A New Lyric In The Ballad Of Robin Hood – Lord of the Forest by Kay Berrisford

Never archer there as he so good
And people called him Robin Hood
Such outlaws as him and his men
Will England never see again – Thomas Gale, Dean of York

Robin Hood and his band of Merry Men rob from the rich and give to the poor; or so the legend goes, of the man who lives as the outlaw of Sherwood Forest, whose sworn enemy is the Sheriff of Nottingham, and whose life is about to become all manner of complicated when his band of fellow outlaws each goes his own way, leaving Robin alone, a man with a purpose but with no one left to aid him in the serving of it.

Kay Berrisford’s Lord of the Forest is a re-imagining of the larger-than-life mythology of one of England’s most notorious heroes…or villains, depending upon which side of his brand of justice one stood on. She’s given more than a few great twists to the tale, introducing plenty of intrigue, as well as fairy tale magic, and has managed to turn the legend of Robin Hood into a lovely romance between a lonely man and the young spy who is a traitor to his birthright and whose life is complicated beyond measure.

Robin and the Sheriff are still the bitterest of adversaries, but their relationship is so much more than the Sheriff simply wanting to capture Robin and bring him to justice. No, the Sheriff wants to possess Robin, body and soul, before he sees that the man pays for his crimes, and it is an obsession that Cal—the forester, the whore, the spy—must decide upon which side he stands before he can decide which man he will betray.

The living forest of Greenwood plays its own unique role in the romance between Robin and Cal, building upon the sensuality and the mysticism woven into the story, and reinforcing a bond that was forged by each of their births, as children of the woodland.

There is danger and treachery and even a little bit of heartbreak before an ending that effectively resolved the demands of the Greenwood that the protector bloodline must endure. It is an alchemy that only the Fae could perpetuate; it challenges the imagination, and it also left me wondering if (read: hoping) the author might consider a sequel to the adventure.

You can buy Lord of the Forest here: