Customer Reviews

Lady Of Sherwood

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I read Lady of the Forest last year and loved it. I wasn't certain I'd enjoy Lady of Sherwood as much because it didn't seem possible that I could like it as much as I did the first book. Am I glad to find I was wrong! It's beautifully written, the characters compelling, and the story riveting. Kudos to Ms Roberson for writing a sequel that's just as strong as the first book! By the way, I do feel that reading the first book is essential to understanding motivation of these characters, but not essential to the enjoyment of this book.

Lady of Sherwood continues, and finishes, the drama set in motion by Lady of the Forest. Robin, the rebellious son of the Earl of Huntington, lives with Marian in her estate. With them are the Merrie Enough Men, making ends meet, unmolested under the pardon of King Richard. It is upon King Richard's death that the trouble begins, not only for Robin and Marian's new life, but for the rest of England as well under the impeding rule of the detested Prince John.

Marian comes off stronger than ever as a character in this male-oriented power struggle, contributing far more than what a woman in the medeival ages is expected to impart, yet without overstepping the realism that is so well-embedded in this book.

This book is immersed much deeper in intrigue, and Marian's naivette in the first book had been completely irradicated in this installment. All the major players in this book push their characters to the extreme; Robin broods even more, the Earl of Huntington is more ruthless; the Sherrif of Nottingham more despicable... etc.

While I would have given this book a rating of 5, I could not help but compare it to the first book which, to me, holds more purpose in the context of why the story was told. In the first book, it was shown how Marian came to being as a woman and the lover of a famous outlaw amidst a brewing political struggle. In this book, Marian is made even tougher as the political struggles become more pronounced. It's like "Lady of the Forest: Extra Strength."

However, I would still recommend this book to satisfy the craving "Lady of the Forest" sowed in its readers. It's a fine read, well-constructed and well-developed.

I must start out by saying that Lady of the Forest is my absolute favorite book. When I first read it, I was utterly captivated and entranced. I have read it several times since with the same result. Jennifer Roberson has an amazing ability to completely bring the scenes to life, in vivid color. All of the characters in Lady of the Forest are fully developed and interesting; you want to know more about them and what is happening to them. I was expecting the same kind of magic in Lady of Sherwood and was a little disappointed. It almost felt as though the author was trying to catch you up on the last book for half of Lady of the Forest. I found the characters to be less-developed, if possible, with absolutely no growth whatsoever. I found it difficult to find the central plot, whereas in Lady of the Forest it was very clear. I enjoyed the book because it involved the characters that I had come to love, but other than that, I don't believe I would recommend the book to anyone who has not read Lady of the Forest.

I don't want to give away the plot, especially since the book just came out. I've been waiting for this book for such a long time and had to read it the moment I got it.

Lady of Sherwood tells of the actual legend as we know of it, while Lady of the Forest was a prequel to the legend. Lady of Sherwood holds you until the end. Again, I wish deLacey was dead or worse. I'm also happy that this book doesn't strictly follow the politics, but focusing on the characters. You especially notice a change in Marian from the previous book.

For those of you who loved Lady of the Forest, you'll be wanting to read this. For those of you who have not yet read lady of the Forest, I would not say it is essential to reading the first book before this, but you'd be missing a great book.

I have read the prequel to this book, and it is just a good as this one. I myself am a Robin Hood buff, and this book exceeded my standards for good reading by leaps and bounds! It is one of the hardest books to put down, and has realistic characters. It really draws you in, keeps you there, and makes you wanna run out immediately and buy up all of her other books out there. If all of her books are this way, she's defintely a favorite of mine now. Read her books! She's great!

Lady of Sherwood opens five years later after the close of the traditional Robin Hood story, telling the fates of Marian, Robin Hood, and the once-outlaws after King Richard's pardon, something not often seen in literature. That in itself is an accomplishment. While the return to outlawry is so close to the original one that it gets boring, the writing is captivating and the conflicts real. An interesting aspect to this story is that at the end, the characters are bereft of everything, but somehow are as happy as they were before. Ms. Roberson displays this theme very well. I would suggest it to any fan of Robin Hood stories.

I was disappointed in this book compared to the Lady of the Forest. I found the plot to be interesting, but the ending was very boring and I felt was the author's easy way out. I would not recommend and would not read again (unlike Forest, which is a great re-read).

The Prologue was very fun to read. The rest of the novel was in varying degrees, sometimes good, sometimes slow, sometimes bad bad bad. Also, this is a sequel to an earlier novel and to my mind it failed in introducing the characters to someone who hadn't read the first one. I don't know if she did a better job in that novel but, although I recognized them from the legends, I didn't really get a clear picture of any of them, except for the minstrel Alan who had a very well defined character. Will seemed like a caricature.

If you don't have anything to read and this is there or if you are in love with the Robin Hood myth, then sure, go for it. But I wouldn't go out of my way.

This book is a sequel to Ms. Roberson's hit novel "Lady of the Forest." I adore that book. I was very excited when I discovered that there was a sequel. I read it in three days and was fairly satisified. I would not recommend you read it if you have not read "Lady of the Forest." The characters are not very well detailed in "Lady of Sherwood" and there is a lot of action that doesn't resolve itself until late in the book. But all in all, it was very enjoyable and I enjoyed reading it!

Ms. Roberson didn't develope the characters as much as she did in Forest, but the plot moves more quickly. Unfortunately, Sherwood is rather vauge about the fate of Prince (King) John and Sherrif William deLacey. Maybe their will be another book in the Lady series. For more info, go to the authors homepage.

-Jessica Stone