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Big Finish Robin Hood #6
Robin Hood: The Siege
Robin Hood and the Outlaws are on the run from a gang of mercenaries and are forced to take shelter in the ruins of a castle where soon they are besieged.
Robin’s more used to breaking into castles, not defending them. But he also knows this castle - he was apprentice to its lords many years ago. A great family brought to ruin by recent, cruel times... No one has dared set foot within these walls since then.
Robin and the Outlaws know there's no such thing as ghosts. Don't they?
Robin’s more used to breaking into castles, not defending them. But he also knows this castle - he was apprentice to its lords many years ago. A great family brought to ruin by recent, cruel times... No one has dared set foot within these walls since then.
Robin and the Outlaws know there's no such thing as ghosts. Don't they?
Audiobook
First published June 30, 2009
About the author
Simon Guerrier
169 books62 followersSimon Guerrier is a British science fiction author and dramatist, closely associated with the fictional universe of Doctor Who and its spinoffs. Although he has written three Doctor Who novels, for the BBC Books range, his work has mostly been for Big Finish Productions' audio drama and book ranges.
Guerrier's earliest published fiction appeared in Zodiac, the first of Big Finish's Short Trips range of Doctor Who short story anthologies. To date, his work has appeared in the majority of the Short Trips collections. He has also edited three volumes in the series, The History of Christmas, Time Signature and How The Doctor Changed My Life. The second of these takes as its starting-point Guerrier's short story An Overture Too Early in The Muses. The third anthology featured stories entirely by previously unpublished writers.
After contributing two stories to the anthology Life During Wartime in Big Finish's Bernice Summerfield range of books and audio dramas, Guerrier was invited to edit the subsequent year's short story collection, A Life Worth Living, and the novella collection Parallel Lives. After contributing two audio dramas to the series, Guerrier became the producer of the Bernice Summerfield range of plays and books, a post he held between January 2006 and June 2007.
His other Doctor Who work includes the audio dramas, The Settling and The Judgement of Isskar, in Big Finish's Doctor Who audio range, three Companion Chronicles and a contribution to the UNIT spinoff series. He has also written a play in Big Finish's Sapphire and Steel range.
Guerrier's work is characterised by character-driven humour and by an interest in unifying the continuity of the various Big Finish ranges through multiple references and reappearances of characters. As editor he has been a strong promoter of the work of various script writers from the Seventh Doctor era of the Doctor Who television series
Guerrier's earliest published fiction appeared in Zodiac, the first of Big Finish's Short Trips range of Doctor Who short story anthologies. To date, his work has appeared in the majority of the Short Trips collections. He has also edited three volumes in the series, The History of Christmas, Time Signature and How The Doctor Changed My Life. The second of these takes as its starting-point Guerrier's short story An Overture Too Early in The Muses. The third anthology featured stories entirely by previously unpublished writers.
After contributing two stories to the anthology Life During Wartime in Big Finish's Bernice Summerfield range of books and audio dramas, Guerrier was invited to edit the subsequent year's short story collection, A Life Worth Living, and the novella collection Parallel Lives. After contributing two audio dramas to the series, Guerrier became the producer of the Bernice Summerfield range of plays and books, a post he held between January 2006 and June 2007.
His other Doctor Who work includes the audio dramas, The Settling and The Judgement of Isskar, in Big Finish's Doctor Who audio range, three Companion Chronicles and a contribution to the UNIT spinoff series. He has also written a play in Big Finish's Sapphire and Steel range.
Guerrier's work is characterised by character-driven humour and by an interest in unifying the continuity of the various Big Finish ranges through multiple references and reappearances of characters. As editor he has been a strong promoter of the work of various script writers from the Seventh Doctor era of the Doctor Who television series
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
October 31, 2014
This audio-book was a whole lot of fun. Read by Richard Armitage - the man who plays Guy of Gisborne in the series in question - it was quick, fun, and easy to listen to. Though the story does contain a few spoilers about the television series, it's not necessary to have seen the series to understand the plot.
Richard Armitage's narration was, as usual, heavenly. He reads very well and his voice is such a pleasure to listen to. It's also quite remarkable how he captures the different voices. His narrating voice, for example, is quite different to that of the voice for Guy of Gisborne, which is rougher and deeper, and his imitation of Jonas Armstrong/Robin Hood was absolutely brilliant. Armitage reads with a somewhat endearing enthusiasm for the story, but my only criticism would be that he was ever-so-slightly over-zealous at times. For example, when he was reading about the path of a straw bale falling through the air, I was thinking; "Um, Richard, I'm not sure those words need to be quite so heavily accentuated... I mean, I love the Robin Hood stories too, but it's just straw, man."
