck, one of my favourite characters.

If the final scenes in this book are any indication of what the next book will be like, you can expect a higher rating from me next time. Maybe I can even forgive the absence of the Sheriff of Nottingham! ;-)

Rating: (3/5)