Lady of the Forest [Paperback]

Jennifer Roberson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1, 1993

In twelfth-century England, Robin Hood, the nobleman turned outlaw, and Lady Marian of Ravenskeep, a knight's daughter who joins a band of outlaws, share a passionate and heroic love. Reprint. AB. PW.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Roberson's rendition of the legend of Robin Hood and Maid Marian is diverting and delightful.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Kirkus Reviews

Roberson, author of 15 previous novels, re-creates the first flush of romance between young Maid Marian and the man who will be Robin Hood in this prequel to the more familiar ``merry men'' legends--an often tiresome mixture of political chicanery and courtly passion that pales in comparison to those rollicking legends to come. Recently orphaned by her father's death in the Crusades, Marian of Ravenskeep finds she is one of many women attending the celebration given by the Earl of Huntington to honor his son and heir, Robert of Locksley, who has recently returned from that same battlefield. While the other maidens hope to attract the eye of the Earl's well-born son, Marian prays only that Robert might supply her with the details of her father's last days. Marian remembers Robert as a reclusive, somber boy, but she now finds him a ravaged victim of battle fatigue, robbed of peace by nightmares and violent visions. Despite these distractions, the pair fall in love on sight--but before they can ride off into the sunset, they must outmaneuver the likes of King Richard's younger brother, Prince John, who will abuse anyone in England for a chance at the throne; the Earl of Huntington, who wants Robert to wed the prince's daughter; the Sheriff of Nottingham, who intends to marry Marian himself and wed his own daughter to Robert; and many another blackguard who slinks in and about Sherwood Forest. While Roberson expertly evokes the sensations and frustrations of medieval life and succeeds in creating what she calls a ``logical underpinning'' to the Robin Hood legends, her tedious detailing of the paths by which Robert, Marian, Little John, Friar Tuck, and several others make their way to that hideout in the woods serves mainly to detract from the myths' innate drama. The minstrels were right--Robin's altruistic thievery remains the real story here. -- Copyright ©1992, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback: 700 pages
• Publisher: Zebra (September 1, 1993)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0821742841
• ISBN-13: 978-0821742846
• Product Dimensions: 6.9 x 3.9 x 1.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (46 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,060,661 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The best Robin Hood story I've ever read by a long shot., September 21, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Lady Of The Forest (Paperback)

All right, I admit it- I grew up loving the conventional stories everyone hears about Robin Hood. I even rank the Disney animated movie among my favorites. I had no idea which direction this book would take with the legend when I bought it, but I am glad I took the chance on this book. What I liked about this book is that it made the story of Robin Hood and Marian more *real* than the stories I remember from childhood. Robin is scarred emotionally as well as physically by his involvement in the Crusades- he has seen more than a person deserves, and he pays the price for that in this book. Marian struggles with running her deceased father's estate while trying to maintain the sense of decorum and propriety of the day and to fend off the warped affections of Nottingham's weasely sheriff. The story is engrossing and intriguing and thoroughly enjoyable. This is the first book I've read by Ms. Roberson and I look forward to reading the sequel to this story.

18 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Mixed emotions, June 9, 2002

By 

Kelly (Fantasy Literature) (Columbia, MO United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Lady of the Forest (Paperback)

How to explain my feelings about _Lady of the Forest_? A romantic historical novel about Maid Marian and Robin Hood, it was an enjoyable escape and post-work-stress-reliever for a couple of weeks. I did enjoy it. Unfortunately, when I shut the back cover, I realized I had just read a six-hundred page book containing almost no surprises.

Marion Zimmer Bradley, author of the stellar _Mists of Avalon_, gushes about this book in the cover blurb, and so I was hoping for a novel that would make me rethink the Robin Hood legends, just as Mists made me look at the Arthurian corpus differently. Part of what made Mists fascinating was that it took an old tale and reexamined it, humanizing the "bad guys" and telling another side of the story. Mists questioned all of our assumptions about Arthur and Morgan. _Lady of Sherwood_ questions nothing, challenges nothing. The characters are just what we expect them to be... It doesn't rethink the legend any more than does Disney's kids' movie on the same theme. It may be a nice romance, but it's not in the same league as the best historical fiction. If you want a romance, you might like this, but for a haunting tale of mysterious forests and renegade Crusaders, go read _The Black Chalice_ by Marie Jakober.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A fabulous book, December 4, 2000

By 

Ashareh (Nashville, TN United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Lady Of The Forest (Paperback)

_Lady of the Forest_ is a lovely retelling of the Robin Hood legend, mostly from Marian FitzWalter's point of view. I don't normally enjoy the endless retellings of the Arthurian and Robin Hood legends, but I will definitely make an exception for this book. Robin is haunted and wounded from his service in the Crusades, and Marian is a very believable and likeable heroine. The love story is beautiful, the supporting characters are wonderful, and I didn't want this book to end.