The Traitor of Sherwood Forest by Amy S. Kaufman is a bold, feminist reimagining of the Robin Hood legend, blending political intrigue with sharp wit and rebellious heart. Clever, timely, and refreshingly original.

In a Nutshell: A historical fiction retelling the story of Robinhood from the perspective of one of his female group members. Loved the intent, especially the idea of presenting the original picture of Robinhood from medieval ballads. However, the execution didn’t work for me. This felt more like YA fiction (except that it isn’t YA-friendly). Bland narrator, minimal character development, and a lot of needless focus on physical attraction (with an equally unnecessary romantic triangle.) It might work better for those who don’t read much historical fiction but are interested in a Robinhood retelling.

Plot Preview:
Jane is an ordinary peasant girl with an uncaring mother more interested in her own dalliances and elder brothers who don’t have much time for their only sister. So when her beau Bran suggests that she work for the infamous Lord of the Greenwood, Jane is taken aback but willing to give her new assignment a try. What initially seems to be a straightforward spy job soon turns into a challenging game of keeping ahead. Further complicating the matter is Jane’s attraction to Robinhood, whose behaviour doesn’t seem to match his reputation. When things escalate beyond control, Jane is forced to take some tough decisions.
The story comes to us mostly in Jane’s third-person perspective.

PSA: The blurb reveals too much, including an important spoiler from the final quarter.

I’ve never read a Robinhood retelling, and I’ve not read the original ballads. What I know of this legendary character is limited to what I have watched in a couple of Hollywood movies, which are obviously not historically accurate, and a children’s abridged storybook. As such, I had been looking forward to this novel with great anticipation. I still remember how happy I had been when my request for this book had been approved. Unfortunately, the writing style, the plot development, and the characters didn’t click for me at all.

Bookish Yays:
🎯 The author’s note. Brilliant in every way, this note explains her writing choices and offers insight into the legend. Had the writing actually matched up to the thoughts expressed here, the novel would have easily crossed 4 stars for me.
🎯 I like the intent of representing the original portrayal of Robinhood from the medieval ballads, which doesn't match his modern-day image of a hero. Was he written well? No. But I appreciated the less-idealised and supposedly authentic take, and learnt a lot about some of his beliefs and controversies.


Bookish Mixed Bags:
🏹 Ibota, the prioress – the only character written well, but in a relatively limited role. I might even have liked hearing this story from her perspective.
🏹 The ending. Faithful to the legends, but abrupt in its execution.

Bookish Nays:
➴ A wavering tempo, with the proceedings either being too slow (especially at the start with each event going on for an overly long time) or too rushed (especially in the final section.) The action is meagre at the start and overloaded at the end.
➴ Jane as a narrator – so bland! She is sometimes observational, but her perspective includes a lot of ‘telling’, which is difficult to accept considering her ignorance. (Some of the telling is just unbelievable. How the heck would you see “healthy thighs” under medieval gowns?) There’s also a lot of repetition in her narration. Multiple times, she's surprised to find that characters are taller than she thought they were.
➴ All the scenes of longing and lust! I missed seeing the word ‘sultry’ in the blurb, but even if I had, I wouldn’t have thought that it would be so dominant in a historical retelling. Even in between serious discussions, we get information about the salacious stirrings Jane feels at Robin's sight. Ugh!
➴ To make it worse, there’s a partial romantic triangle, with Jane constantly swerving between Bran and Robinhood. This is the worst-written of the subplots. When Jane is with Bran, she wants Robin, and when she’s with Robin, she longs for Bran. That’s it. No logic or depth to it.
➴ The minimal character development. Characters contradict their own statements and beliefs all the time. Robinhood should have been a grey character, given the intent expressed in the author’s note, but he turns out to be mostly dark and manipulative. Jane is naïve and wilful, and seems to be more dominated by her lust than by her mind. It is weird how Jane suddenly knows Robinhood better than all the men who've been with him for far longer. Robin’s not-so-merry men also have an appearance in this book, with most of them not having well-sketched portrayals.
➴ Thanks to the above, the connection between the characters never feels organic. We see them having feelings for each other, but never understand the hows and whys. The relationships hence feel surface-level. Jane’s attraction towards Robinhood is the least convincing.
➴ The dialogues are somewhat movie-like in their extravagance, making the book feel like a screenplay at times. This might be entertaining for some readers, but the unrealistic tone of the conversations pulled me out of the narrative. It’s annoying to see historical characters use interjections such as “Shit!”, “My arse!” or the F word. There are a few other anachronistic phrases such as someone “having a tell.” This negated the effect of the few instances where genuine medieval spellings have been used, which I had appreciated.
➴ I didn’t expect a strong literary feel anyway from such a plotline, but I did expect a stronger historical feel. There IS historical content but the characters’ thoughts and actions feel more modern. (Not 21st-century-modern, but definitely not 12-13th century.) The least convincing is the idea of Jane and a couple of other ladies spouting modern feminist thoughts about women’s emancipation and freedom of choice. Hah!

