Scarlet

By Stephen R. Lawhead

After losing everything he owns, forester Will Scarlet embarks on a search for none other than King Raven, whose exploits have already become legendary. After fulfilling his quest--and proving himself a skilled and loyal companion--Will joins the heroic archer and his men.

Now, however, Will is in prison for a crime he did not commit. His sentence is death by hanging--unless he delivers King Raven and his band of cohorts.

That, of course, he will never do.

Wales is slowly falling under the control of the invading Normans, and King William the Red has given his ruthless barons control of the land. In desperation, the people turn to King Raven and his men for justice and survival in the face of the ever-growing onslaught.

From deep in the forest they form a daring plan for deliverance, knowing that failure means death for them all.

Scarlet continues Stephen R. Lawhead's riveting saga that began with the novel Hood, which relocated the legend of Robin Hood to the Welsh countryside and its dark forests. Steeped in Celtic mythology and the political intrigue of medieval Britain, Lawhead's trilogy conjures up an ancient past and holds a mirror to contemporary realities. Prepare for an epic tale that dares to shatter everything you thought you knew about Robin Hood.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Thomas Nelson
• Release date: Jun 10, 2008
• ISBN: 9781418566265

Stephen R. Lawhead

Stephen R. Lawhead is an internationally acclaimed author of mythic history and imaginative fiction. His works include Byzantium and the series The Pendragon Cycle, The Celtic Crusades, and The Song of Albion. Lawhead makes his home in Austria with his wife.

Reviews for Scarlet

[graspingforthewind_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Lawhead’s Scarlet is the key protagonist of this novel. While in Hood, the story is told primarily from Rhi Bran’s perspective, here we have the story as told by Will, as he relates the occurrences to a priest named Odo. Three quarters of the novel is told in this way, with a few chapters stepping outside of Will’s memories and into the minds and hearts of the villains, in order to give us a full and round story. The final quarter of the story is told in traditional first person style, as seen through Will’s eyes, because he is no longer in a position to relate his story to Odo. This way of telling us the story gives a picture of Will as a simple and loyal man, a talented archer, who loves a woman very deeply. In this, it seems it was Lawhead’s intention to give us a picture of a common man of the time shortly following the invasion of the Normans into England. Full Review at Grasping for the Wind

[ashooles · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I found Scarlet much more exciting than Hood. It had me engaged for a lot longer and it made a bit more sense to me. Out of the two so far, this is definitely my favourite. I look forward to reading Tuck.

[debs4jc · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Will Scarlet is the main character of this second book in Lawhead's trilogy re-imagining the Robin Hood legend. As he relates his story while in prison to a priest named Odo, we learn how he was driven from his land by the French invadors and so came to search for Rhi Bran (Robin) and join his band of resisters to the French and their hired overseers. Scarlet's tale is of course full of adventure, tomfoolery, and even romance and you will find all the familiar Robin Hood characters here but with slightly different names and in a different setting.I liked the first book of the trilogy, Hood, more than this one, but this one was still really, really good. I particularly liked the romance between Scarlet and Noina and I just had to keep reading to see if they would ever finally get married.

[amerigous · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Lawhead surpasses himself with this follow-up to "Hood". In "Scarlet", forester William Scatlocke aka Will Scarlet joins the lawless band after his master, a Saxon thane, had his land confiscated by the crown. As Bran and his men, now including Will, continue to rob from the Norman rich to give to the poor, they uncover a plot that they hope will see justice done for the dispossessed people of Elfael. Told predominantly in the first person narrative of Will Scarlet, there is greater fullness and intimacy in Lawhead's prose writing. He captures the injustices and disorganization that ensue for many Britons after the Norman Conquest and that continue under his son, William Rufus, often with the help of Norman church ministers. This book delivers great characters, interesting plot, solid historical background, and an authentic voice in Will Scarlet. Highly recommended.

