Tuck is the third book in Stephen Lawhead's excellent King Raven trilogy, which is a retelling of the Robin Hood legend. The first two books in this series, Hood and Scarlet, were both very good, but this one was my favorite. If you are a fan of Robin Hood or like well-written adventures set in that time period, I highly recommend this series. This book was published in February 2009.
I grew up with the Disney version of the Robin Hood story, then in high school there was the Kevin Costner movie, so my appreciation of the story is based on two of the more famous Hollywood accounts. Author Stephen Lawhead, who is no stranger to stories of this time period, decided to do a bunch of research into the basis of the Robin Hood legend and came up with a story that might have been more like what really happened. In doing so, he has created an entirely new Robin Hood story, and a brilliant one at that.
Tuck, the clergyman probably best known as Friar Tuck, but not called such in this book, is sort of the center of this story. Robin Hood and Will Scarlet are also present through much of it, while Tuck remains a supporting character in the whole thing. Nevertheless, Tuck's importance to the storyline is quite heavy, and the story is told mainly from his viewpoint. He is portrayed as the lovable and loyal drunk that isn't afraid to fight, but always asks for God's blessing first.
The main plot of this story is that King William is causing major trouble for the people in his realm, and Rhi Ban (as he is called in this story) is leading an uprising. His people are all hiding out in forests and trying to build up their army while countless odds pile against them. From politically advantageous arranged marriages to bloodthirsty crooked barons, a war is imminent. Even Marian will find herself at odds with her own family.
I thought this book had much more action than the previous two stories, but part of that was because this is the conclusion to the trilogy. There's a bunch of scenes involving outnumbered archers taking down various knights, and the fighting is aplenty. The best parts of the book involve Tuck and his crafty ways of dealing with people, and I found him both charming and intelligent. I really liked the way things were concluded.
This is the shortest book in the trilogy, and I understand it was somewhat delayed due to the author being ill. The first book, Hood, was just over 500 pages while Scarlet was over 460 pages long. This book is just a little over 430 pages, plus it includes a short essay and a sample chapter from Lawhead's next novel. I found it to be a very quick read that was entertaining. I've ready many of Lawhead's novels and this is definitely some of his best work.
You don't really have to read the first two books in the series to enjoy Tuck, but I highly recommend reading them all. You won't be disappointed in Stephen Lawhead's retelling of the Robin Hood legend.
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