... marvelously compelling ... located in time but also timeless, just close enough to that ageless mythic core to get some of its magic. Robin and Marian and the rest are just slightly bigger than life, which works well for the dramatic sequences and also plays well with the experiences of the children ... Locksley feels inhabited by real people, and Sherwood feels suitably uninhabited, ghostly but not frighteningly so. It’s immediately treated as Mary’s haven and romping ground, and so her suspicions about it being haunted give it a sense of complex history rather than horror-movie menace ... a thrilling little book, and one I can’t wait to give to a surprisingly wide array of readers. Fans of classic fantasy, fans of swashbuckling, fans of YA…there’s a little something of everything for readers in this book.
Vaughn’s look at what comes after Robin Hood is a delightful novella, filled with lively action and characters who continue to stretch the original story even further.
Vaughn turns her formidable talents to the legend of Robin Hood in this impeccable novella and series launch ... Vaughn brings nuance and empathy to Robin of Loxley, granting him the dignity of age without detracting from the sprightliness that animates his youthful incarnations, but her true triumph is in the characterization of the Locksley children as they try to escape their abductors ... Vaughn’s masterful worldbuilding and lovable cast promise more good things to come in future adventures.
