Lionclaw A Tale Of Rowan Hood [Paperback]

I wish I had read these books in order, but at the same time, I'm glad I read them as I did (5,1,3,4,2). 5 gives you an overview of all the characters, while the others focus on Rowan (1), Etty (3), Rook (4), and Lionel (2). The side panel will tell you most of the basic plot, but this is one of the few stories I've ever read where that's all right. It's not really about the "what" but the "how".

Yes, it is a very short read and very, very descriptive about the woods in which it takes place. I think the shortness is a boon in this case because of the sometimes overly descriptive nature of the story. However, this is a story that needs heavy description because it's largely a young man's journey to find his courage. He's spent several years running literally and figuratively from his abusive father, who would like nothing more than to kill him for refusing to learn a warrior's way. For himself, Lionel would simply keep on running, but for his friend, he will learn to stand as a man.

The Rowan Hood series consists of five books which pertain to the five members of a young outlaw gang. These are brave, spunky Rowan, the daughter of the legendary Robin Hood, Lionel, an overgrown cowardly minstrel, Rook the wild boy, and Ettarde, a runaway princess. Also with them is Tykell, a wolf-dog hybrid that can catch arrows out of the air. Each books centers on one of these characters, and "Lionclaw" is Lionel's story.

The son of a very disappointed father, Lionel is as tall as a giant and with "feet the size of pony heads." However, despite his size, he has a timid, courtly disposition and would much rather spent his time playing his harp. His gifts as a musician have been known to draw the aelfe from the forests, but such a talent hardly impresses his sadistic father Sir Rogerick Lionclaw.

Lionel's cowardice in combat stems from his fear that he'll injure his fingers (and therefore be unable to play his harp), but when his father comes to Sherwood with a bounty on his son's head, Lionel feels that he's putting his companions at risk. He flees, only to find that they are all in danger from the thuggish Guy of Gisborn, a bounty hunter who wears a horse-head visor and has a score to settle with the young outlaws.

This is a very slender book, and voracious readers could finish it in one sitting. As such characterization is still rather slim in regards to the other members of the gang, though I'm sure that following books Outlaw Princess of Sherwood and Wild Boy will give them some much-deserved attention. Lionel himself fluctuates between annoying and endearing, Robin and his outlaws are periphery characters, and there's still no sign of Marian.

The descriptions of Sherwood Forest are atmospheric and mysterious, with plenty of attention paid to the terrain, flora and fauna of the place, but I'm a little confused about the time period: Springer mentions a king, but deliberately withholds a name (perhaps to prevent the book from being dated). However, one of the ballads that Lionel sings is "Greensleeves", a song that did not exist until the reign of King Henry the Eighth. Likewise, everyone swears "by the Lady" though I'm not sure who that refers to: the Virgin Mary or a pagan goddess?

I guess the problem is that although it's a quick, entertaining read, there's no real meat to the story in regards to background, character and plot (for the second time in as many books, someone is captured by the bad guys). Younger readers will get the most out of the "Rowan Hood" series, especially those interested in the Robin Hood mythos.

Sadly, this second book in the Rowan Hood series just isn't very good. I didn't find it overly exciting, or very well-written, either. It's exceptionally short, too, at only 122 pages, but that's probably a good thing: I know it's set in a forest, but if I had to read one more paragraph of 'filler' material describing every leaf and aspect of the forest in painstakingly fine detail I was going to scream. Yes, this book is set in a forest, I get that, but there's no need to constantly rub my face in it! Enough already! More time should have been spent on developing characters, action, plot and dialogue, and less on pointless, cumbersome background descriptions.

What really bugged me most of all, though, was this author's love of using the word 'scud'. She constantly talked about the scudding clouds. And it wasn't just the clouds scudding, either...on one page she also wrote both 'the moon scudding amid clouds' and 'scudding moonlit sky'. Now, my dictionary defines 'scud' as "to move along fast and smoothly". Personally, I've never seen either the moon or the moonlit sky moving along fast and smoothly, have you? Perhaps this writer needs to learn what words mean before she uses them so frequently!

This is a passable book, but nothing special. The young-uns'll probably like it, if they're not too demanding. I suppose if you've already read the first in the series and enjoyed it, you might want to keep going, to see how the story pans out. But I doubt this episode of the saga will rock your world.

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