In this version, Robin and Marian are heroic in a very human way - Robin with a ' fire in him' visible to all around him, and Marian who, against Robin's loud protests, plays a very dangerous game spying on the Normans while sneaking supplies into the forest. Robin succors them with what little he has, and develops his outlaws' skills in the longbow and in woodscraft, as events build their own momentum and accelerate towards a violent climax. This is a pragmatist and a most reluctant rebel, who becomes an outlaw almost by accident, egged on by his idealistic, revolutionary friends (Much calls Robin ' a pessimist and a good planner.') Once Robin is in Sherwood, rumors spread like wildfire and all kinds of desperate folk start to show up in forest glades. The author gives us a different and very credible Robin. The story starts with three young people - Robin, son of a well-reputed Saxon forester, and his childhood friends Much and the tomboy, part-Norman Marian (who by the way is much more skilled at archery than is Robin). T he Outlaws of Sherwood is a re-telling of the Robin Hood legend, though with only a very subtle touch of the magic that breezes through most of McKinley's other marvellous works of fantasy. The Outlaws of Sherwood by Robin McKinley
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