In general, however, the narration was of the highest quality and extremely enjoyable. It helped that the story was told from the point of view of Guy of Gisborne. Being my favourite character from the series, I really loved being able to see what he was thinking and feeling.
Along with narration, I enjoyed the fact that Big Finish had added a soundtrack and various sound effects to the story. All of their audio additions worked really, really well, and it was such a pleasant surprise to find them there. So few audio companies take the time to add things such as soundtracks and audio effects, and I absolutely love it when the extra effort has been made to include them - especially in this case. An audio story of Robin Hood deserves good back-up.
The story itself was reasonably short and very entertaining. In terms of the television series I'd say it was set somewhere between Episodes 10 and 12 in Season Three. Robin and Guy are being pursued by a gang of mercenaries, and various hijinks ensue while the outlaws attempt to escape from the castle where they've been holed up.
I can't deny that my favourite part by far was when Guy and Robin got fantastically drunk on one of the top floors of the abandoned castle. To be honest I was probably too amused by Richard Armitage reading a very drunk Robin and Guy, but hey, it was a ridiculous amount of fun, and I found it hilarious. And then, of course, the two of them wake up the next morning, very hung-over, to find out that the mercenaries have caught up with them. *facepalm*
Yeah, sorry Guy, you and Robin really should have thought about the whole 'being chased by mercenaries' thing before getting wasted. In truth I don't think that either Guy or Robin would have been that careless or stupid, to drink their way through about ten bottles of wine while in such a precarious situation. But seeing as their drunken conversations were unbelievably funny, I didn't really mind.
Bottle four – or five, depending on how you counted – was a heavy, gritty wine. Guy thought it might have spoiled, but he couldn’t be sure so they drunk it anyway. Besides, he didn’t want to put Robin off mid-flow. “And… you used to have that great black and leather thing going on,” [Robin] said. “And the stubble. And even with… the moody thing… I know you’re all right really. You could just lighten up a bit.”
LOL! That makes me laugh every time; I think that might just be the best description of Guy of Gisborne that I've ever heard. :D
There were a couple of other minor issues, however, that I couldn't let go so easily. The first is that at some point, Robin calls Guy a "heraldry geek". Seeing as I'm pretty sure the word 'geek' was first used about seven hundred years after this story is set, it's use was FAR too careless for my liking. However, it was only a minor and isolated incident, so I was able to bury my annoyance and let the issue pass.
The most significant annoyance (not enough to spoil my enjoyment of the story, but at least enough to irritate me) was the ridiculous number of times that they used the word "grin", or some sort of variation of the word; grinned, grinning... you get the idea. And a number of times it was combined with the word "insufferable". Here follows a relatively accurate representation of my reactions to the word throughout the story: (I thought Guy of Gisborne was an appropriate person to use here, given the subject matter)
***
Time: 4 Minutes
Grin Count: 5 Times
Time: 14 Minutes
Grin Count: 10 Times
Time: 20 Minutes
Grin Count: 12 Times
Time: 32 Minutes
Grin Count: 16 Times
(Yeah, this doesn't end well.)
***
Total Time: 1 Hour, 10 Minutes.
Total Grin Count: 21 Times
"Insufferable Grin" Count: 5 Times
For those of you who don't feel like doing the maths, that means that the word "grin" was used, on average, about once every three and a half minutes, and the phrase "insufferable grin" was used roughly once every fourteen minutes.
How hard can it be to use a thesaurus?! Honestly, I swear I only heard the word "smile" used once in this entire thing. I admit that a "grin" is the best way to describe Robin's somewhat infuriating smile, but a little variation wouldn't hurt, would it? And it wasn't even just Robin grinning - both Guy and another minor character "grinned" at least once through this entire thing. Despite my substantial complaints, the repetition of this word was nowhere near enough to spoil my enjoyment of the story. I just have to occasionally grit my teeth and try not to throw something at a wall.
