The Outlaws of Sherwood

I've read many versions of the "Robin Hood" legend, but this is one ties for my favorite of them all.

McKinley's imagination with trying to make these characters real is just astonishing. They're still fitting into the mythos of Robin Hood - but not everything is what you expect. They're not laughable figures who shrug off swords and arrows. They're real people, with emotions and flaws and moments of genius and nobility.

I found this to be very enjoyable, and I love that McKinley continues to not disappoint when it comes to writing fairy tale adaptations.

The Outlaws of Sherwood is a sturdy, conservative version of the Robin Hood myths, and while the book isn't particularly exciting -- aside from one really terrific description of arousal and one great riot scene -- it's a sensible collation of diffuse myths and contemporary concerns.

The book features the traditional gang: Robin Hood (who is terrible at archery and compensates through relentless anxiety), Maid Marian, Much, Will Scarlet, Friar Tuck, Little John, Alan-a-dale, etc. McKinley is great at characters, and she does a particularly fine job with Robin (the rare male McKinley protagonist), but she hews very closely to the accepted parameters of the original stories. The end result is a plot that feels rote and obligatory. The book show more adds a few weird quirks to the standard story -- the women in Robin's camp; Cecily; Richard Lionheart's disturbing conditions for forgiving the outlaws -- but for the most part, The Outlaws of Sherwood sticks to the beaten path. show less

In The Outlaws of Sherwood, Robin McKinley re-imagines the Robin Hood legends to create a compelling and believable story of friendship, love, courage, and justice. In this retelling, Robin, an unassuming young forester, is just an average archer (usually I'd look askance at a revisionist decision to downplay Robin's legendary marksmanship, but here it works brilliantly). When he accidentally kills a king's forester, he flees to Sherwood, where he is aided by Much and Marian, two childhood friends who want to use his outlawhood as a symbol of Norman oppression and Saxon bravery. Robin, a pragmatic realist, can't imagine anyone who had a choice wanting to live the rough life of an outlaw in the forest, but as the band grows he's forced show more to acknowledge there may be something in their idealism after all.

What really makes this story sing is the characters, so well crafted, individualistic, and just plain likeable. Marian is a tomboyish strong woman without being stereotypical. Tuck is more than just a worldly friar. Much is an inspiring fireside speaker with a relentless sense of humor. Little John is a dour philosopher with a well-hidden soft side. And Cecily... she is the best of all. Will Scarlet's younger sister, Cecily runs away from her arranged Norman marriage and poses as a boy amidst Robin's band. It's hard to make the feisty-female-impersonating-a-boy character really live and breathe in a believable way, but McKinley does it flawlessly with Cecily. Or Cecil, as the case may be.

McKinley's usual deft touch lends the well-known stories a new personality. Maybe it's the fact that I read (and reread) it in my impressionable teen years, but this is my favorite retelling of the Robin Hood story and one that I will return to often when I want a comfort read. Love it. show less

Summary: Robin Hood is one of those figures of legend who goes through endless iterations; each retelling emphasizing some aspects while downplaying or changing others. In McKinley's version, Robin is a forester the king's part of Sherwood Forest, and a Saxon. When he is forced to go into hiding after accidentally killing another man, his friends turn him into a rallying point for all of the Saxons who are tired of being under the thumb of their Norman rulers - including the Sherriff of Nottingham, whose ever-increasing rents are making banditry seem like an ever more attractive option to the local peasants and villagers - and more than few of the disillusioned young nobles. Robin's not terribly comfortable as a leader, especially when show more the price on his head could be leading all of his friends and loved ones into terrible danger.

Review: I've only had middling success with McKinley's novels in the past, so I approached this one with a little trepidation. Her writing style and I just don't get along very well - to me it frequently comes off as ponderous and overblown, although I can see how others could see it as lending whatever she's telling an air of gravitas. However, while I can't say that the language worked for her retelling of the Robin Hood story, neither did it particularly work against it - there is a fair bit of dialogue and quite a lot of action to break up some of the more tedious descriptive passages that marked her other books. And if the dialogue is still somewhat stilted, well, let's just write that off as historical flavor, shall we?

