Scarlet

Reread May 2015
This was just as good as I remembered. I absolutely love the story of Robin Hood. It has always resonated with me. I love both the BBC Show and the Disney movie, for me they both showcase the story in different ways. While Scarlet is a Robin Hood retelling, A. C. Gaughen puts her own flair on the story. The cast of characters is roughly the same, however he have Will Scarlet who is actually a girl. When this book begins it is only Robin and his lads that know Scarlet is actually a girl.

First, I want to talk about the writing style. When you first start this book, it can be extremely off-putting because it sounds and looks wrong, but after a bit you get used to it and it is less noticeable. But I applaud A. C. Gaughen's ability to write so flawlessly and consistently in this Old English style. The writing is definitely authentic to the time period of the Crusades. While the writing is a small aspect overall, I loved the detail that went into making it authentic for the time period.

As for the characters, I have a lot of thoughts. For Scarlet, she is definitely an extremely flawed character, there is a lot from her past that she is hiding from everyone. She is ashamed and blames herself for a lot of the outcomes. This hatred causes her to shut down and hide herself from everyone around her, even the ones who love her. While I respected Scarlet's desire to help save and protect the townspeople, her hatred and reasoning for it made her a weaker character in my mind. I also appreciated that she did not let the other guys tell her what to do and constantly protect her.

Robin. Robin is one of those characters that you cannot help but love. He does everything for the people and takes any and all risks to keep them safe. While it was clear he loved Scarlet, I disliked the way he went about it. Calling her a whore and constantly ragging on her about John was really annoying.

John. He was definitely my least favorite character. He was overly flirtatious and totally obnoxious to Scarlet. Luckily the romance (and ridiculous love triangle) were such as small aspect of the book and my dislike of his character did not affect my overall enjoyment of the book.

Much. For me Much and Allan a Dale have always been my favorite outlaws. While we do not get to see Allan a Dale in this book, we do get Much. Much was one of the best “main” characters in this book. He does not have a big role but he is the voice of reason a lot and does give Scarlet someone to talk to and practice with.

Overall, this book was really enjoyable for me. There may be some flaws with the plot overall, but I love the adventure and the story. This book definitely leaves a lot of unanswered questions and I cannot wait to pick up Lady Thief.

First read April 2012

What if Will Scarlet was a girl? That question begins a whole new thinking of the Robin Hood legend. This book got me so emotionally invested. When I finished, I had to just sit and feel. In the beginning of the book, I didn't expect to get my heart so attached to these characters, but they work their way into your heart.

Phenomenal artwork. The plot for me was eh at times. I feel like with this type of world building you're trying to establish it should be fleshed out more. Iris and Finé have an interesting bond and story and it would have been nice to see how they became friends. I did enjoy it but it had the potential to be better.

Another YA book with a good idea that didn't live up to its potential. Sadly, I found this to be poorly written, peopled with bland characters and (and I haven't used that word to describe a book since I was a kid) boring. Full review here: http://sffbookreview.wordpress.com/2012/06/07/a-c-gaughen-scarlet/