This was such an interesting and different story. It took the Robin Hood that we all know from the movies and turned him upside down. This book blurs the lines between good and evil characters and causes the reader to reevaluate what they thought they knew and believed. I liked that we were finding out the truth alongside the female main character, even though at times she made some very poor decisions and put herself in harm’s way for seemingly no reason other than a crush. The pacing of this book was a bit off with the book throwing us immediately into Robin Hood’s band of outlaws and then slowing to a near halt with little happening until the last 10-20% where everything comes to a head.

Did I click “Read Now” the second I saw this cover? Possibly… especially with SCARLET by A.C. Gaughen haunting me. Aspects of that Robin Hood retelling still live rent free in my brain, and I’ve been chasing that feeling ever since. Unfortunately, THE TRAITOR OF SHERWOOD FOREST just didn’t live up to my hopes for it (as unfair as that may be).

This historical fiction novel was clearly well researched, and I appreciated that Robin is a very complicated character in it. He wasn’t the heroic ideal, and I was glad that we got to see him through the eyes of a woman spying for him. I appreciated what this book was trying to do, but I struggled with the fact that it was just so bland. The thing I loved about Gaughen’s series was that I genuinely felt the thrill and the danger. I didn’t feel that way reading this one and wasn’t invested enough in any of the characters to care when things did go awry.

I appreciated the work that went into this novel and am glad I got to give it a try. I ended up listening to most of it on audio and did love the narrator, Grace Gray. She was the highlight of the reading experience for me.

Thank you so much, PENGUIN GROUP Viking Penguin | Penguin Books, for providing me this ARC.

"An immersive, sultry, heart-pounding historical reimagining of the Robin Hood ballads, told through the piercing eyes of one of his spies."

This was an interesting take on the classic Robin Hood. I enjoyed the allure of the tale, although I must admit, it didn't captivate me as much as I had hoped. While I found the characters and plot engaging, there were moments where the pacing felt uneven. A decent read nonetheless.

As always, all thoughts are my own. 🖤✨

Pub Date Apr 29 2025

I very much enjoyed seeing Robin Hood written as though seen through contemporary eyes. That Kaufman is a medievalist is clear in the historical details and language she uses, and it makes thes tory all the more real. It is, of course, a little hard to see one of my favorite folk characters the way Kaufman writes him, but mostly because she makes his character so easy to believe in. When it comes out in paperback, I expect I'll be adding this book to my collection.

Wow. This is not your mother’s Robin Hood.
Or, actually it IS. This is Robin Hood from the Medieval tales, and he is so much darker than this cover lets on.
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I recently read Robin Hood by Roger Lancyn Green (written 1950ish) and LOVED IT. Roger was besties with CS Lewis, and his Robin Hood stories are full of just as much love and justice and awesome ladies (literally he mentions that Maid Marian is as good a shot as Robin every five minutes) as the Narnia books.
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So I requested an ARC of this new book, and it was like slamming on the brakes and putting the car in reverse. So much of it baffled me- until I read the thorough historical note at the end. The Robin Hood of this book reflects his character in old medieval tales; he’s not the hero with golden morals you expect.
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The story is brilliantly set up around a young maid, Jane, who believes Robin to be all we think he is now. In a blend of thrills and horrors, the truth is slowly revealed. And I loved it. It hurt, it was a little intense at times, but so good. I love a good anti-hero almost as much as Archer Marian.
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I wasn’t sure I was going to like or even finish this book when I started it. It starts off slow and feels a little like reader-insert fan fiction. There’s also a lot of historical detail that feels incorrect…but it’s actually MORE accurate to the Robin Hood stories. And after about 80ish pages, the action picks up and I had a hard time putting the book down.
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This is not for the faint of heart or for those hero-worshipping the Lord of the Greenwood. But if you’re ready for a new perspective and some hardcore medieval action with a dash of romance…this is the book for you.

