Scarlet


Scarlet
A.C. Gaughen
Bloomsbury

I thought this book sounded really interesting. I’m a Robin Hood fan anyway, but I don’t come across many retellings about him and his gang that I feel comfortable reading, so I was pleased to find this one in the YA section of the library. Basically, in this version Will Scarlet is actually a girl, Robin Hood's secretive informant. I thought it sounded intriguing. 

I was really, really, disappointed. I only got through about three chapters before stopping because of the swearing. I understand that bad guys and outlaws usually swear, so if anyone out there tells me that it’s to be expected of this novel and, indeed, would be inaccurate without it, I say: then leave out the word. “Sir Gisbourne swore.” There. It’s “accurate” and we don’t have to read the word. That, my friends, is a perfect compromise. Also, from just the little bit I read, I didn't really like Scarlet. 

Now, I admit I *was* curious to how everything turned out, so I looked in the back of the book and read the last bits. Part of it was kind of cool: *SPOILER* Scarlet is on the run from Sir Guy Gisbourne- she’s actually his betrothed and the name Will Scarlet is just a cover. Her real name? Marion. {insert smile} then…the bad part. To save Robin she actually marries Sir Guy. And then runs away with Robin and the book ends. Me? “Ummm, dear, hate to bring this up but…YOU’RE MARRIED.” *END OF SPOILER* Plus, just in that ending chapter there was an obscene amount of swearing.

This is the first book in a long while that I had to put down because of objectionable content, and it made me kind of sad, especially because I wanted so badly to like it, and I think that this book's premise had the potential where it could have been really great. Sad, sad disappointment. 

Rating: 2

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