As a short preface, I was only ever familiar with Howard Pyle's book, "The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood," and the Disney film. And even then, it's been so long since I've read the book or seen the film that only the most memorable of details have stuck with me.
So Nottingham didn't feel like much of an adaptation or reimagination to me, and I judged it mostly as a historical novel about a character who may or may not have been a real person.
It took a while to get through this book, and not because I enjoyed it so much that I wanted to savor the experience. I wouldn't say it was a slog, but I put it down for almost a month at one point because I just wasn't invested in the story.
The wordiness got a bit much for me, in that it didn't have much of an appealing prose style or anything else going for it. Also, there's a lot of anachronistic language; the author defends this in the author's note in the end, but ultimately I didn't care for it.
The characters saved the book, I think. I enjoyed the characterization of Robin and the others, especially Marion, and I loved most of their banter.
Maybe fans of the Robin Hood legend would like it more?
So Nottingham didn't feel like much of an adaptation or reimagination to me, and I judged it mostly as a historical novel about a character who may or may not have been a real person.
It took a while to get through this book, and not because I enjoyed it so much that I wanted to savor the experience. I wouldn't say it was a slog, but I put it down for almost a month at one point because I just wasn't invested in the story.
The wordiness got a bit much for me, in that it didn't have much of an appealing prose style or anything else going for it. Also, there's a lot of anachronistic language; the author defends this in the author's note in the end, but ultimately I didn't care for it.
The characters saved the book, I think. I enjoyed the characterization of Robin and the others, especially Marion, and I loved most of their banter.
Maybe fans of the Robin Hood legend would like it more?