but it seemed they were slightly more fucked than Robin had guessed.
Uh-oh, Robin just dropped the first F-bomb.
First of all, spoiler alert: if you're offended by vulgarity, this book isn't for you. That's fine! You're only 25 pages in, you can walk away now if you like.
But let’s talk a bit about it. I’m going to use some language in this book that is not historically accurate. “Fuck” and “shit” date back to around the 1400’s, but probably not to 1191. However, those are hardly the only anachronistic inclusions you’ll find. The character of Marian was not a part of the original Robin Hood stories; she was added hundreds of years later. Friar Tuck would almost certainly not have existed at all. Not to mention that I treat women in this novel as humans and not property (gasp!). I wasn’t interested in writing a strictly historically-accurate version of Robin Hood. Instead I wanted to revisit the legend … with an eye on history, yes … but also through a lens of relevancy for today. So I’ve given the women agency, I’m ignoring some major religious influences of the period, and I’m letting my characters speak with somewhat modernized sensibilities, humor, and vocabulary to make them feel more accessible. Real people use foul language, especially when they’re emotional—so my characters do, too. (And since the chapters written from their POVs, that language will sometimes even seep into the narrative, rather than just the dialogue). You probably won’t see Marion doing it because she’s more eloquent (okay, maybe once), but part of what I want to do with the Robin mythos is to break him down from this theoretically-perfect hero into a very imperfect guy, like any of a hundred guys you probably know. So … break out the swear jar!
Sydney Young and 2 other people liked this