All in all, I had expected to love this book, especially as a lover of historical fiction and atypical retellings. However the overall book reads like a YA work (except for the adult content such as cuss words, lewd thoughts, and gruesome action.) It’s very lightweight as a historical novel. I cannot deny the potential of this idea of showing the negative shades of Robinhood’s character, but the execution leaves much to be desired.
This is the author’s debut novel, and her prior works have been scholarly nonfiction. A part of me feels like this book too would have worked better as a nonfiction, offering us the truth about Robinhood’s character as portrayed in the medieval ballads, and cutting out the ignorant Jane as the narrator. As a historical fiction, it just doesn’t hit the bullseye.
I’m not sure whom to recommend this to as it was a below-average experience for me. However, no two readers read the same book. Perhaps this might work better for readers who don’t read historical fiction often and are open to a novel view into the medieval hero’s life.
1.5 stars.

My thanks to Penguin Group - Viking for providing the DRC of “The Traitor of Sherwood Forest” via NetGalley. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the book. Sorry this didn’t work out better.

I love retellings! and this is such a unique take on Robin Hood! The prose was beautiful and the story unfolded in such an appeasing way. One thing that makes me fall in love with a retelling is when the prose is just as magical as the original and this is totally that! The story was slow but not boring- it was comfortable and peaceful. This book was really great! Jane was sometimes frustraiting because she can be naive but thats just a character flaw that bothers me more than most. I've also recently learned that Kaufman is a scholar that specializes in this time period and it totally shows

This was a clever retelling. I was intrigued by the heroine, but also frustrated by her apparent clever wit and naïveté. The ending was both shocking and unsatisfying to me as a reader.

A huge thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Books for the opportunity to read this book. I loved it., The story of Robin Hood and Jane was so intriguing. I found myself wanting to research Robin Hood. There were parts that moved slow but it picked up about 1/3 in. I enjoyed Jane’s story more than Robins. I loved the other characters on this story and added the depth that it needed to make the storyline more interesting.

The Traitor of Sherwood Forest is a clever retelling of the Robin Hood legend, bringing a new lens to this enigmatic and mysterious figure.

I really enjoyed Kaufman’s depiction of medieval society, with a focus on the working class and those on the lower end of the scale. From Jane, who has a troubled family life and works in the palace kitchens, to Robin and his merry men themselves. She hones in on an England that is far from idealised and reflects a turbulent political atmosphere under a medieval king.

Robin is written cleverly - as a dark and turbulent figure rather than a picture-perfect Disney creation. This leads to a lot of questions over his morality and method, with conflict created in his own band as to his methods and goals. I liked this fresh perspective and thought it well done.

Jane’s character was interesting. Initially, I found her hard to warm up to, finding her a bit on the sidelines and without much backbone. But as the novel wore on, and after reading the author’s note, I think there was more to it, and it was to show the effect Robin has over people and his enigmatic charm. She isn’t your standard heroine and can seem a bit grey at times, but I think there is a purpose to how she has been written.

I feel like if you are close to the ballads, this would have enhanced the story more, as each part plays with these; however, you can appreciate the novel without being too familiar with them.

Overall, a very original and modern retelling of the Robin Hood legend, firmly rooted in history and with a complex angle.

Thank you to Penguin and NetGalley for the ARC.

A spectacular debut! I've never been a fan of Robin Hood tales but this retelling - really captured my interest. The writing was beautiful and captivating. I will most definitely be follwing of Amy S Kauman;'s career.