Unfortunately, I ended up DNFing this about a third of the way through. I had a hard time staying interested in it. Might be someone else's cup of tea, just not mine. But thanks so much to the publisher and NetGalley for the ARC!

This was fun, but I was also super bored through a lot of it. The prose was stiff and the characters felt one dimensional. Robin himself seemed to be a larger than life but also more villainous character. When tackling a story about a hero to insert a new character, I hate the bastardized version heroes get. They’re legends for a reason.

So many great things about this book. I love that this is a unique retelling of the Robin Hood story. You can tell the author is very knowledgeable about the period. I felt like I was really dropped into 1500s England. I think history buffs will love this.

I think the average reader is going to wish for more excitement and romance. I just kept wanting “more” from this plot and these characters. I never felt connected to them in the way I wanted to be. So, while I enjoyed this, it was rather drier than I would’ve liked.

I really hope this author writes another book. I think her perspective as a medieval scholar puts her in a unique position to write some great historical fiction.

I don't really know how I felt about this book to be honest. The start and the end of the story felt like two completely different genres. I was kind of in doubt when I started, it felt like it was going to be a romance where the central dynamic would be one about cheating. But instead, it became a really interesting comentary on if the ends justify the means. I wish we got to see some more of Jane's life and outlook before meeting Robin, either in a longer exposition or more hints of that coming through over the course of the rest of the story. For example, just another converstion or two with her family. The ones we do get are short and I didn't think substantial enough. She needed to have a little more depth to her to show what exactly she is giving up for Robin. Robin himself was a very interesting character as well, though I do wish the story wasn't so focused on him and his motives, rather than Jane's own morals. She didn't get challeneged as much as I was hoping to see and did not have many direct actions that changed the plot. It felt more like she was a side character getting dragged along in Robin's story.

Overall, I did find it enjoyable and liked the characters, I just wish it wasn't so man-focused and Jane was a bit more of an active participant in what was going on around her.

Thank you to NetGalley, Amy S. Kaufman, and Penguin Books for providing this eARC in exchange for an honest review.

When Jane Crowe is forced to move out of her house, she struggles to find a job to make ends meet. When her lover, Bram, sets her up with the opportunity to work for none other than the infamous Robin Hood, she jumps on the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Robin offers her to work in the King's Houses, where she'll be his eyes and ears on the corrupt nobility and clergy in town. When Robin's tasks turn into deadly, violent games and eventually ropes Jane into a murder/crime scene, she starts to learn that Robin is more than just a person who steals from the rich and gives to the poor.

To start, I want to take a moment to appreciate the amount of time and research that the author put into writing this. This is her debut novel, but if you look on her Goodreads page, you can see she's written a lot of textbooks and nonfiction about Medieval England and she's also a historian. I knew going into this that this would be a dark retelling of Robin Hood, but I never knew that the version we all know and love today was from the Victorian era and was made squeaky clean to appeal to larger audiences! Kaufman takes from the original tale of Robin Hood as her inspiration for the story and she goes into depth about this more in her author's note. I will say that perhaps putting the author's note at the beginning of the book rather than after the acknowledgments and the story was over would've probably provided more historical context as to why everything is the way that it is in the story.

Getting into the actual story and plotline itself, I found it to be bland and boring for a majority of the book. I felt as if the plot was dragging at many points and I felt it didn’t really kick in until the 60-70% mark, when one thing after the other started happening. It felt like the same old, same old with Jane trying to spy for Robin to get information, Jane trying to fit in with the rest of Robin’s crew of merry men, and then Jane fighting between what she knows of Robin and what she wants to believe of him. Once that 60-70% mark hit, everything started happening so fast and that’s when I started to become invested in the story. It’s personally a little too late in the story for my liking, but to each their own. I also felt like the ending was too fast and abrupt. I remember reading the last chapter, swiping left to see what was next, and then it was just the acknowledgments and the author’s note. It was also so anticlimactic for all of the events leading up to it.

