Review: Outlaw by Agnus Donald

Title: Outlaw
Author: Agnus Donald
Genre: Historical Fiction
Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin
Published: 2011
Pages: 352

Rating: 5 out of 10

Outlaw tells the familiar story of Robin Hood in a new light. In 12th Century England, Robin is revered as a sort of rogue king by the people of the land. After a young man named Alan is caught stealing, he is taken in by the band of outlaws and begins training as a swordsman.

In this book, Robin Hood is not a merry adventurer, and even the basic premise of stealing from the rich and giving to the poor is mostly taken out. Instead, Robin is truly like a king, not in the sense of majesty and glorification, but in the sense that with his power comes much responsibility and decisions to which, many times, there are no right answers. The men constantly trying to capture him could be viewed as enemies perpetually trying to steal his "throne." Even though the details are never explicitly spelled out, it appears that Robin offers to protect villages in exchange for taxation rights. Those who disobey his laws are punished severely. We don't see that much of the inner-workings of Robin's "reign," so I am not sure how successful it is proving. But in one memorable scene, Robin and his men come upon a smoldering village that has been raided and burnt down. A woman tells him spitefully that he promised to protect them.

I didn't dislike this book, or particularly like it either. I got through it quickly and easily, and the pacing was quick, with a lot of action. Though I was never bored, I always felt a sort of distance from the story.

First of all, I didn't really like the main character Alan. He is the typical warrior-in-training: over eager for battle and glory, falls in love for the first time, shows talent of course, attracts the eye of Robin Hood for his skills, and thus thinks himself quite important and goes around for the rest of the book acting like a noble (but not battle hardened) man.
In many situations, he takes drastic measures with ordinary problems. When he needs money, he steals an enormous ruby from a man who is hospitably letting him stay in his home. When he considers paying a prostitute to help him lose his virginity, he actually does so right away, and then a second time again. When a boy taunts and annoys him, Alan intentionally tries to get him killed by accusing him of betraying his father.
I thought that he took things quite far, and was surprised at the end to see none of this come back with any consequences.

*Spoilers, you can skip the rest of this paragraph* The boy who taunted him, Guy, was a bully and not a likable character, but so what? He wasn't that bad, and Alan should have just shrugged and moved on. Instead, he falsely accuses the boy of serious crime and plants evidence to back up his claim. Later, when they meet up again, he volunteers to duel the boy in front of Robin's band. I expected him to defeat the bully, but to show mercy and not actually kill him. So much for that - not only does Alan kill him, he whispers into the dying boy's ear that he was the one who planted false evidence on him, and to take that knowledge to Hell.
Gosh! Were a few taunts about Alan not being manly really worthy of all that? I was pretty surprised, and kept wondering if there was some hideously evil side to the bully that I had missed.

Another thing that I thought was very much missing from the story was a detailing of how Robin's band and rule actually worked. We see people paying him taxes in a scene at the beginning, and we see him doling out punishment. We see him fighting a lot of battles. But these are only the thinnest shades of the establishment and keeping of a kingdom, even such a small one.

For a few chapters, Alan is sent to court as a spy, and there he meets Queen Eleanor of Aquitaine, who is depicted as prickly and strict, but fair. I was surprised that she appears to know all about Lady Marie-Anne (Donald's Maid Marian) being engaged to Robin. And Marie-Anne is one of her ladies in waiting. Eleanor even seems to know that recently, Marie-Anne went to see Robin. If he is such an enemy of the official rulers of England, why would the Queen not appear to care about this?

There were some other minor things that I disliked, one of them being the flashback style this book tried. I couldn't see any point to it. Alan, as an old man, is reminiscing about his time as a young outlaw. But there were only a handful of scenes in which it switches to him as a grandfather, literally about three. In one of them, he is frantically trying to save the life of his grandson. The change was jarringly sudden, coming right at the beginning of a new chapter and talking about "my grandson." With no indication that the time has changed, I was confused for a second. We don't know his grandson, and it certainly has nothing to do with the plot, so why do we need to know about how high his fever is?
Alan also speaks in French one time to a music tutor. As a lowly peasant, he wouldn't have known French unless he perhaps originally lived there. He refers to Tuck as "Friar Tuck" most of the time, except for randomly calling him the French "frère" only once. What...
And then, I disliked the romance/sex immensely. Alan "falls in love" with Robin's betrothed, Lady Marie-Anne, even though we never see them interact or speak to each other. It seemed so silly to me. And the entire thing with Kat, the town whore who Alan sleeps with twice, annoyed me.
A pagan ritual in the middle seemed not to mesh with the rest of the story, since even though it was vividly described, was never mentioned again. Paganism had nothing to do with the book anywhere except for in those paragraphs, though the book does focus a lot of attention on Robin's religious views, which are far from Christian.

