Hood
Stephen Lawhead
WestBow, Sept 2006, $24.99, 512 pp.
ISBN 1595540857

Bran ap Brychan is the heir to the Kingdom of Elfael but he is more interested in women and drink than learning to understand his people and the land. He is nowhere to be found when his father and his war-band leaves for London to pledge fealty to King William II. On the road, the Welsh run into the troops of Count Falkes de Braose, whose Uncle was given the grant of Elfael as a reward for hiw work for the crown. A fight breaks out and the Braose contingent traps and slaughters the Cymry (what the Welsh call themselves).

When the lone survivor returns to Elfael and gives Bran the news of what happened, he, the survivor Iwan and a priest travel to London to demand justice. They are told they can have Elfael back for six hundred marks. He tries to raise the sum but the money is in the count’s hands. While trying to escape capture by de Braose, Bran is severely wounded and taken into a cave by Anghared,, a healer, bard and perhaps something more. In her care he heals and realizes he has a duty to his people and he becomes the leader of the group of people living deep in the forest. He wages a guerilla war against his enemies using superstition and stealth to take food, animals and money to help his people. Thus the legend of Robin Hood is born.

This is a very different type of Robin Hood than the heroic Errol Flynn portrayal. It is a coming of age tale of a spoiled and selfish young man who goes through many trials and tribulations to become the person his kingdom needs. Taking place in the woods in Wales (instead of Sherwood Forest) during the reign of King William II instead of Prince John, readers are introduced to a new mythos regarding the legend. Stephen Lawhead has written a fabulous historical tale that adds even more mystique to the robin hood myth.

Harriet Klausner