A great trip through the adventurous English country-side during the Civil War. ( )

The events of The Black Arrow belong to a great adventure story. Our hero, Richard Shelton, finds out the man he has been a ward to had something to do with the murder of his father when a fellowship known as "The Black Arrow" begins avenging some previous wrongs. In the course of the work, which originally appeared as a serial, Richard meets the love of his life (in drag!), steals a ship, kills at least two men, stops a wedding, and becomes a knight. The tale is very eventful, but isn't gripping. Richard, his beloved, and other characters are so changeable it's hard to believe in them. ( )

This has a certain grim humor I enjoy, particularly when the villain is waiting out a battle to see which side wins. ( )

Robert Louis Stevenson's adventure novel, set against the background of the War of the Roses. The time is 15th century England, and Richard Shelton, the young hero, overcomes one obstacle after another in his quest to rescue Joanna, his love. Originally serialised in a periodical of boys' adventure fiction, The Black Arrow is a swashbuckling portrait of a young man's journey to discover the heroism within himself. Young Dick Shelton, caught in the midst of England's War of the Roses, finds his loyalties torn between the guardian who will ultimately betray him and the leader of a secret fellowship, The Black Arrow. As Shelton is drawn deeper into this conspiracy, he must distinguish friend from foe and confront war, shipwreck, revenge, murder, and forbidden love, as England's crown threatens to topple around him.

2538 The Black Arrow, by Robert Louis Stevenson (read 3 Oct 1993) This novel tells of Dick Shelton and his exploits. Footnotes about the future Richard III admit he was too young to have actually fought at the time the book purports to be laid in. The story is told in rather stilted phrases and while the story is very fast-paced it seems so contrived--and since it goes so fast one doesn't really get caught up in the story. I don't really think it is a great book, though it has a nice happy ending--as books written in 1888 usually did ( )