Customer Reviews

Robin Hood and Friar Tuck: Zombie Killers - A Canterbury Tale

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Yes, it takes courage to recreate a Canterbury Tale, include Robin Hood, Friar Tuck ... and Zombies! It actually takes guts AND a lot of talent.
Paul A. Freeman has both, but most important he has the talent to 'translate' Chaucer's language into the language we all understand and which is real fun to read.
If his higly original version of the Canterbury Tales were to be used in schools, I think young people would go for them, really go for them, and probably love Chaucer's Tales (as much as they'd love Paul A. Freeman's, because I happen to know there's more where this one came from).
I am no longer a child and at my age should frown at the sacrilege of 'using' Chaucer's famous Tales. I don't and I can only recommand this hilarious, but brilliantly written Tale to one and all.
Highly recommend it.

This is a book to catch the eye before one even reads the contents - a seemingly bright and shining cover but the figures look lost and their eyes are downcast and the background is black and the shinings are eyes in the dark. And the title - `Robin Hood & Friar Tuck' - straightforward enough but `Zombie Killers' - whatever is this? `A Canterbury Tale' - where are we, what era, what place? We are lost.

But being lost in a book like this is no bad thing but a feast for imagination and thought. The joy of it, for me, is not so much in the narrative, though neat and original, but in the richness and variety of language. Paul Freeman has a keen ear for the Chaucerian mode he has chosen and for the authenticity of the setting - we have `candles in every sconce' `autumn leaves upon the Sherwood breeze' `features bronzed and burnished by the sun/as brown as is an Easter hot-crossed bun' We also have a deft and deliberate use of colloquialisms and modern idioms - the villainous Sir Guy says `So therefore I suggest that five per cent/To each of you won't make too big a dent/In what's required to house and clothe and feed/my family' and the miller's son `spotted movement underneath a ton/Of zombie flesh, then searching for his goal/Cast some remains aside and made a hole/(An action that was ill-conceived and dumb)/In hopes he might resuscitate his mum.'

Much of the vitality in this story comes from the juxtaposition of horror and humour. A zombie emerges from behind a door `with chomping jaws and ravaged face/Its arms extended, hoping to embrace/Guy's greedy spouse to feed upon her meat./Before the shambling figure could deplete/Her tender flesh, I swung my trusty sword/And where a head once sat, a geyser poured/Into the air and dyed the chamber red.'

So how is the reader to interpret this fascinating, mind-boggling narrative? As a romp through the genres? There is plenty to explore in this medieval world under threat from the zombie un-dead. As a social comment? There are beggars in poverty here, folk who `writhe in hunger' coupled with the ruthless exploitation of material resources by those who don't care or even notice. Maybe the fear and the blood and the `deadly force' are symbols for terrorism and war where it doesn't matter `if the number of deceased/Amongst the civil populace was high.'

There is plenty of choice. This is a book for pleasure and for quests.

Robin Hood and Friar Tuck: Zombie Killers
A Canterbury Tale by Paul A Freeman



Good Robin Hood, while robbing in the wood
came upon the noble Friar Tuck. Good
fellow sayeth he, you're just the chappie
to help me rid the land of its unhappy
state of monsters and of beasts that although
dead still rise to prey upon the morrow.
For such a tale as this is rarely seen -
a Canterbury tale too long has been
missing from the library shelves and shops
the favoured tale of Robin and a box
of ill matched merry men, assorted foes
with or without a complement of toes
Why, I beg - nay, urge - you all to purchase
this splendid tale of zombies set in Sherwood
Paul Freeman's book, indeed, one of a kind
(and his couplets leave mine far behind)


Please note:
I bought my own copy and was not paid, remunerated or
otherwise cajoled to give a favourable review. I liked it
all on my own.

These days it seems that books as well as movies are all merging into the same story, with the same characters, and written in the same style. On wonderful exception to this trend is novella length poem written by Paul A. Freeman. The fact that Robin Hood and Friar Tuck are in the title is enough to tell you that it isn't entirely original, but seeing `Zombie Killers' in the title will ensure you that this is not just another trite remake of the classics. Instead it is an addition too the classics.
Following through with the famed work of Geoffrey Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, Paul A. Freeman his thrown a new spin on the Robin Hood tales that has never been attempted before. In this original epic and poetic tale, he will capture you attention and give you thrills, chills, and even some laughs that will keep you begging for more. His brilliant imagination, vivid alliterations, and powerful prose will grantee that you will enjoy reading this wonderful and even controversial work of art.

For more information about this masterpiece, check out the Horror Review of Literature at [...]

If you're into zombie tales, you'll love this book. If you're a Robin Hood fan, you'll love this book. If you adore Chaucer, you'll love this book. If you're a fan of zombie tales, Robin Hood, and Chaucer - you must have already read this book, because before Paul Freeman wrote this work, I doubt if such a fan existed. This is cross-genre writing with a vengeance. I came to it as a Chaucer fan, who remembers liking Robin Hood as a child, but who has never had much to do with zombie tales. I found in this astonishing work the spirit of Chaucer living on: immaculate iambic pentameter rhyming couplets that never falter and therefore become invisible; great wit; great storytelling; vibrant characters; fabulous drama. I also relived my childhood enjoyment of the tales of Robin Hood. I won't give away the ending here, but will just say it's genuinely moving and is told with authenticity and a clear love for the traditional tales of one of England's best heroes. As for the zombies... `She pulled him from the gore-bespattered mound, / Where strugg'ling for his life upon the ground / His body was immobilized by hands / Which soon plucked out his guts in glist'ning strands.' Horror fans will not be disappointed. This stuff rocks.

It is truly rare that a literary work, or any work of art, can bring together two such disparate groups as lovers of The Canterbury Tales and lovers of stories about brain-eating zombies. Purists, of course, will not be fooled, but 'Robin Hood and Friar Tuck: Zombie Killers' reads for all the world like what it jokingly pretends to be: a lost Canterbury Tale (and, simultaneously, a 1950s 'B' horror movie script). The author is not only very adept at metered poetry (it never grates, amazingly enough), but is also an excellent storyteller. I have read the book twice now, and look forward to hearing it via kindle. Excellent stuff!

This is a book that homogenizes a classic tale with some contemporary fiction feeling for a new generation. The Canterbury tales was used in the title and I like the idea that people are still being encouraged to read the classics and make new classics at the same time.

Robin Hood and Friar Tuck: Zombie Killers was another fine read. The characters from the original Robin Hood play their part in this tale of zombies. While on the crusades, Friar Tuck was a member of Sir Guy's group that took down a man that was both evil and wealthy. This man had been using a zombie army to protect him and his riches but the Englishmen managed to defeat him all the same. When the necromancer fell, the zombies were free to do what they do best; eat people. Lady Clair, Sir Guy's wife, was unfortunately infected and returned to England before she died of the zombie virus. Friar Tuck swiftly recruited Robin Hood and his merry men to stop the evil being before it was to late for England and the world.

It's a tale about the tragedies that greed produces and the bravery of the honest and loyal few. It's a rebirth of the Canterbury Tales that will bring us back to the classics with it's brilliant and poetic prose. A must read for fans of horror and Robin Hood, and just a plain good fun tale for readers of all ages.

Mediocre at best but if you prefer literary undead mash-up there are much better choices. I recommend Of Mice and Frankensteins, Blacula Like Me, and Nikola Tesla:Time Traveling Mummy Fighter

I thought this was going to be along the same lines of Pride, Prejudice, and Zombies...I was wrong. Painful read.