Tuck

Tuck, by Stephen R. Lawhead

This is book #3 in the King Raven Trilogy.  My reviews of the first two books- Hood, and Scarlet- can be found by clicking on their names.  If you couldn't tell from the names "Hood, Scarlet, and Tuck" all put together, this is a retelling of the Robin Hood story.

The story of Robin Hood as we know it takes place in England near Nottingham around the time King Richard the Lionhearted was ruling.  But Sherwood Forest would have been a reconstituted forest at that time, not as hauntingly spooky or easy to hide in as a true virgin forest.  So, the author sets the story in Wales during the time of King William the Red, and gives all the characters more-or-less the same names, but with the Welsh, Saxon, or Norman spellings and pronunciation, depending on where they are from.  Thus, Robin Hood becomes Rhi Bran y Hud (King Raven the Enchanter), Will Scarlet becomes Will 'Scarlet' Scatlocke, and Friar Tuck becomes Friar Aethelfrith, a Saxon name so complicated that the Welsh (who call themselves Cymry) had to come up with a suitable nickname for him (they chose Tuck).  Yes, the name changes seem complicated, but if you read it as if you've never heard the Robin Hood story before, then it will make perfect sense.

In the first book, we learn about Bran's rise from a wayward prince to a warrior king in exile.  In book two, Will Scarlet is in prison, gets rescued through a daring plot by King Bran, and then they all go shoot some Freinc soldiers with arrows and declare war, despite their "army" consisting of 6 good archers.  In this third book, Bran's army has grown a little, but not by much.  Despite that, through hard work and careful planning, they are able to diminish the enemy's numbers by more than half.  Bran journeys north to ask a neighboring Welsh kingdom for help, but discovers their king has been taken captive.  A good third of the book takes place in the north, with Bran and Tuck adventuring with new friends and warriors they (and we the readers) aren't accustomed to being around.  The strategic plan Bran cooks up for accomplishing their goals is simply ingenious, not only on his part but on the part of the author.  The other plan, the one I mentioned in my review of Scarlet, is brilliant for its chemistry, but this one just made me laugh at the audacity- yet the genius- of it.  If I had a mind like this author, I would have finished writing my own books by now.

After a sad disappointment, Bran returns home to find that, more or less, everything has gone to pot in his absence.  But they press on and shoot a few more bad guys, which lands the whole army of William the Red at their doorsteps (not a spoiler- it says that on the back of the book).  By this point in the story, enough plot has been set up that I can see where things might lead, so that by the last third of the book, most new developments had me saying, "YES!  I knew that would happen!"  But, it was not necessarily a predictable plot, it was simply that I got invested in the characters, which led to my fervent hope for something and then at certain points the author decided to relent and give me what I hoped for.  There were quite a few places where things happened that I would not have hoped for, or did not expect, so it was not just a boring ending.  In fact, it was quite an exciting ending, not unlike a Tolkien tale I've heard once or twice.

One thing I found interesting was the Author's Note which ended each book.  The note at the end of Tuck cited the true historical accounts in which archers seemed to decimate an entire army, as a way to explain why some readers may find Rhi Bran's success with his archers (6 against 40) somewhat improbable as a plot line.  By historical accounts and with the military technology of the times, a war could be decided by the number of archers on each side, and all other things being equal, by how many of the archers were Welsh.  I particularly liked that tidbit of information, mostly because of my interest in strategy and military tactics in the context of a novel (it is hard to find a good story about war these days).

I recommend this book series to anyone who likes the story of Robin Hood, strong "heroic" type characters, medieval fiction, stories of ancient Great Britain, stories of "freedom fighters," brilliant and intricate plots, and archery.  Lots and lots of archery.

EDIT:  I've just browsed some other people's reviews, and I have to emphatically disagree with the one who claims Mr. Lawhead has good ideas but is not a skilled writer.  He is quite skilled at depicting various accents and dialects, and despite the presence of 4 languages in 11th century Wales, it is not confusing to follow who is talking or why they are talking like that, not even when Alan a'Dale lapses in and out of multiple dialects.  Additionally, for most of Scarlet, the book moves flawlessly in and out of Will's first person account, and a few third-person accounts that are needed in order to keep the plot up-to-date.