Overall, I would highly recommend this short audio-book to any fans of the Robin Hood series, or indeed, any fans of Richard Armitage. As always, he does not disappoint, and I believe he has also narrated another short story called "The Witchfinders". In terms of the chronology of this audio-book series, "Witchfinders" actually comes earlier on, but I have yet to listen to it. At least that gives me something to look forward to!
Finally, on iTunes The Siege comes along with an interview with Richard Armitage, both about the audio-book and his experiences playing Guy of Gisborne in Season Three. It's a great interview, both interesting and funny, and if you've gone to the effort of getting the audio-book, I suggest you go just that little bit further and listen to the interview. For me at least, it was definitely worth it. :)
Richard Armitage's narration was, as usual, heavenly. He reads very well and his voice is such a pleasure to listen to. It's also quite remarkable how he captures the different voices. His narrating voice, for example, is quite different to that of the voice for Guy of Gisborne, which is rougher and deeper, and his imitation of Jonas Armstrong/Robin Hood was absolutely brilliant. Armitage reads with a somewhat endearing enthusiasm for the story, but my only criticism would be that he was ever-so-slightly over-zealous at times. For example, when he was reading about the path of a straw bale falling through the air, I was thinking; "Um, Richard, I'm not sure those words need to be quite so heavily accentuated... I mean, I love the Robin Hood stories too, but it's just straw, man."
In general, however, the narration was of the highest quality and extremely enjoyable. It helped that the story was told from the point of view of Guy of Gisborne. Being my favourite character from the series, I really loved being able to see what he was thinking and feeling.
Along with narration, I enjoyed the fact that Big Finish had added a soundtrack and various sound effects to the story. All of their audio additions worked really, really well, and it was such a pleasant surprise to find them there. So few audio companies take the time to add things such as soundtracks and audio effects, and I absolutely love it when the extra effort has been made to include them - especially in this case. An audio story of Robin Hood deserves good back-up.
The story itself was reasonably short and very entertaining. In terms of the television series I'd say it was set somewhere between Episodes 10 and 12 in Season Three. Robin and Guy are being pursued by a gang of mercenaries, and various hijinks ensue while the outlaws attempt to escape from the castle where they've been holed up.
I can't deny that my favourite part by far was when Guy and Robin got fantastically drunk on one of the top floors of the abandoned castle. To be honest I was probably too amused by Richard Armitage reading a very drunk Robin and Guy, but hey, it was a ridiculous amount of fun, and I found it hilarious. And then, of course, the two of them wake up the next morning, very hung-over, to find out that the mercenaries have caught up with them. *facepalm*
Yeah, sorry Guy, you and Robin really should have thought about the whole 'being chased by mercenaries' thing before getting wasted. In truth I don't think that either Guy or Robin would have been that careless or stupid, to drink their way through about ten bottles of wine while in such a precarious situation. But seeing as their drunken conversations were unbelievably funny, I didn't really mind.
Bottle four – or five, depending on how you counted – was a heavy, gritty wine. Guy thought it might have spoiled, but he couldn’t be sure so they drunk it anyway. Besides, he didn’t want to put Robin off mid-flow. “And… you used to have that great black and leather thing going on,” [Robin] said. “And the stubble. And even with… the moody thing… I know you’re all right really. You could just lighten up a bit.”
LOL! That makes me laugh every time; I think that might just be the best description of Guy of Gisborne that I've ever heard. :D
There were a couple of other minor issues, however, that I couldn't let go so easily. The first is that at some point, Robin calls Guy a "heraldry geek". Seeing as I'm pretty sure the word 'geek' was first used about seven hundred years after this story is set, it's use was FAR too careless for my liking. However, it was only a minor and isolated incident, so I was able to bury my annoyance and let the issue pass.
The most significant annoyance (not enough to spoil my enjoyment of the story, but at least enough to irritate me) was the ridiculous number of times that they used the word "grin", or some sort of variation of the word; grinned, grinning... you get the idea. And a number of times it was combined with the word "insufferable". Here follows a relatively accurate representation of my reactions to the word throughout the story: (I thought Guy of Gisborne was an appropriate person to use here, given the subject matter)
***
Time: 4 Minutes
Grin Count: 5 Times
Time: 14 Minutes
Grin Count: 10 Times
Time: 20 Minutes
Grin Count: 12 Times
Time: 32 Minutes
Grin Count: 16 Times
(Yeah, this doesn't end well.)
***
Total Time: 1 Hour, 10 Minutes.
