Warlord: A Novel of Robin Hood (Outlaw Chronicles)
Donald continues to reconfigure a time-honored legend in the fourth installment of his gritty Robin Hood series. As in the previous three volumes, the tale is narrated by Sir Alan Dale, friend and devoted companion to Robert of Locksley (aka Robin Hood), lord of war, master thief, and loyal lieutenant to King Richard the Lionheart. Moving forward in time, this chapter of the ongoing saga is set primarily in Normandy, where Richard, Robin, and company are challenging the encroachment of King Philip of France. As usual, the battle scenes are brutally etched in gruesomely descriptive prose, but the multilayered plot moves beyond the arena of war as Alan plumbs his own personal history in order to unravel the mystery surrounding his father’s death. Although the primary focus is on Alan this time, the darkly foreboding visage of a slightly twisted Robin remains, as always, at the core of this imaginative series. --Margaret Flanagan