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My Review:Title: Sherwood
Author: Meagan Spooner
Published by: HarperTeen
Release Date: March 19, 2019
Format: Audiobook
Narrator: Fiona Hardingham
Length: 13 hours and 20 minutes
Genres: Retelling, Historical
Source: Libby
Reading Challenges: Lenoreo's 2021 Audiobook Challenge, Lenoreo's 2021 COYER Spring
Find it: Goodreads ✩ Amazon ✩ B&N ✩ Google ✩ Kobo ✩ iTunes ✩ Libro.FM
My rating:
Blurb:Fans of Danielle Paige, Marissa Meyer, and Alex Flinn will devour New York Times bestselling author Meagan Spooner’s next fierce fairy tale-inspired story, which Illuminae author Amie Kaufman calls “a kick-***, gender-flipped feminist retelling.”
Robin of Locksley is dead.
Maid Marian doesn’t know how she’ll go on, but the people of Locksley town, persecuted by the Sheriff of Nottingham, need a protector. And the dreadful Guy of Gisborne, the Sheriff’s right hand, wishes to step into Robin’s shoes as Lord of Locksley and Marian’s fiancé.
Who is there to stop them?
Marian never meant to tread in Robin’s footsteps—never intended to stand as a beacon of hope to those awaiting his triumphant return. But with a sweep of his green cloak and the flash of her sword, Marian makes the choice to become her own hero: Robin Hood.
4.5 stars — Wow, that took me through all of the emotions. I had all these desires for the first half of the book, and then things started shifting and I started shifting with it…and feeling conflicted. And so confused. Needless to say because of all that, this is going to be a vague and confusing review, b/c I just don’t want to spoil anything.
Ms. Spooner gave me a really rich story with a lot of shades of gray. I wasn’t sure how I was going to feel about that, but I really enjoyed it in the end. It wasn’t just the “bad” side either, it was Marian and her motivations and what she learns and the decisions she makes. Just wow. I loved that there were a lot of different sides, and a lot of different reactions, and that it wasn’t always simple black and white/good and evil.
Marian was ridiculously spirited, and I couldn’t help but love her. I could feel the way she chafed against society’s expectations for women in her time. I loved that she was so bold. BUT. It could be a bit of a downfall at times, b/c she was very good at convincing herself to keep her blinders on wrt certain people or motivations or situations. She was so stubborn.
Allen, Little John, Will Scarlett, Elena, Much — great characters. Loved the way they added colour to the story, and she had different relationships with some of them. They all gave different perspectives.
The narrator was pretty solid. I enjoyed listening to her voice, though I will admit that sometimes her voices didn’t always feel super consistent…maybe some were too similar? Great emotion and pacing though. My only other meh is that in the end her choice of voice for one particular character kind of worked against that character, and in hindsight I wish they sounded differently.
So yeah…this one surprised me with how much I enjoyed it. Some parts were totally not what I was expecting, but I was won over completely by the end.
COYER Community: I buddy read this book with Lillian from Mom With a Reading Problem, and this time we almost stayed completely in sync — look at us go! I really needed that for this book too, b/c so many things would happen and we could discuss how we were feeling, if we had theories, etc. She also gave it 4 stars, and you can read her review here (will link when it’s posted).
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