Total Grin Count: 21 Times
"Insufferable Grin" Count: 5 Times
For those of you who don't feel like doing the maths, that means that the word "grin" was used, on average, about once every three and a half minutes, and the phrase "insufferable grin" was used roughly once every fourteen minutes.
How hard can it be to use a thesaurus?! Honestly, I swear I only heard the word "smile" used once in this entire thing. I admit that a "grin" is the best way to describe Robin's somewhat infuriating smile, but a little variation wouldn't hurt, would it? And it wasn't even just Robin grinning - both Guy and another minor character "grinned" at least once through this entire thing. Despite my substantial complaints, the repetition of this word was nowhere near enough to spoil my enjoyment of the story. I just have to occasionally grit my teeth and try not to throw something at a wall.
Overall, I would highly recommend this short audio-book to any fans of the Robin Hood series, or indeed, any fans of Richard Armitage. As always, he does not disappoint, and I believe he has also narrated another short story called "The Witchfinders". In terms of the chronology of this audio-book series, "Witchfinders" actually comes earlier on, but I have yet to listen to it. At least that gives me something to look forward to!
Finally, on iTunes The Siege comes along with an interview with Richard Armitage, both about the audio-book and his experiences playing Guy of Gisborne in Season Three. It's a great interview, both interesting and funny, and if you've gone to the effort of getting the audio-book, I suggest you go just that little bit further and listen to the interview. For me at least, it was definitely worth it. :)
July 20, 2017
Robin Hood and Guy of Gisborne are locked up in an abondonned castle and being sieged by mercenaries and an unexpected ennemy from Nottingham.
How would they mannage to escape? As always Robin has an idea or does he?
How would they mannage to escape? As always Robin has an idea or does he?
March 6, 2013
This is my favorite big finish audio. Forevers. Ok. It's a ghost story and an adventure story and um.. narrated by Armitage. Who has a very pretty voice. A VERY pretty voice.
December 20, 2009
A gapfiller for the BBC series Robin Hood, set probably after series 3, episode 10. Guy and Robin somehow end up in a castle, facing way too many enemies to fight. How will they get out of this mess?
The Reader: As said in my review for The Witchfinders, Richard Armitage has a most wonderful reading voice. His reading for The Witchfinders was a bit better, though. Here, his voices of Robin and Guy sound a bit off in the beginning, but he gets into them after a while and adds a lot of humour in a few scenes I won't spoil you for ;) Also, this is very nitpicky of me, saying he did a better job with the other audio book, because his work on this one is still VERY good, compared to other/most speakers. I'm not sure I ever want to listen to another reader, lol.
The Reader: As said in my review for The Witchfinders, Richard Armitage has a most wonderful reading voice. His reading for The Witchfinders was a bit better, though. Here, his voices of Robin and Guy sound a bit off in the beginning, but he gets into them after a while and adds a lot of humour in a few scenes I won't spoil you for ;) Also, this is very nitpicky of me, saying he did a better job with the other audio book, because his work on this one is still VERY good, compared to other/most speakers. I'm not sure I ever want to listen to another reader, lol.
July 23, 2021
Alskdhka I actually genuinely liked this one. It's the strongest of any of this series and I wasn't really expecting that from a plot that boils down to Home Alone: Medieval Edition. I like Robin and Guy's dynamic in this and RA does a decent job. Not his best work but I'm not fussed either. Kind of sad that I've now consumed all the BBC Robin Hood content available but also kind of relieved a la the evil is defeated.gif
August 2, 2023
"Robin Hood: The Siege" was by far the best installment in the series!
I loved the concept, loved the twists, and most of all I loved Richard Armitage's voice and his impression of his fellow actors' voices.
I loved the concept, loved the twists, and most of all I loved Richard Armitage's voice and his impression of his fellow actors' voices.
January 19, 2025
Entertaining, but it feels like one of those typical cliched episodes were the writers create a situation where the protagonist and the antagonist have to put aside their conflict and work together.
January 8, 2011
3 stars for the story, 4 stars because it was read by Richard Armitage. Robin Hood and Guy of Gisborne lock themselves up in an abandoned castle to try to escape attackers (both from Nottingham and abroad).
March 23, 2013
The grand finale in this six book series.
January 30, 2017
3 stars for the story, 4 stars for Richard Armitage's narration! *swoons*
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews