The Hood
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The Hood
Buy Now for £15.78
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Narrated by:
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Toby Longworth
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By:
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Lavie Tidhar
About this listen
The Hood is the second book in Lavie Tidhar's ambitious Anti-Matter of Britain Quartet - a viscerally entertaining, ominously subversive and poetically profane remixing of the myths and legends that shaped our nation.
God bless you, England, on this glorious Year of Our Lord, 1145.
Don't cross the Templars. Everybody knows that. But Will Scarlet, back from the crusades, hopped up on khat and cider, did. Stabbed thrice in the belly but somehow still alive, he's heading home to Nottingham.
And things are not right in Nottingham.
It's the wood, you see. Sherwood. Ice-age ancient, impenetrable, hiding a dark and secret heart. As the ancient sages say, If you go into the woods today, you may not come out tomorrow and the person who comes out may not be you....
The Hood is Lavie Tidhar's narcotic remix of an ancient English myth, a tale knotted from legends lost to time, shredded and re-stitched for each passing century. A tale for today.
©2021 Lavie Tidhar (P)2021 W F HowesCritic reviews
"A wild, inventive tapestry of myth and magic, with a wry sense of humour. Tidhar's writing is wonderfully vibrant." (Silvia Moreno-Garcia, best-selling author of Mexican Gothic)
If you have no idea what I'm on about, let me tell you why I recommend this novel.
It's absolutely laden with nods to the original May Day ballads, numerous poems and songs of Robin Hood, as well as wry historical observations, witty dialogue, and a dark, winding story that gives you a taste of the medieval mindset and what it feared was lurking in the depths of every forest.
We also get to meet the Band of Merry Men, and hear their origin stories from their perspective - which quite often involves a wee bit of murder and mayhem, and lots of carousing in between.
Somewhat pleasingly, much of the story also focuses on Rebecca and her gang, as well as Maid Marion's influence on the Merry Men, while also dabbling with and rearranging various Fairy Tales and Ballads to fit the narrative - there's some really excellent authorial techniques on display, and I loved it!
Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed this romp, and found it just as compelling as By Force Alone, if not more so.
Toby Longworth does an absolutely fantastic job of the narration, being able to switch voices and dialects effortlessly - like Peter Kenny, he's a master of his art and never ceases to disappoint.
Not the Hood you remember, but the Hood you need
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