Robin Hood's Dawn: Book One in The Robin Hood Trilogy

Robin Hood has always been one of my favorite historical fiction characters. This was a great addition to the group.

Have you ever wondered how Robin Hood became who he was? Or why Robin of Loxley was called Robin Hood? How about how Will Scarlet got his name? This book answers those questions and many more. This  story starts when Robin Hood's father was a soldier under King Henry and continues through his time fighting for the crusade.  It tells the tale of him defying the sheriff, his love for Marion, and slowly adds all of my favorite Robin Hood characters (although Tuck doesn't come in until the end). This also shows a side of Robin Hood that no other retelling has shown. In this one, Robin Hood is mischievous and likes to banter playfully with Marion and irritate the sheriff and his men. He is described as impish and boy-like with his pranks. I absolutely love this story and can't wait until the second part of the trilogy. Another plus to this book is there is a table in the beginning describing lineages of the different characters, pictures of the coat of arms, and at the end is a dictionary for period specific terminology.

Robin Hood's Dawn (The Robin Hood Trilogy #1) was not what I figure it was gonna be. I figure it would be the same old storyline that has been told several times before.  To my surprise Olivia Longueville & J.C. Plummer changed the entire story line while still remaining true to the story.  Olivia Longueville & J.C. Plummer has shifted things & moved the order around so much that it seems like an entire new story while at the same time remains true o the story just not the normal story line. There are all the "bad" & "good" characters in the story in their correct places but things have been moved around & has made it more interesting in my opinion.

If you want to read the Robin Hood Story but completely different in a good way that will make you want to read the second & third book in the series then you need to read this book.

This book is definitely for those who are interested in a story about Robin Hood both before he became Robin Hood, when he met his gang of merry men, and afterwards. Readers will become acquainted with infamous characters from the Robin Hood saga and his gang of bandits from the Sherwood Forest to include Little John, Will Scarlet, and Allan-A-Dale. Robin Hood squares off against the Sheriff of Nottingham and Guy of Gisborne after being falsely accused of a crime and supports King Richard the Lionheart during the Crusades. The romance between Robin Hood and Maid Marian is also predominantly featured in this story. Because of this, Robin is portrayed as a man torn between his king and the woman he loves. This creates a good mix of historical fiction, action, and romance.  At times, I felt the author could have spent more time developing other parts of the story while backing off from other parts. For example, there was a lot of attention paid to Marian and Robin's romance, but Marian's journey back to Robin was just glossed over. Overall, I found this to be a very good portrayal of Robin Hood and would definitely be interested in reading the other installments in the series.

I adore this book! I absolutely love the story of Robin Hood and Maid Marian, and could not wait to dig into this story. I am pretty picky about re-tellings of well-known stories, so was a bit hesitant. But my curiosity won out in the end and my excitement got the best of me. 

I was not disappointed. 

The writing is absolutely superb, the story itself fast-paced. The characters are incredibly fleshed out and memorable. The story stayed with me, even when I had to walk away from the book to get back to real life. "Robin Hood's Dawn" was a perfect tribute to the marvelous story that we all know so well, bringing the characters to life for me in a way that I won't soon forget. I CANNOT WAIT for the rest of the series!