Scarlet

[flip]

It was more than a little bit awesome. It was majorly awesome. So awesome in fact...it busted the old awesome meter and I had to replace it with a new high-tech awesome meter which still got maxed out! Anyway, enough blab on my part.

I loved Hood, and I loved Scarlet. I didn't love one more than the other...but I must say...I really like where Mr. Lawhead went with the second book.

[gracebridges]

Here is the review I will be posting for the CSFF tour in a couple of weeks:

For a lifelong fan of Stephen Lawhead’s poetic and moving tales, every new book is a feast for the heart. Last year I read “Hood”, a necessarily brutal introduction to the rough world of the Brits and Normans of a thousand years ago. If that first volume in the King Raven trilogy was a little hard to get into, then it served to lay superb groundwork for this second one. Readers moving from the first book to the second will already know that the hero we have known as Robin is in fact Rhi Bran y Hud, and that our adventures do not take place in Nottingham, but rather in the March Forests of Wales in the times when the Normans began to overrun Britain and impose their cruelly weighted laws upon the Cymry. With this in mind, “Scarlet” grows beyond fantasy and becomes a living, breathing possibility of history.

The journey begins with Will Scarlet in a dark, damp cell awaiting the noose. He tells Odo the priest the entire tale of how he came to join the forest community, and the daring adventures accomplished in the company of his canny lord. Raids on forest roads embarrass the hard-nosed Franks again and again, rousing their ire and inspiring the band of rebels to ever riskier feats of bare-faced cheek, until Will is captured one unlucky night. But this is not the end of the story. I do confess that I began reading and soon after flipped through the back pages to see if Will escaped the impending execution; however, this information was not to be had in that part, and I was forced to find out in the usual way as events unfolded that did not disappoint in the slightest.

One of the most astonishing things about this book is the masterful style of writing. Now, we all know that Lawhead has always given us the very best of prose and adventure. Long have I modelled my own writing inspired by his example. But here, he has raised the standard by several rungs – most visibly in the changing viewpoints within the story. Aspiring writers are invariably told not to attempt this – let alone switch between first and third person narrative – because it’s almost impossible to pull it off without disturbing the natural flow of storytelling. But master that he is, Lawhead has accomplished it with flair. Only the most skilled of authors may break such rules and succeed at it, turning an apparent transgression of style into a many-faceted shine for the tale – thus dragging the reader happily helpless into the rush and flow of what would no doubt be called swashbuckling if this was a pirate tale. I guess young Rhi Bran is a pirate of the road, so the comparison may stand.

“Scarlet” owns at once the familiarity of the traditional Robin Hood legends and a truer realism of earth and blood and honest-hewn humanity. Rather than the sanitised Robin and the Merry Men known to most of us, Lawhead has instigated a new tradition likely far closer to the truth of those turbulent times. A desperate folk having lost their livelihood and a desperate king denied his rightful throne are more than motivated to irk the strangers who cast them from hearth and home. The end of this book is not the end of the tale – there is another tome to come – but within these pages reside political intrigues, spiritual epiphanies, and tear-jerking romances to shake the world and change it almost beyond recognising by the time you turn the last page. This will be a joy to fans old and new, bringing back memories and hints of the world of Taliesin and Merlin, now long resting in the past. A hard journey taken with humour and zest, twisting into heart-warming surprises – a banquet for the soul, with the hope of more to come.

[Tegid]

Thank you for this review, Grace!

All, please come back to this post on or after Nov 26 and follow > this link < to take the Christian Science Fiction & Fantasy Blog Tour as the participants (including our [green]karenee[/green]) give their reviews of Scarlet.

And take a few minutes to post your own review here!

[flip]

I e-mailed Mr. Lawhead right before Christmas and I was delighted to find he wrote back to me. I told him that the King Raven series is my favorite so far...which it is, even though I love the Pendragon Series...to which he responded that he is almost half-way done with Tuck! ;D ;D ;D

Sweetness.

[DanTheMan]

Well, maybe I'll have time to read reread Scarlet. But I have a stack of new books to read before that.

[reguba]

I thought Scarlet was his best work ever, except maybe the Song of Albion Series. I got introduced to Stephen Lawhead to my friend Jeb (who's like 20 years older than me, I'm 15, 16 this month ) about a month ago and as such I've been reading nonstop and have read just about all his books other than the Celtic Crusades and the latter half of the Pendragon Cycle, and have yet to finish the latest Brian Jacques book, much to my dad's chagrine because he had to cut into his wallet for it.

[horse1970]

Just finished Scarlet and im desperate to now read Tuck cant believe its a year away....what am i going to do...i will have to re-read the two books again....Awesome trilogy.....would be so good as a movie

[reguba]

Are you kidding? ALL his books should be movies...except maybe Patrick and Celtic Crusades. I especially hope they make Dragon King Trilogy movies.

[Dred]

Why don't you think Celtic Crusades should be made into a movie(s)?

I would love to see his take on Hood made into movie(s).

[reguba]

Lol, a little too violent, if truthful.

[Dred]

Ahhhh. I see what you mean. I guess that is true that those books were violent, truthful like you said but violent.

[flip]

I would hope, however, if a Robin Hood trilogy was made based on SRL's work that they would make them long enough to do them justice...of course...that could be very long....oh well, just more time enjoying them!

[Tegid]

The US paperback edition of Scarlet is now available.

A downloadable mp3 edition is also available.

Click > here < for links to more information.

[whitetrash]

once again i was not let down i only have read this series of his and will read more but dont know where to start

[Treskillard]

SONG of ALBION <-- Say it ten times with your eyes closed, then go to Amazon or your local bookstore. Don't even bother with a library as you'll want your own copies.

My opinion!