Not a bad book, but not for me. It had all the bones of something interesting but, for me, it never built upon its own promise. Everything was too simple - the writing, the characters, the story. I needed more depth than was offered to keep me engaged.

Enjoyed the concept more than the execution. This will definitely find its audience, particulLrly for those who enjoyed Cornwell's "Mechanica" series, making it a worthwhile addition to larger YA library collections.

TW: Self harm & rape

I really, really wanted to love this book. A gender-bent Robin Hood retelling? Sounds perfect right? But unfortunately it didn’t quite work for me. Parts of the story felt clunky. I often had to go back and reread because it wasn’t always obvious how the story moved from one scene to another. It also felt like there wasn’t much happening for most of the book. I was about 50% through and trying to figure out where we were headed and when the action would begin. Overall, I was looking for more in this retelling.

This wasn’t a bad book by any means, I just think it didn’t quite work for me. I could see the appeal and think there will be plenty of others who enjoy the story, so if it’s on your radar, don’t write it off!

This gender flipped take on Robin Hood may find its mark with a younger audience but failed to really bring anything new to the story.

While retellings of the myth are not uncommon, this was a bit of a grind with uninteresting characters and a rather bland storyline. A pass for me.

I tried to get into this but unfortunately, I found that it was not for me. I thought the writing was bland and characters were boring and it just failed to capture my attention. I am not interested in writing a full review for this title.

The concept of this book is an interesting one; remaking and re adapting tales that we all know is guaranteed to pique the reader's interest, however I felt that the book was far too short to really immerse the reader in any attempt at world-building and this ultimately let the book down. None of the characters were fully developed, even our protagonist Silviana, so unfortunately the book failed to grab my attention.

I grew up on Maid Marion and her Merry Men, so this retelling with Robin Hood as a woman was always going to be up my street. It's a darker retelling than I was expecting, but possibly more realistic that Hollywood often makes out.

The Forest Queen is the story of Robin Hood, if Robin was a young noblewoman. I like the idea of this story and retellings always pique my interest but this just wasn't my favorite. The idea of our main character, Silvie, coming from a noble family with John as her brother was very interesting and I like that she slowly opens her eyes to the privilege she has lived in her whole life and just how horrible life is for pretty much everyone else around her and because of this she immediately decides to make a change and not allow this to happen. I really like this aspect of Silvie, while she may be naive at times about how the world works, when she does notice that something is wrong, she immediately takes steps to change them and help as much as she can and I think that is really remarkable. However, the story overall just feels very cliche and didn't seem to have much of a plot at all. It was just showing "Robin Hood" getting her start with all the elements everyone who knows the story would recognize without doing too much else that is new or going anywhere with the story. John is such a cliche villain character, he seems to have no motivation except that he is bad and the author goes out of her way to show all the ways he is evil just for the sake of being evil. All the characters seemed like this, archetypes without any real substance, just flat characters that fit a niche in the story. And Bird was really annoying most of the time how he would immediately snap at Silvie for not knowing something he feels is obvious rather than teaching her. How is she supposed to just know things? And then she always seems to apologize to him? No thank you. This was an interesting concept and there were some moments that were enjoyable but overall, it just wasn't for me and I think there are better retellings around.

DNF at 20%. This was not what I was expecting or wanting unfortunately. Within the first few chapters there are many upsetting animal moments- one has to do with hunting but it didn't make it any less upsetting. And TW: suicide attempt, they meet a character in a very compromising upsetting position which I thought was uncecessarily dark. I just didn't like the tone, it was melancholy and glum and didn't make me want to keep reading to see any adventures. I didn't care for Silvie either and the fact that Robin is called Bird was too much for me.

TW: suicide attempt, animal cruelty, abuse

I absolutely loved The Forest Queen! It felt fresh and original, despite being a re-telling. I loved the character development over the novel. If you are a fan of fantasy with a twist, this is the book for you! Perfect for fans of Marissa Meyer, Once Upon A Time and Disney.

Thanks to the publisher for providing me with an advanced reader's copy.

A wonderful retelling of a genderbent Robin Hood. The Forest Queen is a magically spectacular story.

Not a fan of this book. I love the Robin Hood story but found this book to be too short to develop the characters fully or expand on the themes presented.

I was excited for this book, I thought a retelling of Robin Hood would be amazing; however, this book was lacking. It was an enjoyable enough read, but as far as caring for the characters and plot, it didn't help matters. There were too many characters and not enough development. I wanted to like this book, but really didn't love the book.

Another great retelling, this one is Robin Hood. Only this time Robin is Lady Silviana of Loughsley and rebels against her own brother.
I had a great deal of fun reading this book, none of it was particularly outstanding or groundbreaking but all the same, it was a quick enjoyable YA. I liked the array of characters and would have loved to of had a bit more backstory. I thought the introduction of harsh and serious themes was a great addition and set this book apart from many out at the moment.
A great quick read for any lover of retellings

Promising plot-line- I did enjoy the book, but I don't feel it was really rant-worthy. The biggest area of weakness, I think, was just equity in character development. A lot of characters had their chance in the spotlight, but I would have liked to really feel like there were more that were truly three-dimensional, complex.

To me this plot sounded super promising. I love Robin Hood, and the idea of a retelling with switched gender roles is just incredibly fantastic. The story itself was fun to read, but I dunno I just couldn't love it. I do love the cover, super pretty! I am interested to see what other people think of this book. I haven't check any review yet, but I am wonder if people had the same annoyances that I did.

There are so many characters, but none of them are fully developed. There are four main characters, they are Silvie, Bird, Little Jane, and John but with neither of them, I feel that I really got to know the character. And I love Character driven stories...

It isn't a fairly long book either, you can read it within a day.

Unfortunately there wasn't anything that hooked me with this novel. The writing style was great and the characters seemed interesting enough, but it never managed to hook me. Once I put it down I forgot all about it.

There really wasn't anything wrong with this book. The only problem I had with it was repeatedly putting it down and restarting it, and never getting past 50 pages. There wasn't anything that hooked me. Which is sad, but it happens with me and Betsy Cornwell. The same thing happened with Mechanica. I was intrigued by the details, some of the plot was cool, but I never wanted to finish it. Maybe it just wasn't for me, but I'm sure others will adore it.

Simple story, really. It goes down as a light, fluffy read, though there was some challenging content implied. It was a bit flat and uninspiring, even for a gender bent retelling. Not a necessary read by any standard.

I LOVE retellings and I really love gender-swap stories. Women so rarely have agency in some of these original stories that The Forest Queen was a breath of fresh air. I also love that Sylvie wasn't instantly skilled at nature survival and that she had doubts. However, I wish there was a bit more development of her relationship with John and why he changed when he went to court, and what his motivations were.