Just Finished Reading: Outlaw by Angus Donald

England – Late 12^th Century. Young Alan Dale is hungry. Since the death of his father he has been trying to feed his Mother and sisters but there is never enough to go around. Seeing a recently cooked pie on a stall in Nottingham market he takes a chance, takes the pie and runs – straight into one of the Sheriff’s men. Quickly sentenced to lose his hand the next day he struggles free and manages to make it home. Realising the danger to the whole household his Mother takes him to the only person she can think of who can help – a local outlaw who makes his home in the nearby forest and who is afraid of no man. He has many friends and many powerful enemies; he also has many names one of which is Robin Hood. Taking an instant liking to the young thief he agrees to take him in and train him as a foot soldier in Robin’s growing army. As powerful forces gather to crush Robin and his band of outlaws Alan must navigate the challenges of moving into adulthood whilst staying alive in an increasingly dangerous time.

Robin Hood is, of course, one of England’s premier legends. Stealing from the rich and giving to the poor he challenged Norman oppression and aided his fellow Saxons in time of need. Many, many fictional representations have been made over the centuries in poems, books, songs and movies. He’s not a character who is going away anytime soon. Anyone familiar with the legend will recognise much in this first book of a trilogy (inevitably). All of the familiar names are there although some of them are subtly changed. Also the regular theme – ex-aristocrat banished into the forest uses education and martial talent to protect and lead a rag-tag army against brutal but stupid adversaries. Despite the fact that the (slightly) new interpretation was at times rather overly contrived and sometimes very silly indeed – I won’t give too much away by saying that the pagan aspect was totally unnecessary and not a little annoying – overall it was generally entertaining is not exactly a gripping page turner. Some pretty good characters, some nice set-pieces, a few good fights (and one very silly one indeed) and a few nice touches. Reasonable.