Brightfall, by Jaime Lee Moyer

[mrissa]

Review copy provided by the author, who is a long-time friend.

I was obsessed with Arthurian legends in my early adolescence, as I think a lot of kids that age are and especially a lot of kids that age in that period were. I also read Robin McKinley's Outlaws of Sherwood, and somewhere along the line it occurred to me to wonder why there weren't more Robin Hood novels. On the surface there was a strong similarity with Arthurian stories: both British, both featuring nearly infinitely expandable bands of buddies and sidekicks and character actors, both romantic and action-packed. But the shelves were packed with the one, nearly empty of the other. Why?

One of the theories I formulated was that the Arthur story has a narrative arc, whereas the Robin Hood story's arc, when it has one, is a deus ex machina: King Richard returns and all is well through no particular action on the characters' part. It's not even ripe to be a picaresque because nobody really goes anywhere. It's full of episode without direction. In order to have an actual novel, I speculated, you'd have to add a lot to the basic Robin Hood story.

Brightfall is basically exhibit A for this theory. This is a Robin Hood novel, no mistake, but Jaime brought so much to the table. Witchcraft! The Fair Folk! A dragon! Entirely new characters completely separate from the extensive original cast! Plot that extends in time--that, in fact, starts--far after the glory days of the Merry Men, that gives Maid Marian her own home and priorities and life--a life that can be disrupted by nefarious plots from another realm.

Also Robin Hood is a complete butt in this book.

Seriously, though. A. Complete. Butt. But it's not one of those books where the author doesn't recognize it; a good third of the dialog is approximately: Someone: Why are you such a butt, Robin Hood? RH: ...I dunwanna talk about it. Is he not a butt in the end? Well, that's for you to find out for yourself. Marian gets an earned happy ending, I'll promise you that, but with whom and how and when is for you to find out.

Comments

[oracne]

This sounds promising!

[callunav]

That does sound intriguing. I always wanted Marian to run off with her maid, but that possibility seems to go largely unexplored.

Tangential: I know one folksong about Robin Hood. This is bona fide from the 1600s. Internet sources I find show only the first verse, but the aging, yellowed folksong book I found it in has three. The tune is vaguely reminiscent of Greensleeves in minors and incidentals. I reproduce it here in its entirety:

Robin Hood, Robin Hood, said Little John
Come dance before the queen-ah
In a red petticoat and a green jacket
A white hose and a green-ah.

Robin Hood, Robin Hood rode into town
And danced before the queen-ah
In a red petticoat and a green jacket
A white hose and a green-ah.

Robin Hood, Robin Hood said to his men
Ne'er dance before the queen-ah
In a red petticoat and a green jacket
A white hose and a green-ah.

...don't ask me, I have no idea.

[shewhomust]

Thank you for posting that!

[callunav]

My pleasure.

[sam_t]

That song (along with two others, sung separately and all together) is performed by Maddy Prior and the Carnival Band on the album 'Hang Up Sorrow and Care' (A Round Of Three Country Dances In One, Thomas Ravenscroft).

I haven't come across it sung anywhere else, but Bangor Community Choir have a bit more information here: https://www.omniglot.com/songs/bcc/robinhood.php

[callunav]

I saw that! It still doesn't have more than the first verse, but I swear I didn't hallucinate the other two. And it's nice to know that it's being sung, especially by Maddy Prior.

[sam_t]

It would make sense for Ravenscroft to have taken only the first verse of an existing song, since you can't really hear all of the words once everyone's in together anyway. That's just me speculating, though! I'll be keeping an eye out for the others now.

[larryhammer]

don't ask me, I have no idea

I smell a Yuletide request.

[callunav]

Bwah.

Edited to note: Well, it would add to the body of modern interpretive Robin Hood literature, if not to the novels...

[sovay]

Robin Hood, Robin Hood said to his men
Ne'er dance before the queen-ah

Adding my voice to the chorus of people who want to know what went down between verses two and three, and if it was all Little John's fault.

[callunav]

I'm betting on 'yes'.

[larryhammer]

Right, I'm nominating it for Yuletide. Do you have any information about the source you found this in?

[callunav]

Not of the useful kind, alas: it was a crumbling, yellowing songbook with the binding coming loose, which I found in a used bookshop in 1992. I probably still own it, but most of my books are in storage.

[larryhammer]

I was afraid of that. Well, no worries. I'll just cite your comment as the source.

[larryhammer]

And, ah well, the nomination has been turned down because of insufficient evidence of existence. A bibliographic cite would have helped.

Onward!

[sartorias]

I found the McKinley book flat and disappointing. And that was before I had to teach Pyle's ROBIN HOOD for fifteen straight years, which pretty much sucked all the juice out of the story for me. But this one does sound intriguing!

[larryhammer]

That is not Pyle's best book, no. Taught it for fifteen years? Woofs!

[anef]

I thought Outlaws of Sherwood was McKinley's worst book, and haven't been able to re-read it. I'm afraid it confirmed me in the belief that Americans who want to write books set in England should get an English person to review them nit-pickingly before publication.

[sartorias]

LOL! It's called Brit-picking. And British writers who set a story in the USA will sometimes get Amer--pickers, so they don't end up having street gangsters calling each other 'lad' and suchlike!

[anef]

Brit-picking! That exactly what I am, a Britpicker.

[sartorias]

And super valuable they are, too.

[sovay]

On the surface there was a strong similarity with Arthurian stories: both British, both featuring nearly infinitely expandable bands of buddies and sidekicks and character actors, both romantic and action-packed.

This feels like an opportune excuse place for me to leave my favorite Robin Hood short story, which was written for AO3, but on account of being folklore could have been pro fic if it felt like it: "Merrily in Springtime."

[mrissa]

I am fascinated by which things get posted in fanfic sites/exchanges/etc. because their authors are culturally fanfic writers rather than because they are Officially Not Pro Fic etc. I think you're right on the classification of this one.

[pameladean]

Thank you for this detailed review. I've been wondering about this book. I liked the author's first three novels a lot, but I am kind of anti-Robin-Hood, even thought I WANT to like a story about stealing from the rich to give to the poor. It mostly seemed to be people knocking one another off logs with staves, though, and appearing anonymously at archery contests. All very well in their way, I guess, but not really inspiring. I think you're right about the lack of narrative arc, though if Robin Hood and his Merry Men had been doing more botanizing and rescuing hurt animals, I probably wouldn't have cared if there was a narrative arc or not. P.

[mrissa]

Yeah, this is not that kind of Robin Hood book at all really. Very little appearing anonymously at archery contests.

[ursa_cerulean]

This is probably not the sort of thing you know off the top of your head, but in searching for it I can't find any ebook versions: is there likely to be an electronic version?

[mrissa]

Sorry, I really don't know! I got an e-ARC, but that means literally nothing about the publisher's decisions that way.

[ursa_cerulean]

Fair enough! I figured it was worth a shot, since I was unlikely to know less than I did before.

thanks!