"Hood" by Stephen R Lawhead
Book 1 of the King Raven Trilogy
Today we will be looking at the fictional title Hood, the first book of the King Raven Trilogy. And don’t worry, I won’t make a habit of discussing fiction here, as everyone has different genre’s they enjoy. Yet this book being listed more as Christian Fiction brings about some interesting topics to discuss. First off if you hadn’t guessed it yet Hood is a Robin Hood story, and that being said, I may never have given it a second look if it wasn’t for the Robin Hood series on the BBC (Which is worth a look, even if they take a anti-war stance). We may think of Robin Hood as a children’s tale, but this is a book that an adult will enjoy.
Hood is not a traditional Robin Hood story. You won’t find Sherwood Forest, or a sheriff of Nottingham. Robin is not Lord of Locksley, and King Richard and Prince John are years away from coming on the scene. The story is set around 1000 A.D. and takes place in the Welch country side. What you do get is Bran ap Brychan, an outlaw living in the forest, steeling from the nobles to feed the poor. It really is a great story, and enjoyable read. If even offers a little historical relevance and Lawhead makes these changes to the story with a reason, after going back to many of the original tales of Robin Hood.
If I had a complaint about this book, I would say that the Celtic/Welsh feel to the story is good, but can be killer with names and places. For Example you have: Asaph – The Bishop, Aethelfrith – the monk, (He later becomes Friar Tuck) and Angharad the mystic. And that’s just to name a few. Other close names come in things like Brother Ffreol from Elfael. That being said this book isn’t a 1 hour read, be prepared to spend a few hours with it. However it is worth it, and may make you fall in love with the Robin Hood story all over again.
Now that we have looked at what Hood is about, let’s take a moment to discuss what it is. Christian Fiction. Christian fiction is an interesting thing, as it doesn’t have clearly defined lines as to why it’s Christian fiction. For example, Left Behind, a very popular book is fiction based on a prophesied outline of events given to us in Daniel and Revelation, yet the characters are completely made up as are their situations. The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe, Christian fiction, is allegorical in the ministry of Christ. And a book like Hood offers neither allegories or prophesy, Its basically the story of Robin Hood with the Catholic Church thrown in there occasionally. Now I’m not knocking Christian Fiction I enjoy writing in myself, but perhaps the term Christian Fiction in itself bothers me. A Christian is one who follows Christ, Christ=Truth. Fiction is not true, made up, pretend. So Christian Fiction is untrue stories for followers of truth and in that I’m just not so sure.
I like to know that Christian men and women are writing quality clean stories that can be enjoyed by the family. And I appreciate Christian Book Stores and sites like CBD, where they take some of the challenge of choosing "clean" tittles out for me. But a term like Christian Fiction gives me pause. What do you think?
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