Amy S. Kaufman delivers a sharp, thought-provoking retelling of the Robin Hood legend in The Traitor of Sherwood Forest, offering readers a morally complex tale seen through the eyes of Jane Crowe, a peasant girl who becomes entangled in the outlaw’s world.

What begins as an adventure into Sherwood Forest quickly becomes a tale of conflicting loyalties. Jane is drawn to Robin Hood’s charisma and apparent nobility, but as she becomes a spy for the outlaws and witnesses the consequences of their actions firsthand—including the death of a page she considered a friend—her certainty begins to unravel. Kaufman cleverly challenges the romanticized view of rebellion, highlighting the gray areas between justice and vengeance.

The historical detail is rich, grounded in the medieval ballads that inspired the story, and the narrative is both immersive and emotionally resonant. Jane’s development from naïve admiration to critical self-awareness makes her a compelling protagonist, especially as she faces the personal cost of dissent.

While the pacing may feel slow for some readers, the depth of character and theme more than compensate. This is not a swashbuckling Robin Hood tale—it’s a layered, feminist reimagining that questions the price of heroism and who gets to be remembered as the hero.

Thank you to NetGalley and Blackstone Publishing for the ARC in exchange for an honest review

This was a well-written and thoughtful take on the Robin Hood legend. While it didn’t fully grab me personally, I appreciated the quality of the writing and the historical detail. A solid read for fans of reimagined folklore and medieval fiction.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Amy S. Kaufman for providing me with a complimentary digital ARC for The Traitor of Sherwood Forest coming out April 29, 2025. The honest opinions expressed in this review are my own.

This is the first book I’ve read by this author. I really love Robin Hood stories, so I was excited to check it out. I really enjoyed the first half of this book. I thought the storyline moved fast and it was interesting. I wasn’t as interested in the second half of the book. I didn’t really care for the ending. And I think that really disappointed me. think I would’ve enjoyed it more if there was a different ending. I would check out other books by author.

In this refreshing and entertaining retelling of the Robin Hood legend, Kaufman upends the image of the noble protector of the poor in favor of a more medieval Hood: a violent, opportunistic trickster whose image was polished centuries later by Henry VIII into the romantic hero we admire today. Hood’s adventures in this retelling take place during the reign of Edward I (rather than that of Richard the Lionhearted), and are narrated from the point of view of Jane Crowe, a resourceful peasant just trying to make a living in rural 13th-century Nottinghamshire.

Recruited by her good-natured lover, a local groom, and bored with her own hardscrabble life, Jane agrees to participate in Robin and his Merry Men’s harassment of the Shire-Reeve (the original term for Sheriff) of Nottingham, Sir Walter. She quickly becomes fascinated with the charismatic but dangerous outlaw and is promoted to a kitchen assistant in a noble house, where she spies for Hood and becomes embroiled in his increasingly violent plots.

Kaufman does an admirable job of evoking everyday early-medieval manor life and makes Jane a compelling and likeable character who struggles to resist the outlaw she knows to be narcissistic and manipulative, but who also offers her a chance to right the wrongs perpetrated on commoners by the aristocrats of the time. Intelligent and empathetic, Jane finds unlikely allies among the aristocrats she has been told to hate; as she learns more about them, she begins to resist Hood’s malign influence and discovers that the romantic world of legend, with its clear heroes and villains, is neither as simple nor as interesting as the real world she inhabits.

Thank you NetGalley and PENGUIN GROUP Viking Penguin | Penguin Books for this ARC Copy!

We all know the story of Robin Hood, but what about those who aid him in his thieving and shenanigans. This story follows Jane who is introduced to Robin by her boyfriend so she can spy on the king's palace for him. It is really interesting to see a different side of Robin where he isn't only an altruistic hero that does everything for the good of others, but also for himself. Jane is an interesting character, she is naive, but not in a way that makes you dislike her, she is smart and learns from her mistakes as well as those around her. All in all, I think it was a cute and fun story.

Thank you Penguin Books and Netgalley for the opportunity to read and review The Traitor of Sherwood Forest!

