Series: Scarlet #1
Author: A.C. Gaughen
Release date: February 12, 2012
Publisher: Bloomsbury USA
Genres: historical fiction, action, adventure, retellings
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The people of Nottinghamshire know Will Scarlet as Robin Hood’s shadow, a slip of a boy who throws daggers with deadly accuracy and an accomplished thief with an unerring eye for treasure. A select few know that Will is actually Scarlet, a young woman “recruited” by Robin two years earlier as he wandered the alleys of London. But no one knows who the real Scarlet is, what she was doing in London, and how she got that scar on her cheek. That is, no one but Gisbourne, the ruthless thief-taker just hired by the sheriff to capture Robin and his band.
Review: I really enjoyed this one! But there were some bad parts. And to help explain myself, as this was a pretty simple and straight forward book, I'm going to have a standard likes/dislikes list.
Likes
1. Vocabulary/VernacularI really like the way the main character, Scarlet, spoke. It's discussed by the character herself in the book but I really liked it. It was what I assume is accurate for the time era but not over complicated. It was really easy to follow.
2. Characters
The characters and their relationships were written very well and it was fun to follow their story to the end.
3. Easy to read
Over all, this seemed really short and was easy to read. You could probably read it one sitting if you're a fast reader. (It was 2-3 settings for me).
4. Knives
Scarlet's weapon of choice is knives! Heck yea, knives!
Dislikes
1. The "Love Triangle"I've read a lot of love triangles and this is definitely one of the worst. It was completely unnecessary, unbelievable and could've easily been left out. They both suddenly realize their "feelings" for her? No, thank you.
2. The Ending
???????????????????????????
I'd love to discuss it but I'm going to try to keep this as spoiler free as possible. (Until my next dislike point).
3. Antagonist
The antagonist is a man who is out to get Scarlet for (pretty obvious) reasons. I don't like his character only because Scarlet had several openings to kill him, yet didn't.
(Semi Spoiler Alert: There's a scene where she's fighting him and other men, kills the others but leaves him. What? Don't tell me she's too distracted to deal with him, he's the one right in front of her!)
4. The Map
I never got a good understanding of where anything was. I was just kind of guessing where they were going (though they specifically name the towns). It was always said in passing so I never got a good feel for it. It's easy to not think too much into though.
Over all, even though I don't explain it too well, I think my likes overpower the dislikes. I'm a sucker for good characters and this story has a handful of them. I'd recommend to anyone who likes high fantasy, kick-ass heroines and fairy tale retellings. (Speaking of which, I've never read or been interested in the original Robin Hood: but this is really nice).
Rating: 4.5/5 stars.
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