In terms of Jane and Robin, if the author was trying to sell that there was a romance between the two, it didn’t work. There was no chemistry between the two whatsoever, and I know that romance isn’t at the forefront of this story, but if there’s going to be any amount of it, I want it to feel believable that they have some tension and chemistry going on. I felt none of that reading this. It also doesn't help that there's a love triangle present, except the love triangle was so dang weak it didn't feel like one at all. Jane kept going back and forth with her feelings between Bram and Robin, and whenever she was with one of them, she wanted to be with the other. I'm genuinely shocked that she was shocked when Bram started to catch on, and then she had the audacity to be mad when he found out she had feelings for Robin.

The only character I liked was Ibota, the abbess. She was headstrong, sassy, and not afraid to tell it to people straight. I loved the advice she gave to Jane, and although it felt a bit more fitting for the 21st-century woman than a woman living in medieval times, I think the advice resonates across centuries simply because of how accurate it still is today and how relevant it is to every woman across history.

I know that this is the author’s debut novel, and while I thought it was an interesting retelling of a story that we all THOUGHT we knew and loved growing up as children, there was so much missing and I felt that this could be infinitely better. I appreciated the depth of the historical accuracy and knowledge that was put into the book, but I felt it was at the expense of good pacing and plot.

This book was fun retelling of the Robin Hood story but told from a women’s point of view. The side characters brought this story to life and balanced out the main characters.

The author tackles themes of leadership, loyalty, and betrayal throughout the book. I wish there were more clever heists and trickery and a little less on the tension between Jane and Robin.

This book was a fun read and you will want to add it to your TBR if you like classic retellings.

Thanks to @netgalley and @penguinrandomhouse for the advanced reader copy.

I can't say the story of Robin Hood has ever been a favorite of mine, but the blurb seemed promising and I was excited to give this book a try. I wish I hadn't.

I didn't like any of the characters. I found myself annoyed with Robin Hood at every turn, and I felt like Jane was a wishy-washy doormat. She never knew what she actually wanted, and spent the entire time longing for whatever wasn't currently in front of her.

Some of this could have been overlooked if the pacing had been better. Some parts of the plot took way too long to get through, while others were so rushed that it felt like a "blink and you miss it" development to the story.

But alas, this double whammy of negatives made for a poor reading experience on my end. Sad day

1.5 Stars
One Liner: Good idea, underwhelming execution
Jane Crowe is a peasant girl with a huge responsibility on her shoulders. When things get dire, her beau of sorts takes her to Robin Hood. If she passes Robin’s tests, she will get a chance to prove her worth and make a living.
However, as Jane enters a new world, she wonders if everything is as it seems. There’s more to Robin than his charisma, and not everything is positive. What will Jane do when the situation gets complicated? What will she choose?
The story comes in Jane’s third-person POV (mostly).

My Thoughts:
The idea of a manipulative Robin Hood is interesting. I’ve read about his not-so-clean image and the possible dark side, which doesn’t get highlighted often. So, the book’s premise appealed to me. Here, I have to mention the author’s note. It’s the best part. It makes me wonder if she should have written non-fiction about it rather than this book.
Now, Jane is your typical YA character, but set in the Medieval Ages. She has flutters based on almost nothing. I still can’t understand what it was about Robin that infatuated her. His looks? His so-called persona, when all we see is him acting like a spoiled brat?
Midway through, I couldn’t help but laugh at Jane’s stupidity (especially when she is supposed to be highly observant and a good judge of human nature). Here’s a girl with zero comprehension who thinks she knows Robin more than his ‘colleagues/ gang members’. She sounds so pathetic that it’s hard to stay interested and continue reading.
The other characters were stereotypical. Fortunately, Ibota, the prioress, was marginally better. Honestly, she seemed like the only one to have a functioning brain.
I appreciate the details about the so-called men of the Church, or the gender bias prevalent in society. But, honestly, when your heroine is such a mess, it is hard to care about anything.
I did my best and plodded through the first 30% and then switched to speed-reading. The funny thing is that the pacing was still slow. And in the last section (around 80% or so), things move quickly, too quickly. Then, it’s over.