Amy S. Kaufman's debut novel is a must read for historical fiction lovers and people who love the ballad Robin Hood! Kaufman's authoritative voice grounds the historical aspect, but her spin on this tale brings the fictionalizations to life!

Robin Hood is a folk hero far more complex than how he is portrayed in modern media. And when viewed through the eyes of one of his spies, particularly a woman, how does the perception of the "hero" change?

I loved reading Kaufman's debut, and I will be waiting for her next piece of historical fiction! It is a brilliant balance of historical realism and literary romance. I couldn't wait to see what choices our FMC would make or how she would figure out Robin's latest game.

I love, love, love Robin Hood (and this is NOT Disney’s Robin Hood, btw) and had high hopes for this book, but it wasn’t my favorite. The story is obviously well-researched and very well-written, but Jane Crowe, the main character, didn’t feel well-developed throughout the book to me and I became a little bored with her. I just didn’t connect with her or find her super likable. The story itself was interesting and if you enjoy Robin Hood stories or historical fiction, it may be worth your time, but if you’re not interested in the time period this may not be the book for you.

Thank you to @netgalley and Penguin Group Viking Penguin for sharing this e-ARC with me in exchange for a review.

There’s no shortage of Robin Hood retellings and reimaginings, but (FINALLY!) we’ve got one that works from the original Medieval Robin Hood ballads, rather than the more modern, fairy tale-ish Robin-the-exiled-noble version of the character.

I’ll be honest and say that I prefer the more modern iteration of the character in terms of personal taste, but we’ve got plenty of versions of that, so I was excited to see an author go much further back and work from a breed of Robin who is, to say the least, no such a cut-and-dried traditional hero.

This book does have a hero, it just isn’t Robin, who follows the medieval archetype of his character. Our hero is the lovely and complex Jane, who serves as a bit of a foil to Robin and his band of not-so-merry men.

I liked Jane and her character arc, but what’s truly interesting if you have some academic interest in the history of the Robin Hood story and its evolution is Robin himself. Is he a hero? A villain? A bit of both? Would that distinction even matter to him?

That is just a bit of the moral exploration that this book does as it attempts to navigate whether eating the rich is really unquestionably virtuous, as well as the fact that no one’s motivations are always pure.

A terrifically intriguing read and a welcome change from the predictable Robin Hood retellings that we typically get.

Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Books for the advanced digital copy in exchange for my honest review.

The Traitor of Sherwood Forest by Amy S. Kaufman is a retelling of Robin Hood based on the original medieval version of the story, not how we have come to know him in the modern day. This Robin is much more morally grey, with once good intentions now gone bad. In the center of this story is not Robin, however, it’s a young woman named Jane Crowe. Jane is dating Bran, who works for Robin, and through him she gains a job at the Kings Houses to spy for Robin. As she gets closer to Robin and his men, she begins to see that maybe they aren’t doing their acts for justice for the people, but rather as an act of revenge for themselves.

As someone who has only ever grown up with the modern day Fox Robin Hood story from Disney and the merry men from Shrek, this was a vastly different story than what I know. I did, however, like reading what is closer to the original story, and felt that the authors note about the historical accuracy was really helpful in understanding the story. I almost would suggest reading it before beginning, but it gives some plot points away. I think going into this book, you need to expect a more gruesome historical fiction and not a cozy, kind Robin Hood story.

All this being said, I actually enjoyed a lot of the novel. I found that Kaufman told the darker side of the story well, and we were given a taste of everything that would have been going on in this time with wars and robbers without going overboard with graphic detail. It was hard to read at times, but like I said, I feel that it was keeping in line with what would have been happening.

What I actually struggled to most with was our main character, Jane. She was very willfully ignorant despite being told numerous times that Robin wasn’t a good guy, and it was honestly really annoying about halfway in. I wish that there had been a bit more nuance with her character with that aspect. I did like that we had a main character to tell the tale who isn’t in any of the original stories. I just wished I had liked her a little more.

Overall, I think this was a good, historical fiction. It gives insight to the original tale of Robin Hood and what was going on in England around this time period. I found it interesting and engrossing at times, especially towards the end. If you cannot handle gruesome details about battles and fighting, then I would skip this one.