While I knew the basics of the Robin Hood story (robs from the rich, gives to the poor, yada yada), I knew it almost exclusively from movies - this was my first written retelling. I thought the grounding of the legend in a firm political background was very interesting, and fully believable. What I enjoyed the most about this book, however, was not the story of Robin himself, but the development of the secondary characters - particularly Little John and Will Scarlet. They're all given plausible backstories, and worked into the main action in compellingly believable ways - enough so that I want to go seek out other retellings to see which parts are part of the legend, and which parts McKinley made up for this rendition of the classic story. 4 out of 5 stars.

Recommendation: The most agreeable of McKinley's books that I've read; while the prose is still too dense for my tastes, the quick pace of the plot keeps things moving along nicely. show less

I really enjoyed The Outlaws of Sherwood. I found it very entertaining - particularly the banter and teasing between the outlaws. Some of those moments made me wish I had a pencil to write down the quotes, except I never wanted to stop reading to do so! It's not just the humour, either, but the writing. I love the writing, the way McKinley has used language. It's descriptive, vivid and interesting.

The backstory and personalities of many of the characters is different to what I have come across in Robin Hood tellings before, but I like them a lot. Robin is the quiet, unassuming one - Much and Marian have to talk him into living in the forest as an outlaw. He is thoughtful and intelligent, rains on everyone's romantic suggestions with his show more practicality, and worries about feeding them all. He's not concerned with glory, but staying alive. Hearing that the sheriff will be gravely disappointed when he (Robin) doesn't turn up at the Nottingham archery contest, Robin announces it's the best news he has heard all week.
The other characters do not always differ as much as Robin from the 'traditional' characters, but I never got them confused with my preconceived ideas of who they should be - they were all too vivid and believable for that!
I also appreciated the romantic tension (the last Robin Hood novel I read had an awful lack of it) which is to say, there are unfilled silences and not a lot happens in that direction. It works much better than it sounds. Things aren't too readily resolved, but nor is it pages and pages of people bemoaning their problems with Much Angst. It's subtle and really well handled. I was surprised by the story's secondary romance, because it was unexpected, but that made it even more enjoyable.

The plot was clever and engaging, with twists and turns I didn't expect. The final conflicts (and their aftermath) were gripping and dramatic. I cared about the characters - was emotionally invested in them - and it was with nervous anticipation that I read to find out their fate.

All in all, a wonderful book, and probably one of my favourite Robin McKinleys. show less

I enjoyed seeing Robin as a fallible, preoccupied character, separate from the myth around him, but also given a historical context that made sense. The ensemble of characters around him was also well done. Given the fact that my prior experience of Robin Hood involved Disney and foxes, Reading this was a welcome change

The story of Robin Hood is so continually relevant that it is able to transcend the (comparatively) little worries about historical accuracy - so sayth McKinley. By and large, I find myself agreeing with her. In this case.

Overall a very enjoyable little book - it would be great to read aloud; it's more story than novel, which ... is typical of McKinley.

Drawbacks: the numerous little characters seem to drift in and out without really making a mark - unless the point is "there were an awful lot of people living in the Sherwood forest", which doesn't require giving names & backstory to all of them, right? Minor characters suddenly become important, and apparently major characters (Lady Marian, say) lay about for chapters doing literally show more nothing, while everyone dotes on them for being OMG so great. Which is frustrating.
And the writing. Some sentences were structured so queerly, and the character's inferences were so oblique, that I honestly could not understand what was being said.
And the ending was a bit glib.
And the romance of Robin & Marian fell flat, after the tingly tantalizing delight of their flirting early on. It's like later seasons of the X-Files: you want Mulder and Scully to hook up, but dammit all the excitement is gone when they finally do.

But mostly it was very very enjoyable. I love Robin - his self-deprecation, his self-awareness, his accepted-but-unwanted responsibility for the outlaws - all was very very well done, and am I saying 'very' too much? Especially interesting - how Robin is the leader, but takes a back role in the plot: it makes the Robin Hood story illustrative & nearly allegorical, rather than particular. And somehow more credible. Is this a trait of the original stories? I will seek them out. show less