[mephistia · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This an awesome twist on history, and a great way of looking at both William the Conqueror and the Robin Hood myth. A must read.

[shanaqui_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I still find the setting of this trilogy infinitely more engaging than the actual story. I really want to like it -- a Welsh Robin Hood? -- but it just doesn't grab me. It's not hard to read: I managed most of it in one day. On the other hand, the prose doesn't come to life, I certainly don't savour every word. Robin Hood stories are supposed to be all adventure, and I guess this shows a more realistic, difficult side of it, but I just don't like that as much.

This book gives the reader a more outside view of Bran: we hardly ever know what he's thinking. Instead we have Will Scarlet, who has a reasonably realistic backstory and a kind of narrative voice of his own. I did hear his voice in my head somewhat, those bits aren't badly handled. The thing that did annoy me about them was the "and we trudge on..." bits. So contrived and dry, especially when they come over and over and over again. Will's capture does let us meet Odo, who is a halfway interesting character, especially considering his defection. I kind of liked him.

I didn't feel the romance, either. Not Mérian and Robin, and not Will and his lady. I guess I'm not engaged enough with the characters for that. There continues to be a problem with those, too: they're all painted in broad strokes, good or bad -- but particularly the bad guys. Guy and the Sheriff are particularly bland.

This trilogy is worth reading, though, if only for the fact that it does something new with the old story, and puts it into a new context that might actually be closer to what the original context was. It's nice to see that these stories aren't set in stone, because originally they weren't -- travelling bards would have adapted the stories as they saw fit to interest people of certain regions by changing the settings and names to those of local interest.

[glitzandshadows · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Let me be honest here, prior to reading this book, I was worried. (Also, note that my past review of Hood was a reread, this one and Tuck I’ve never read before). I noticed that a good part of this book was in first person, which, you know always sets me off, but especially in this case because I thought that it would be taking too much away from Bran’s story by focusing on one of his men.
Thankfully, I was thus proven wrong. To be honest, I might have liked this one more than Hood. Because, first off, it is a mix between first and third person. Will is in jail waiting to be hanged, and is retelling his story of how he came to be in Rhi Bran’s band to the scribe, Odo. The first person parts are glorious because they feel real. They didn’t feel like the author telling a story, they felt like Will Scarlet telling the story, dialect and grammar issues and all. That’s the way I like first person to be handled, and not many writers handle it like that.
He also took the time to continue giving us the occasional chapter in the antagonist side of the field. With this book we finally see the Sheriff De Glanville who is actually perfect, like, he was great I approved a lot. We see more of Guy. Also we get great Guy and Sheriff interactions (you don’t understand I’m a huge fan of the BBC show where that was literally half the plot…) and we got less of the barons. Also, at this point I’ve figured out which baron is which, so it was drastically less confusing than the last book.
I just felt like this one didn’t drag. I mean, not to say that Hood did, because it didn’t. But Hood was really meticulous in setting up the story and being as accurate as it could be. Because the setting and everything has already been set up, Scarlet was able to thrive without being weighted down with any extra exposition. It was just great and fun and I love how he’s handling this adaptation more and more.
Like, for example, the bard Angharad obviously uses pagan practices, but this is the point in history where Christianity was sweeping Briton, and so the intertwining between her Christianity and pagan practises is handled really really well. (note that Stephen R. Lawhead is literally the only Christian writer I truly enjoy). It wasn’t belittling or anything and personally, as a Christian girl who takes a deep rooted interest in pagan culture I really appreciated how it was handled. Like, Angharad’s pagan practices are literally some of the most important plot devices of the story, so it’s not like they’re a side thought. They’re important.
Also, he’s dealing with the idea of how every side believes that God is on their side. Which, I dunno, is one of my favourite things because it’s so accurate. Especially in this time of history.
I do know that one of my main concerns was that we weren’t going to get enough of Bran because all of his POV chapters are now gone. Thankfully, these concerns ended up not coming true. There was plenty of Bran being just a great Robin Hood all in all. Like, he’s flawed (he flies into the most vicious rages) but he also retains the roguish qualities that I feel like Robin Hood should always have (also, the name of Robin Hood was very cleverly tied in with a mispronunciation with Rhi Bran Hud - Rhi Bran meaning King Raven and Hud being an enchanter. So yes. GREAT).
Honestly, this book was just great. So great. It’s such a brilliant and historically accurate revisioning of Robin Hood. Everything lines up so well.

