From Goodreads
No king. No rules.

England, 1191. King Richard is half a world away, fighting for God and his own ambition. Back home, his country languishes, bankrupt and on the verge of anarchy. People with power are running unchecked. People without are growing angry. And in Nottingham, one of the largest shires in England, the sheriff seems intent on doing nothing about it.

As the leaves turn gold in the Sherwood Forest, the lives of six people—Arable, a servant girl with a secret, Robin and William, soldiers running from their pasts, Marion, a noblewoman working for change, Guy of Gisbourne, Nottingham’s beleaguered guard captain, and Elena Gamwell, a brash, ambitious thief—become intertwined.

And a strange story begins to spread . . .

Both a gripping historical epic and fascinating deconstruction of the Robin Hood legend, Nathan Makaryk’s Nottingham mixes history and myth into a complex study of power—one that twists and turns far beyond the traditional tale of Sherwood Forest’s iconic thief.

ISBN: 9781760890285
Publisher: BANTAM AUSTRALIA LICENSED
Publication date: August 20th 2019
Pages: 496

Review
This is another take on the Robin Hood story, but unlike what we’ve seen in movies, where Robin Hood had his own band of merry men, who were happy to follow him, this book gives us a different interpretation of the story. In Nottingham we see Robin Hood is disliked by many people, especially those in his home town. His followers reluctantly followed him and they weren’t happy about it. The hatred they had for him seemed to revolve around the perceived way he treated his father who was highly thought of among his people having provided them with work and a way to live when they would have otherwise died. It’s never made clear what happened between father and son but the reader is left wondering if there was more to their relationship than Robin was letting on.

The writing style is easy to follow and really drew the reader in. I read this on Audible and the narration was very good. They used male narrators for the male parts and female narrators for the female parts. This book was easy to read even though it was detailed it didn’t feel too dense or overdone. It was an action packed story which kept the reader’s interest the whole way through. It also showed many of the women as very strong people which was a great addition to the story. This is the first of a series and I’m really looking forward to reading the next installment when it comes out in September this year.

Recommend for: Adults
Rating: 5 stars