Orphaned and married off at the age of 5, Marian Fitzwater is awakened during the night of her 15th birthday, the day of which she was to move to her husband’s castle, to be told that he has just died.
As an unmarried woman with land attached to her name, she is now not only a very desirable catch, but now a pawn in the Queen of England’s strategic chess game to supposedly turn all of England to her son, King Richard’s favor. The catch is, Marian has no intentions of being married off to the highest bidder.
By seeking out the notorious Robin Hood of Sherwood Forest to aid her, Marian finds out that she is to be wed to the younger brother of her now late husband, a child several years her junior. However, it is not the man she’s worried about, but his power-hungry mother whom she noticed at her first husband’s funeral had surprisingly dry eyes… especially considering the mysterious circumstances as to how he died… Marian pleads to Robin Hood to help her escape this dreadful marriage contract and save not only herself, but her lands from being snatched up and destroyed.
It sounded like Maid Marian would be a good read, but it was not all it should have been. The writing style was tedious, and even though I wanted to get to the end to find out what would happen, I sort of already knew. The plot was predictable and at times, tiresome. It was fluffy — fun but not much substance behind it.
Maid Marian is told in first person from Marian’s POV, and therefore we get to know surprisingly little about the other characters. Though it was refreshing to hear the story of Robin Hood from an alternative point of view, it wasn’t exceptionally engaging and made me roll my eyes a little at times. It makes me feel like this should have been a kid’s book. All you had to do would be to take out the “we made love” sentence and it would have been. Young adults might like Maid Marian, but adults will get bored quickly.
Julie Waineo, one of our earliest guest reviewers, earned an MBA at Bowling Green State University. She also holds a Bachelor of Arts in International Studies with a minor in French. Now living in Virginia with her husband and dog, Julie is an avid reader of not only fantasy, but historical fiction, the occasional “chick lit,” and children’s literature.
[…] γράφει ο Sandy Ferber για το Fantasy Literature | μετάφραση: εκδόσεις Πηγή […]
Oh thank you for the recipes! Such a variety - this is going to be fun.
COMMENT Hey, they seem to have added one while I wasn't looking! https://www.valancourtbooks.com/john-blackburn.html
Always my pleasure, Becky! And as I said, there are 19 Blackburn titles currently available on the Valancourt site....
Oh my goodness! I read "A Scent of New-Mown Hay" some time around 1970. It made a huge impression on…