Wednesday 17 October 2012

Review: Scarlet by A. C. Gaughen

Scarlet by A. C. Gaughen

 

Posing as one of Robin Hood's thieves to avoid the evil Lord Gisbourne, Scarlet has kept her identity secret from all of Nottinghamshire. Only her fellow outlaws, John Little, Much and Robin Hood know the truth - this agile thief is no boy but in fact a fearless young woman with a secret past. But Scarlet is torn between her desire to get as far from Lord Gisbourne as possible and a strong sense of responsibility to those who took her in when she was first on the run. As Gisbourne draws closer to Scarlet and puts innocent lives at risk, she must decide how much the people of Nottinghamshire mean to her, especially John Little and Robin, whose quick smiles and temper have the rare power to unsettle Scarlet. Full of exciting action, secrets and romance, this imaginative retelling of the classic tale will have readers following every move of Robin Hood and his band of thieves. 

Hey guys long time, no see! Sorry for the lack of reviews, college is demanding my attention, but I am back for a quick review of a book that I rather enjoyed!

I was so excited to read this book, the whole premise of it sounded amazing and as soon as I had money I bought it! Then when I was three or four pages in I realised that I didn't know a lot about the traditional Robin Hood story, but I soon caught on so if you don't know the Robin Hood story it doesn't really matter because Gaughen sets the story for us and you'll catch on soon enough! And just look at that cover, that is a pretty cover.
The setting in this book is amazing, I love stories set in the past anyway, but Scarlet was full of breaking into prisons, hiding out in the woods or caves and sneaking through crowded towns, whats not to love?! Add in Gaughen's well thought out characters with personal background stories and quirky personalities in with the setting and you've got yourself a well written, detailed and enjoyable story! Our main character Scarlet was likeable from the start, she has a big heart and is so thoughtful but also completely bad-ass when it comes to the bad guys, but I did find myself finding her a bit whiny sometimes which did make her a little annoying but her other redeemable characteristics made up for it. And of course Robin Hood, not much to say really, other than I think he's AWESOME but we don't need to go into detail about that!
The story itself was very well plotted, the start was a little slow for me at the start but after a while I was sucked into the story and couldn't put the book down. Every character had a story which made them more easy to understand and I found myself rooting for good things to happen to them. 
Overall I give Scarlet a 4 out of 5 stars as it was packed with action, politics, romance and friendship.

- Brodi