I had such high hopes for the The Traitor of Sherwood Forest by Amy S. Kaufman, but sadly was disappointed. I am a huge fan of reimagining's for beloved characters, and it was refreshing to have Robinhood and is cast of Merry Men to be portrayed, as flawed and sometimes unlikeable, but I just could not connect, with the main female character. Initially, it looked like I was going to get a character that was going to develop during the story and experience some personal growth, but instead got a female character who just let life happen to her and never achieved her own agency.

Thank you PENGUIN GROUP Viking Penguin | Penguin Books and NetGalley for the opportunity to listen to this ALC . All Opinions are my own.

Rating: 2 Stars
Publication Date: Apr 29 2025

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As always, thank you to @netgalley and @vikingbooks for the opportunity to read and review Amy S. Kaufman’s debut novel, released April 29, 2025.

“The Traitor of Sherwood Forest” is a retelling of the Robin Hood tales told from the perspective of one of his spies, Jane Crowe, who, while not the only woman serving as Robin’s eyes and ears, is the only one worth mentioning as the others are glossed over on page. While this one promised action, adventure, and intrigue, I found these elements to be lacking. I felt as though I was plodding through the story waiting for something to happen that snared my attention and would have me racing through to the end, but that didn’t happen for me until the last few chapters and I was left feeling dissatisfied when I finally made it to the end. As I found it difficult to become immersed in the story, I often found myself avoiding reaching for this one and often abandoned my read after only a short while in its pages.

This debut is undoubtedly well researched and favors the Medieval tales of Robin Hood rather than the story we grew up hearing, but it lacked the whimsy, heart-pounding adventure and romance it teased throughout. By the end, I liked neither Jane nor Robin and was relieved when I could finally shelve it.

Overall, this would have been a 2.5-star read if not for the end, which made it a 3-star read for me. It had potential, as noted, but the execution didn’t necessarily do it for me. Maybe it will for you though!

#netgalley #vikingbooks #arcreview #books #bookstagram #booksbooksbooks #bookgirly #arcreview #bookreview #reading #robinhood

I was hooked from the beginning!!
It was amazing and engaging.
I was instantly sucked in by the atmosphere and writing style.
The characters were all very well developed .
The writing is exceptional and I was hooked after the first sentence.

This was a Robin Hood retelling that told through the eyes of a young woman who finds herself swept up into the live and adventures of the Merry Men of Sherwood Forest. While there were some things that I found myself not particularly liking, I still had a fantastic time with the setting and both the well known and the unknown side characters that were introduced long the way. 🗡️

The story follows Jane Crowe who follows her lover, Bran, into Sherwood Forest to be introduced to Robin Hood and join the Merry Men. While I really did enjoy the perspective of medieval England through the eyes of an ordinary woman instead of a noble one, she felt rather immature for her age at times and really didn’t think things through at others. The one thing that really ground my gears while reading through her perspective was that she was constantly back and forth with herself about her lust for Robin while still trying to stay “loyal” to a guy that doesn’t really do anything for her, but still expects to have all the benefits of being in a relationship. But I didn’t like her outright. I really did enjoy her interactions with Bran, her brothers, and the other Merry Men when she wasn’t in the same scene as Robin since she seemed to come alive with them. I especially enjoyed her time spent with Mooch and Tuk since they were some of the few individuals that treated Jane like a human instead of either a wayward girl or an object to be won and shown off. 😒

Now what really made this book shine to me was that of the amount of research that went into this book. I loved that Kauffman had decided to set this book in the historically accurate period of Robin Hood while also including the different ballads of the outlaw in the story itself. This decisions for a setting and the use of the known ballads made the book feel more like an in depth take on who Robin Hood was as a man in this period of time instead of a folkloric figure that doesn’t really have a personality outside of their tales. Again, this understanding of the story came from me reading the Author’s Note and again continues my active campaign to get people to read this part of the book first and have the publishers put this at the beginning of the book instead of at the back of the book. ‼️

A big thank you goes out to Penguin Books and NetGalley for accepting my request to read in this in exchange for an honest (and late) review, and to the author, Kaufman, for writing such a wonderfully darker take on the man, the myth, the legend that is Robin Hood! ❤️

Publication date: April 29, so go take a look at it!

Overall: 4/5 ⭐️