I understand what the author wanted to do here - write a grittier, more realistic Robin Hood tale without glorification. I got a sense of that from the story, but I don't feel that Donald fleshed out his idea to the true promise it had, and it was a very good idea.

The ending didn't leave me with that satisfied sense of conclusion, and rather than tie things up in a good finish, it leaves things open for the sequel. But it wasn't a cliffhanger ending, thankfully, or else this book would have been knocked down a star.

An average book, but based on the writing, general premise, and steady action I would say that the sequel has potential to be better.

Review: Mistress of the Art of Death by Ariana Franklin

Title: Mistress of the Art of Death
Author: Ariana Franklin
Genre: Historical Mystery
Publisher: Berkley
Published: 2008
Pages: 420

Rating: 7 out of 10

I chose this book as one of my three Halloween Reads of 2012, which was a wonderful excuse to read it, since I have been hearing good things about it for quite some time.

Mistress of the Art of Death is the first in a mystery series of the same name about the equivalent of a forensic pathologist in 1170 England. Adelia examines the dead, who metaphorically "speak to her" as she tries to ascertain how they died. Her talents are called upon when children start disappearing in Cambridge, only to reappear - dead. The Jews are being largely blamed, and chaos threatens to strike as the townsfolk begin to riot against them. Adelia, upon reaching Cambridge, immediately begins her investigation, but finds herself growing more horrified the closer she gets to solving the mystery and finding the killer.

I loved every bit of this book, and I am greatly anticipating the others in the series.

I was very worried, after reading the inside cover, that Adelia would be cast as the typical, and grossly historically inaccurate, modern feminist heroine. After all, I have never come across forensics in historical fiction, much less in the middle ages. That alone would have been a unique aspect to this book, but we also have a woman doctor practicing this rare form of medicine. In other words, unheard of.
However, Franklin's heroine is refreshingly realistic. She is more akin to a stubborn, grumpy old man than a hands-on-hips, sword-waving girl.
I was very relieved, and even more pleased to find that I loved Adelia. She is solemn and speaks factually and to-the-point, which most men find unsettling. She tends to approach things from a medical standpoint, so when she is faced with the prospect of romance, she can't seem to get her head around the fact that the human body can be looked upon in ways other than for healing - which I found to be funny. Adelia is a very world-weary, knowledgeable woman, and I found it charming that she is also so innocent about things that most women would have experienced by her age.

The other supporting characters are equally well written. I loved Adelia's companions, Simon and Mansur. Adelia's love interest, Rowley Picot, was also a character I loved. He is a great example of a hero that female readers just might fall in love with. I loved the first paragraph when the reader learns that he is attracted to Adelia, even though she isn't his "type."

I know that the comparisons to Law & Order: SVU will be common, due to the medical examiner plot, but I can't resist acknowledging it here. I expected that I would picture Adelia as Olivia, but I didn't. They are very different characters. However, I couldn't help but picture Simon as Elliot Stabler (the relationship between Simon and Adelia is very similar to Elliot and Olivia's) and Mansur as Finn.

The overall feeling of this book was eerie, chilly, and foreboding, making it a perfect pick for Halloween. While I wouldn't exactly call it Gothic, there were definitely quite a few scenes that would qualify.
The mystery itself was a gruesome one, and Franklin isn't in the least bit afraid to include horrible details and plot elements to her story, with quite a bit of mature content. There are some heavy themes here, to be sure, and this is no light read.
The conclusion of the mystery was satisfying, even though I did wish that there had been more of a surprising twist. I didn't guess who the murderer was (and unless it's by chance, you probably won't either, since it isn't written that way), but I did guess that Ulf (a young boy who Adelia befriends) would be come involved. That was pretty obvious from the very first time Adelia speaks to the boy.

Amidst the terrible details of the children's torture and deaths, and the dark atmosphere to this book, there were also some dashes of clever humor in the story. I like when an author includes a few light scenes in a story, without trying too hard to be comical. Franklin does this pitch perfectly.

I loved this book, and will be reading more of both this series and of Ariana Franklin. Recommended!