“Can you tell how the mood is from here? How the journey went?”
“I won’t know how it went until I see Father’s face,” she said. “And see if he smiles or frowns?”
“No. And see if his smile is glad or wicked.” Her father would be smiling in any case.
That right there? That's the line that sold me, I love that take on Robin Hood—between screen and print, all you can find lately is earnest, serious, Robin Hood as populist rebel with almost all the fun sucked out of it. Vaughn's Locksley contains those elements, sure—but he's also the outlaw in search of adventure, who enjoyed what he was doing. Always smiling--it's just a matter of what kind of smile he wore.
We rejoin the Earl after the signing of the Magna Carta (which he was instrumental in getting that rascal King John to sign). He's had to do the unthinkable—bowing the knee to John after Richard's death—in order to protect his lands, his friends, and his wife. With Marian's help to contain his impulses*, he's become a responsible member of the nobility, doting father, and law abiding citizen.
* To be fair, Marian misses the adventures, too. But she's not at that stage in her life anymore.
All that other stuff? Well, he's content to leave that to the bards and storytellers. So much so that his own children aren't sure how much to believe, "Everything about Father is stories."
At least, that's what his eldest daughter, Mary, says. But after she and her siblings are kidnapped, they'll all get a better idea just what their father is capable of.
That's all I'm going to say about that. This is very much a "pilot episode" of a novella. We meet the kids—Mary, John, and Eleanor—catch up with a couple of the Merry Men, see where Robin and Marian are in their lives and so on. Vaughn balances that with the kidnapping story.
The kidnapping is a quick and almost-too-neat story solely because of the space she has to tell it. If Vaughn hadn't had to establish so much in these 112 pages, you get the feeling that the kidnapping wouldn't have been resolved quite as neatly.
My sole complaint—and it's a big one—is that this is a novella, and not a collection of novellas/short stories. I just needed more of everything—the kids, Robin, Marian, the other members of Robin's band. This is a great introduction to this world and these characters, with a little bit of drama. But having been introduced, I want to read the next one. Or, the next five or so.
But no. Tor is making me wait until August for the second one. Which is simply unfair.
While my tongue is firmly in my cheek above, there is a kernel of truth to my gripe—I'm 97% sure that this thing has legs and that I'm in for several more (even if it's currently slated to be a duology, but I'm hoping that changes), but I'm going to have to wait to really commit until August when The Heirs of Locksley is scheduled to be released. But in the meantime? This was a quick and fun read, full of promise, and one I heartily recommend.
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