This was my least favorite of the Robin Hood retellings, for a couple of reasons. First, Robin Hood appears in less than 30% of the book, which really tells the life story of the narrator—a boy called Much. (It’s not a happy story.) Second, this Robin Hood is over the top evil—cruel, violent, selfish, delusional. There isn’t even a seed of the “steal from the rich and give to the poor” tradition, yet we’re supposed to believe the people of Nottingham hail this evil Robin Hood as a hero.
#4 Nottingham by Nathan Makaryk
Nottingham by Nathan Makaryk is a sweeping epic that begins in the Holy Land during the Third Crusade and ends in Sherwood Forest. It has a cast of thousands—or rather, it felt that way—and I had a hard time keeping track of some of them. There were two aspects of this story that I really liked. One, that there is no single Robin Hood. Instead, Robin Hood is a persona created to win the support and loyalty of the local residents. At different parts of the story, different characters assume the persona. Second, there are no moral absolutes in the story. The Robin Hoods are not always good or right. The sheriff is not always bad or wrong. I found this sheriff to be one of the more sympathetic ones I’ve encountered in Robin Hood lore, a man torn between a rock (the king) and a hard place (the people). Having said all that, I did struggle with this one. I found it be plodding, and between that pace and the massive number of characters, I sometimes struggled to stay engaged.
#3 The Outlaws of Sherwood by Robin McKinley
I enjoyed this traditional take on Robin Hood. It has the expected cast of characters—main and supporting—and the expected plot lines. The Robin Hood character seemed rather passive. He hid in his cave for much of the book, letting the others do all the work. He didn’t get involved in anything until near the end. But this book is meant for a younger audience and had I read it at a younger age (and without my writer experience), I might not have noticed or cared about that.
#2 Travelers Along the Way by Aminah Mae Safi
I adored this book. Of all the retellings I read, this one did the best job of capturing the humor of the Robin Hood legend. It also was the most imaginative of the retellings. Set during the Third Crusade, Travelers Along the Way imagines Robin Hood as a young Muslim woman defending the Holy Land against the Christian invasion. The Merry “Men,” who are mostly young women, are a diverse group: Robin Hood’s warrior sister, a Mongolian horsewoman, an Andalusian Jew, a chaplain, and a spy. It was a fun read. (And yes, it feels weird to say that about a book set during such a brutal event in history.)
#1 Hood by Stephen Lawhead
This was the first Robin Hood retelling I ever read-decades ago-and it is still my favorite. This one is the first in a trilogy that transplants Robin Hood to 11th century Wales, where Robin Hood and his Merry Men are Welsh freedom fighters resisting the Norman invasion. It is depth; it has humor; it has danger and adventure.
