As with a few books I've gotten via Netgalley from Open Road Media, I have had a paperback copy of this book kicking around for-virtually-ever. It's Robin Hood – of course I have. Though it is told from the point of view of the Sheriff, which has not been awfully successful in my experience… Still, it has had all sorts of acclaim and … well, Robin Hood. So much potential.

Unfortunately, this Sheriff is kind of a putz.

Sorry, but that's the word that was uppermost in my mind throughout. He is completely overwhelmed by his wife (I think that was his wife); he frets about what to wear to go see an important visitor ("We want to seem comfortable, but manly"). He makes the visitor wait to make himself appear more important.

Michael Cadnum caused damage to a theory of mine, to wit: a boar hunt in a medieval or fantasy setting is going to result in the severe injury or death of a named character, or at least a dog. Not here, though – the only death is the boar's. Oh well.

The writing is extremely self-conscious ("'I know all about what goes on in the forest,' she said, and long after her skitterish horse and nervous dogs had slipped by the carcass, her words hung round him like a necklace of thorns." – What?), and in its self-consciousness is stiff and stolid, like … like a yokel dressed up in satin and paraded in front of an important visitor. Perhaps it is in an effort to give the story a grounding in reality that there are all sorts of bodily functions described needlessly ("The horse was stocky and shaggy. It shat…")

This was not what I was looking for. Abandoned.

The usual disclaimer: I received this book via Netgalley for review. ( )

Zugegebenermaßen, dieses Buch ist Robin Hood einmal anders... allerdings war das für mich auch erst einmal gewöhnungsbedürftig. Wenn man das Buch aber als das sieht, was es tatsächlich ist (was man allerdings zwischendrin gern mal vergisst), ein historischer Jugendroman, dann muss man zugeben: Ein gelungenes Buch, um Jugendliche an die historischen Romane heranzuführen. Eine außergewöhnlicher Schreibstil, macht die manchmal etwas langatmigen Passagen insgesamt wieder wett. ( )

The Robin Hood legend is retold from the perspective of Geoffrey, Sheriff of Nottingham, in this lyrically descriptive and quietly emotional novel. All-too-human, the Sheriff is nevertheless a “worthy” man, devoted to his duty, more honorable than cruel. Haunted by a sense of emptiness and futility, and consumed by the feeling of being trapped in his life, Geoffrey is slowly awakened to a greater sense of joy, and of self, by his dealings with the outlaw Robin. As the story unfolds, the Sheriff gradually finds himself more comfortable in his skin, better able to communicate his affection to his squire Hugh, and surprised to discover that he loves and is loved by his wife, Lady Eleanor.

Cadnum gives an excellent sense of the brutality of the times, grounding his story firmly in the historical. The tone is frequently reflective, almost as if pondering the borders between the human and the mythological, but also humorous, as in this exchange between Geoffrey and Robin:
"For my part, I wish you were like other thieves."
"More stupid?"
"More joyless." ( )

An excellent book that combines a nuanced and realistic take on the Robin Hood legend without sacrificing the high adventure of the original. ( )