Shadow of the Wolf

Book Title: Shadow of the Wolf

Author: Tim Hall

Series: Shadow of the Wolf #1

Date Started: July 2nd 2014

Date Completed: July 5th 2014

Genres: Adventure, Fantasy, Romance, Historical

Rating: Three stars

Review:

As a huge fan of the original Robin Hood story, I was excited to have finally found a new retelling with a bit of a twist. Though retellings are never as good as the story they're based on, some can be really entertaining and change the plot in really interesting ways. Shadow of the Wolf did that here, and I think it's a good read for fans of the original tale, though it does have its issues.

Robin Loxley was left in the forest when he was a child. With no warning whatsoever, he returns to find his family have abandoned him to live in a village of people who despise him. So one day he leaves, and he finds himself living deep in the forest with a miraculous girl who teaches him to read and makes constellations out of the stars. But when Marian is taken from him, Robin must find a way to train himself and find a way back to her. Whatever it takes.

Hall's writing is of a high quality. He has a wonderfully vivid writing style and a way of presenting characters in a subtle, mysterious way. I specifically enjoyed the parts where the characters themselves aren't entirely aware of what was happening around them, since this came through well in the narrative despite the third person perspective.

I liked the story well enough. It wasn't as predictable as I'd expected, which was a nice surprise. Furthermore, I loved the historical setting and the brief nods to the culture. I did, however, wish there had been more involvement of the medieval life, and I also want a lot more of the fantasy aspect throughout the whole thing, rather than the hundred pages in the middle. I felt this fantastical element was really well done, but seemed to completely vanish after its time in the spotlight: it seemed to have no lasting affect on Robin, and it was never mentioned again.

This was a big issue throughout the whole book, actually. I felt there were a lot of details that were never really explained properly or revisited after they were first mentioned, just because the plot moved on far too quickly. This also tied into the fact that, while reading, I knew parts I was going through were going to be important at some point, but it really didn't feel it at the time because nothing was built-up enough to be exciting and fully engaging during the actual reading. Looking back, I can think of some really good scenes. But I know that if I was to go back and read them, I'd fall into the dull half-paying-attention phase because it just wasn't catching me.

There are an awful lot of secondary characters in this book, and I found it really hard to tell them apart, let alone understand their motives, as none of them were given enough time to be explored or have any development.

Robin was a bit underwhelming as a protagonist. He didn't strike me as a particularly exceptional person, and the only driving feature that made him stand out was his shadiness, and utter devotion to a character I didn't really feel he had any chemistry to.

Marian herself, while being an awesome concept, was not a nice character. And while I'm completely for bad people as characters, Marian was horrible to the point where Robin should have left her a long time ago. This was disappointing, since she probably has the most development throughout the plot, and is likely the strongest character.

The pacing still confuses me. Whilst I couldn't put this book down, and ended up reading the whole thing in three or four chunks, the story could be really boring at times. The pace itself is extremely fast moving: we experience about seven or eight years in the book, and most of this is concentrated into the first half of the book. The only problem with such a quickly moving story is that no tension was really built up anywhere. There was very little time for situations to become more atmospheric and scary, as they were over very quickly. And each part of the story happened fast, and then we jumped on quite a bit. I'm not a fan of slow books, but when it goes so fast so much is lost, it's a problem.

Though this wasn't the best structured book I've ever read, I still did enjoy it and it's got some potential. Fans of the story will enjoy the new interpretations I think, and even readers who aren't familiar with the tale will find this interesting. if you like fantasy, adventure, romance and historical aspects, though not the most accurate or explorative book out there, Shadow of the Wolf could still become a favourite.

Image Source: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17232913-shadow-of-the-wolf