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Scarlet The King Raven Trilogy Book 2 Steve Lawhead 9781595540867 Books

Download As PDF : Scarlet The King Raven Trilogy Book 2 Steve Lawhead 9781595540867 Books

Scarlet The King Raven Trilogy Book 2 Steve Lawhead 9781595540867 Books

before I started this book, I was planning on abandoning the King Raven series altogether. Hood, the first book, was dark and a bit too gritty for my taste. the character of Will Scarlet, narrator for the majority of this book, is just what the story needed. after reading Tuck, the last novel, I've finally decided that I dislike the King raven books, with the exception of this one. while Hood and Tuck had no defined narrator, the story circulated around the political aspect of everything and Rhi Bran (Lawhead's version of Robin Hood) appeared something of a forbidding figure, cruel and entirely lacking any of the lighthearted wit of the conventional Robin Hood. I was all for a new take on an old legend, but King Raven was going a little too far for my taste. in Scarlet, however, the character narrative allows the reader to see a different side of Rhi Bran, showing him as he was to his followers-a good and caring leader, true to his own. that, paired with the innate charm of Scarlet himself that is a small reminder of the more well-known Hood retellings, places this book as one of my favorites. if only the rest of the series had been written like this.


Tags : Scarlet (The King Raven Trilogy, Book 2) [Steve Lawhead] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. With the Normans threatening to overrun Wales, forester Will Scarlet is being sentenced to die for a crime he didn't commit unless he betrays King Raven and his followers,Steve Lawhead,Scarlet (The King Raven Trilogy, Book 2),Thomas Nelson Inc,1595540865,Fantasy - General,Great Britain;History;Norman period, 1066-1154;Fiction.,Robin Hood (Legendary character);Fiction.,Wales;History;1063-1284;Fiction.,(Legendary character),AMERICAN SCIENCE FICTION AND FANTASY,FICTION Fantasy General,Fantasy,Fantasy - Historical,Fiction,Fiction - Fantasy,Fiction-Fantasy,GENERAL,General Adult,Great Britain,History,Norman period, 1066-1154,Robin Hood,Robin Hood (Legendary character),Serials, any number,United States

Scarlet The King Raven Trilogy Book 2 Steve Lawhead 9781595540867 Books Reviews

The King Raven series has been my introduction to author Stephen Lawhead, and as much as I enjoyed Hood, Scarlet is that much better. Written almost entirely in first person from the viewpoint of William Scatlocke, whom Bran dubs Will Scarlet, it takes the reader even deeper into the band of outlaws leading the resistance against the Norman invaders. Will, who has been captured and awaits hanging, is dictating his "confession" to Brother Odo, a Norman priest. Sheriff Robert de Glanville (Lawhead's equivalent of the Sheriff of Nottingham) and Abbot Hugo hope that Will will turn against Bran and the Grellon in exchange for mercy, but Will's loyalty, like all Bran's followers, is non-negotiable.

One thing I've enjoyed so far is seeing Bran grow from the selfish headstrong young man he was at the beginning of Hood to the strong leader his people need. He is still far from perfect, often acting out in anger over some Norman injustice, but he has matured enough that he can see his mistakes, admit to them and try to make amends. One thing missing in this book, obvious since it written from Will's perspective, is more of what is happening with Bran. I missed that, but even through Will's eyes we see him mature.

This book has considerably more intrigue and surprises than the first and, at least for me, was even harder to put down. Like Hood, Scarlet is free of profanity, gratuitous violence and sex, making it a great read for the whole family. [WARNING There is some violence, including a hanging.] There is also a hint of romance, but this is the one aspect of Lawhead's writing that, in my opinion, is lacking. It could have been a fabulous story if there had been a bit more about Bran and Merian, but...alas, it isn't there. The ending is a cliffhanger and makes me glad that I discovered these books after they were all available.
This second book in the trilogy initially confused me. It was wrote in the voice of Will Scarlet while the first was more from the point of view of Bran with occasional POV from other characters. This one is primarily Will's POV but it goes back and forth between Will's story set in the past and what other characters are going through set in the present. While I struggled with this initially, I quickly caught on and actually started to appreciate it. It kept the reading fresh and interesting. And it also set the first novel apart from this one. Most series start to all run in together for me especially after some time has passed. I usually have a problem remembering when one book ended and the next started. Some worse than others. But this one, with the change in POVs, really set each book off from the previous or next. So far, I am loving this series and although I've always loved the story of Robin Hood, I really love the story of Rhi Bran y Hud!
I have both audio and ebook versions of this book. I bought the audio for the whole trilogy because it was cheaper than paper or ebooks. I bought the ebooks after almost descending into tears at the terrible audio rendition. If you are thinking of buying Adam Verner's narrated copy - don't

More on that below, but first the book itself (as this review will show up in all versions of the book on )

I loved the idea behind this book, and Lawhead is an accomplished writer. The things he does really well, in my opinion are (1) writing engrossing and very exciting battle and fight scenes (2) building up some wonderful tensions where people are treated unjustly and harshly, that make the books compelling. His characterisations are also competent. This book is worth reading.

