The adventure part of the book was well done. I liked the book - I just didn't think it was amazing. I'm not even opposed to some m/m action, so that's not what kept me from giving it a higher rating. I'm a bit of a Robin Hood fan, so this caught my eye. And it wasn't as bad as 'I did not like it,' but it wasn't better than 'It was okay.' Just my personal preference, about the power-balances feeling backwards, I guess. and I'm not saying it was written bad, the stars were meant to reflect how I liked it. It all feels like it's bordered in a haze of romance goggles.

just everything seems like a weird choice. Is it the paper? It's printed on this white, smooth paper instead of the novel-like rough textured one I'm used to, and the book is in a square shape, making it a little harder to hold and read through than the usual rectangle shape. The tone feels backwards when it's read, like you can tell it's written by a female voice? Does that make sense? In turn, Guy's the 'sensitive,' one, who's scared of everything. I feel the same heart-broken for Guy, who's attitude that he's supposed to have has been taken by Robin. But they go out of their way to make him this dark, dominate, scary closed-off jerk, and I feel like it was only to benefit the main character, so Will could continuously boast about being 'so pretty,' in comparison to this 'rugged, scarred manly man.' And to make Robin seem 'broken,' and cruel by the crusades in a way that could make Will a saviour. When you think of Robin Hood, you think of the handsome, escape artist-silver tongued, playful figure. I could forgive it if it wasn't for the fact that the characters seem.different. I find it hard to believe that everyone Will runs into is so soft and immediately reacts with 'aww, I support you.' It's almost like it's written to please a reader who wants someone to tell them that. Everything became a political statement about who was sleeping with who, or 'I'm gay, I dare you to judge me.' Like most people wouldn't just up and volunteer their sexual preferences for the sake of doing it. It just seems like the book was obsessed with love and especially sex, like Will was used as a main character in a dating sim so you could choose between two types of men. I agree with the rest of the comments, that I'd almost prefer hard-to-read bad accents than this 'gentle modern' version of dialogue? I did enjoy going through how each person responds to trauma in their own different way, but it kind of reads more like a fanfic than a retelling/novel. Maybe it's Will being the main character instead of Robin, but something's off about this.

Men of Sherwood by Sarah Luddington