[daddypupcake · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I wasn’t exactly thrilled that this book was told through the eyes of Will Scarlet at first, but as I got more into the book I thought that it was brilliant. A lot of action is in this book. I really liked the way that Will pokes fun at the priest during his telling of the story. Very fun read.

[creighley_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The saga of Robin Hood continues. This time it is told through the eyes of William Scarlet, a wanderer who has been made homeless as a result of the bloody uprising of the rich to over take lands.

[cherryblossommj_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Will Scarlet has always been my favorite Robin Hood character for as long as I can remember knowing different versions of the historical tales. This book does not change that at all. This is Will Scarlet in more depth than any book or film has ever shown him. Everything you ever once thought of him or wanted to know is given in a wonderfully melodious tone by [author: Steven Lawhead] and your imagination can soar. I was thoroughly impressed by [book: Hood], but so much more by [book: Scarlet] yet in different ways. I recommend this book to anyone who loves celtic, Britons, old english, Robin Hood, medieval, knights, and chivalry... as well as just good old adventure. There is nothing "tasteless" in this novel as you find in many books these days... meaning there is moral delimma with characters that are just out right evil. But you do not find the protagonists as lust filled murders. It is just plain good stories twisted together to keep you up hours into the night reading until there is no more. So sad that I have to wait until 2009 for the Trilogy end [book: Tuck]... but I am fairly certain it will be worth it.Oh, and there are other Lawhead books that I've read that didn't "hook" me, but these King Raven Trilogy books are really to die for.

[richardsonmichelle · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This book blew me away, and now I must patiently wait for the last in the series...not due out until next year! This book was told in the perspective of a character newly introduced and at first, I couldn't get a handle on who was telling the story, but it worked out rather quickly. Another clever device Lawhead uses is flashbacks. I know in some books this can be confusing but giving credit to Lawhead, he masters the technique and does not lose the reader in the process! Whether you are a Lawhead fan, or just a fan of reading, this series is proving to be an excellent read!

[jeremypreacher · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Scarlet is at least an improvement over Hood. There are sympathetic characters and an actual plotline, even if it's near-hopelessly muddied by transitions between Scarlet-as-narrator and actual third-person-omniscient in two separate chunks of timeline.

Scarlet's verbal tics (calling people "fella" and using "en't" for "isn't") come and go, never ceasing to be jarring or managing to sound like anything other than a folksy affectation in the mouth of the character. They are handy markers as to when he's narrating, though - or would be, if they didn't disappear all the time.

I also have a rough time getting excited about the whole two-popes/warring kings drama that drives the plot. It's far too distant to have any emotional impact, and it never really informs the actions of the villains except in the very big picture - all the pointless puppy-kicking that happens onstage is just to establish that they're Bad Guys.

There's no real resolution to anything other than the immediate crisis, either, which is not atypical for the middle book in the trilogy, but it doesn't really whet my appetite so much as dull my enthusiasm. And Lawhead's Christian focus, which was such a beautiful, fundamental part of the Pendragon Cycle, just comes off as forced, here.

(Also, I just wanna say, while I like the use of Welsh myths to foreshadow plot points in theory, he did it a hundred times more elegantly in Merlin, and WITH THE SAME STORY. Jeez, man, now you're just getting lazy.)

[bookslesstravelled · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

A great read. I happened upon the last of this trilogy at a book sale, and am so glad that I did!