To summarize, The Traitor of Sherwood Forest has a worthy premise, but the execution feels all over the place. The intent is great. The presentation is not!
Thank you, NetGalley and Penguin Group Viking Penguin (Penguin Books), for eARC. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the book.

I was looking forward to reading this book and while it excels in the language and historical content, I struggled with the protagonist (Jane). She felt weak and constantly was making terrible decisions. While perhaps that was the point, there wasn't much to her character that drew me in. I was much more interested in the secondary characters and my attention would perk when they would appear. The stakes weren't high enough for the first 60% of the book. It wasn't until that last 40% that the pacing picked up and everything really interested me. For a book I would buy or borrow from the library, 60% is too far into the book for it to grab my attention. I'd normally, otherwise, put the book down already. Admittedly this book may not have been for me. Perhaps it wasn't for me in this place and time. I love a good historical retelling but maybe it just didn't click for me in this instance. I would, without a doubt, suggest this book to people who like historical fiction because that was all artfully done. But if someone were seeking high stakes, I would probably tell them to avoid.

I’ve always been a fan of classic story retellings, and The Traitor of Sherwood Forest puts a fresh twist on the legendary tales of Robin Hood by centering a female protagonist. Seeing the familiar world of Sherwood through a different lens was a highlight—especially with a Robin Hood who isn’t quite the glorified hero we’ve grown used to. Amy Kaufman does a great job humanizing him, giving the story a more grounded, nuanced tone.

The strongest part of the novel for me was its character work. I appreciated how it didn’t fall into the trap of idolizing Robin, instead letting readers wrestle with the complexities of leadership, loyalty, and betrayal. The feminist perspective added depth, and I liked how it reframed the legends without feeling forced.

However, the pacing didn’t quite work for me. While the premise was promising, I found myself drifting at times, wishing for a little more momentum or tension to carry the plot forward. It’s one of those stories I wanted to love more than I actually did.

I slogged through this book. The intent was great and I was so excited to read a retelling of Robin Hood, but it fell so flat. This felt very much like a YA book, and it’s not marketed as one. I didn’t connect with any of the characters, either. Thank you Penguin Books and NetGalley for the eARC.

First of all I love that cover! The story concept was really interesting, a retelling/reimagining of the story of Robin Hood from the point of view of a woman. I appreciated how multifaceted of a character Jane was and the dubious morality brought into question throughout the book. The atmosphere was a strong point for me — the setting was wonderfully written, really immersing me in the story. It was a bit slow at parts but the action definitely kicked up the further into the book I got.

I liked this telling of Robin Hood from a woman's point of view. Jane is remarkably empowered and independent for a woman of that time. I felt rather uneasy in the last half of the book, wondering what would happen.

Although there was great potential and an intriguing premise, the writing fell a bit short for me. I loved that the author attempted a female retelling of the classic Robin Hood story, but I had a hard time connecting, or even caring about the main character. Parts of the story read like a YA, but then others felt like adult, so it was confusing at times just who the intended audience was for this one.

I would definitely read other books by this author though because there was just such an interesting premise here.

firstly, thank you to the publisher for an arc!

3.5 stars

this was an interesting retelling of robin hood through the eyes of a young woman who is recruited by robin hood to assist in his missions, and eventually becomes enamored by his charismatic and beguiling personality.

our fmc jane crowe is torn between being ensnared by robin hood despite knowing he is using and manipulating her emotions, and being her own woman that makes choices based on what is best for herself and those she loves; i appreciated the character development the author has for jane. i also enjoyed how the author made robin hood rather ruthless — he sacrifices those who help him to ensure his own neck is safe

i also listened to the audio and the narrator did a fine job!