Heir of Locksley Review

Blurb:

Robin of Locksley is a rebel, more comfortable roaming Sherwood Forest with his longbow and courting the village girls than learning how to run a manor.

An innocent flirtation with a peasant girl soon lands Robin in trouble, and worse, he finds himself inexplicably attracted to Will Scathelock, his best friend since childhood. Robin must decide whether to follow the rules of society or his own conscience.

Meanwhile, his neighbour, Guy of Gisborne, is anxious to get his hands on the Locksley estate and he will do anything to make it happen—even murder.

Excerpt:

Gilbert White-hand held up a silencing finger. “I want to hear what the boy has to say.”

Robin took a deep breath. Perhaps there was a way out of this if he chose his words carefully. Gilbert White-hand seemed less bloodthirsty than his companions. At any rate, he might be reasoned with.

“You’re right. I did come looking for you, but not for the reward. I didn’t even know there was one.”

“Then why?”

“Perhaps he wants to join up,” one of the outlaws said with a laugh. “Tired of living the life of luxury are you, boy? Fancy a life under the stars living on what you can scrounge?”

Robin waited for the laughter to die down, then, still addressing Gilbert White-hand, said, “I hear you’re a good archer.”

The outlaw leader raised an eyebrow. “What of it?”

“So am I.”

There was a murmuring among the outlaws.

“I can prove it. If we both shoot and I win, you’ll let us go, and you’ll allow me free passage through the forest whenever I want it. In return, I won’t tell anyone where you are, nor will my friends.”

“He’s got nerve,” someone said. “You have to give him that.”

“Do we have your friends’ word?” Gilbert White-hand asked.

“Oh yes,” Guy said at once. “We won’t tell a soul.”

“Not a soul,” Katrina echoed. “We promise.”

Gilbert White-hand turned back to Robin. “And if I win? What then?”

Robin took a deep breath. “Then you can do whatever you like with us.”

My Review:

3.5 stars

I want to start off by saying that the book does end with a cliffhanger, which I was not expecting. I've said it before; I'm not a cliffhanger fan. At all. So that did influence what I thought about the story, particularly when it became obvious partway through that the story was not going to end where I though it would. I went into the book thinking it would be a complete tale of Robin Hood or at the very least get to the Robin Hood part. However, this ends with Robin going off to war with King Richard, which as anyone who is familiar with the non-Disney Robin Hood stories, is usually where Robin Hood's story begins. So this entire novel was set before the Robin Hood that I know and love, which was both good and bad.

To start, I really loved getting to meet these characters and getting to know them, particularly Robin. Seeing the legend as a child, how he grew up, was interesting, and there were definitely plenty of seeds sown to be continued in the sequel. Plus, it's always fun to see in-depth backstories of familiar characters. Overall, the characters were my favorite part of the story as it really focused on them and how they developed over time (since the story does cover the first 18 years of Robin's life, with an epilogue set several years later). So it was great to see aspects of the characters I loved while also giving the author the opportunity to put their own twists on them.

However, this also affected the pacing at times, since there was a lot more character building than action for me. Though admittedly, at times the story felt a bit slow to me partially because I was waiting for certain things to happen, since I knew the tale of Robin Hood and how it ended. Also, there were quite a few characters introduced that I didn't think were relevant, again partially influenced by what I was expecting (and since a vast majority were not characters I was familiar with from the original tales), to the point where I had some trouble tracking characters at times. 

Overall, this was an intriguing start to a series that I can't wait to see continue. Now that Robin and Will are going to be grown up and coming back to the Sheriff and Prince John, I can't wait to see what comes next and how the seeds sown in this book play out. We've seen Robin and Will growing up, now it's time to see them at war abroad and then at war against evil back home. 

*I received this book in exchange for an honest review.*

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Author Bio and Links:

N.b. Dixon is an author of historical fiction. Her love for the Robin Hood legend began in a neglected corner of the school library and has continued ever since. She is a self-confessed bookworm and also a musician.

She began work on the Outlaws Legacy Series in 2013, and was accepted by Beaten Track Publishing in 2016. Outlaws Legacy is a historical series based around the Robin Hood legend. The author describes it as Exciting Historical Adventure with GLBT romance. Book 1, Heir of Locksley, will be released in paperback and ebook on December 1 2016.

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