Warning: There is a spoiler in this review, but not the final solution!
The seventh book in P. C. Doherty’s Hugh Corbett series is
based on the legend of Robin Hood. I
thought Robin Hood took place during the reign of King Richard I and King John,
at least 100 years before Edward I, but after a quick check on the internet, I
realize his myth spans more than one century.
That is probably one reason his legend survives to this day. When I began reading The Assassin in the Greenwood, I was disappointed at first to find
that Doherty had based a story on a fictional character. Although the story is fiction, Robin Hood is
iconic. It would be like Merlin the
magician showing up in a Corbett novel.
Spoiler:
But Doherty doesn’t disappoint his readers. The legendary figure, reportedly in his
mid-fifties at this time, never actually appears in the story and Doherty even
manages to work in a possible ending for Robin Hood.
Edward I sends Corbett to Greenwood to try to bring the
outlaw Robin Hood to justice. Alive, if
possible, but if not, that’s okay.
Reluctantly leaving his wife Maeve and their baby daughter, Corbett, his
manservant Ranulf and his messenger Maltote they go off to the castle in
Nottingham to help the locals in their search for the outlaw. The woods are very thick and any force going
into the forest are quickly ambushed with deadly results.
Corbett and others have realized that there has been a
change in Robin Hood. For a while he was
keeping to his mantra of robbing the rich, and giving to the poor. But recently, he has become far more deadly
and even peasants are beginning to fear him.
Doherty hasn’t ever shied away from gore, but this novel
seems to have more than previous stories and lots of deaths, emphasizing the
brutal nature of the outlaw and his band of rogues.
As always, though, Doherty gives us a surprise twist at the
end, and does not disappoint his readers.
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