Lawhead often has diversions using material from Celtic legends and mythology, and this book is no exception. Some people find that slopws things down a bit, but personally I think it adds to the richness of his settings.

Will Scarlet is in prison at the start of this story, and narrates the tale of how he got there to his confessor, a priest called Odo. We learn how he fell in with Bran ap Brychan, and a tale of political intrigue unfolds that makes this far more than a "robs from the rich, gives to the poor" tale (although we have that too).

I thoroughly recommend the book, but I give it four not five stars because it maybe lingers a little overlong in places. Also, as a Welsh speaker, I had a number of issues with Lawhead's research, particularly of the Welsh language. If you don't care about such things, skip my next two paragraphs!

Robin Hood, we are told, is in fact Rhi Bran y Hud. This is apparently 'King Raven, the Wizard'. Except it is not. Rhi is probably an old word for king, found in names such as Rhodri, but Welsh grammar is different from English, and King Raven would have to be 'Bran-rhi' (or 'Bran-ri' but I won't complicate things with the mutation rules). Rhi Bran, if we grant 'Rhi' as a noun for 'King' would mean 'King of Ravens'.

'Hud' means 'magic' or 'enchantment'. But that is not so bad. 'James y Bara' ('James the bread') would be 'James the baker', so 'Bran the Magic' could be 'Bran the sorceror'. Sadly though, he says 'hudolion' is 'sorceress', when in fact it is the plural - it means enchanters. A female enchanter would be 'hudoles'. He also ignores his own pronounciation guide in the book by suggesting 'hud' rhymes with 'hood'. In fact it is more like 'heed' or 'hid'. Worst of all, in two places he calls the Welsh language 'Gaelic'. Gaelic is the related but very different Celtic language of Ireland (and Scotland, as brought there by the Irish Scotii). Welsh is "Cymraeg" (he could have called it "cumric" if he liked).

All in all I got the distinct impression his knowledge of Welsh ended with a reading of a dictionary.

Sad as that might be for Welsh speakers, it does not really hurt the story, and is not a reason not to read the book. Thus I recommend it and hope you enjoy it.

But as I said above, don't get the audio version. The reader is an American affecting a British accent (badly - he often slips into some kind of southern drawl, and for a long time I thought he was aiming for Irish!) He reads competently, but manages to mispronounce every single Welsh word without exception. This is unbelievably sloppy for a book set in Wales - especially as it even contains a pronounciation guide. Though far from perfect, this was clearly completely ignored by Adam Verner.

I read an interview with an audiobook narrator online and he said that his company had a research department that worked out all the pronounciations before a narrator began reading. Not so Oasis Audio. there was clearly not a second spent on researching pronounciations.

It is not just the Welsh words either. English words - especially place names - get the same treatment. The Wye valley becomes "wee", Leicester becomes "lie-chester", Warwick becomes "war-wick", Hereford becomes "hair-ford". Even simple words like "Briton" mangle the stress.

And then there is voice differentiation. Listening to the wonderful narrations of Stephen Fry or Tim Curry and others, you hear all kinds of wonderful accents and voice differentiation that make the books a pleasure to hear. Adam Verner's voices range from "shrill" to "scooby doo". I am not sure why so many American narrators feel that some characters should just sound stupid! The only variations in accent are those that sound like cowboys.

Adam Verner has a pleasant voice and reads well enough but he should not have attempted this work. Please please please do not buy this audio narration, it really spoils an otherwise enjoyable work.
before I started this book, I was planning on abandoning the King Raven series altogether. Hood, the first book, was dark and a bit too gritty for my taste. the character of Will Scarlet, narrator for the majority of this book, is just what the story needed. after reading Tuck, the last novel, I've finally decided that I dislike the King raven books, with the exception of this one. while Hood and Tuck had no defined narrator, the story circulated around the political aspect of everything and Rhi Bran (Lawhead's version of Robin Hood) appeared something of a forbidding figure, cruel and entirely lacking any of the lighthearted wit of the conventional Robin Hood. I was all for a new take on an old legend, but King Raven was going a little too far for my taste. in Scarlet, however, the character narrative allows the reader to see a different side of Rhi Bran, showing him as he was to his followers-a good and caring leader, true to his own. that, paired with the innate charm of Scarlet himself that is a small reminder of the more well-known Hood retellings, places this book as one of my favorites. if only the rest of the series had been written like this.