【 NOT FOR THE FAINT OF HEART 】

Genre: Historical Fiction, Romance, Retelling (Robin Hood)
Audience: Young Adult
Author: Lex Croucher
Published: August 2024
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Pages: 352 (paperback)

This, unfortunately, did not quite live up to my expectations. It was a good time and a fun read, but it was nothing to write home about. The humour was very forced and over the top, which I found distracted me and repeatedly brought me out of the story.

This is a Robin Hood retelling – a queer retelling where Mariel (Robin Hood’s granddaughter) and Clem (a local healer) are the heroes of the day. Having read Croucher’s Gwen and Art Are Not in Love and absolutely loving that, I had expected this to hit in a similar way. But I think it was Clem’s character in particular that did the damage to this book for me.

The overarching story is very fun, with Clem being kidnapped by the Merry Men, who are no longer led by Robin but his son-in-law, and then hilariously ending up falling in with the Merry Men, rather than acting as a true captive.

But I would say it’s not until the last quarter or so of the book that things really tick up and get exciting. Up until that point, it’s getting to know the characters and suffering some relentless ‘comical’ metaphors delivered by Clem, within paragraphs of each other. On repeat. Throughout the whole book. I found this really irritating and it felt incredibly forced in an attempt to make Clem a happy-go-lucky funny character (and instead made her come across silly and annoying). In short, this book is over-seasoned with humour.

There are a number of themes that are explored in this book – from Mariel’s complex character (she has many, many issues) to other complications in the friendship group. I did really like all the characters in the book (though with Clem being my least favourite) and I liked the way that Mariel goes through some serious character development (or attempts thereof) to pick apart her ways of thinking and try to be more forgiving of herself.

The romance aspect of this was just okay. The romance doesn’t particularly build up between Mariel and Clem in anyway, it just sort of flops into the story and is immediately assumed that there is and will be an irresistible romance between them – and its fine, but it doesn’t make you really back the romance or get excited about it. It’s just assumed and there.

And there was a lack of clever planning and escapades in this that you would expect from a Robin Hood retelling. Most of the adventures are a little (or a lot) ad-hoc and it seems entirely fluke that they get away with anything. This was a bit of a shame because, for me, this would have really lifted the story by championing the elements of the Robin Hood legend that everyone knows and loves. Plus there’s nothing worse than a book where the characters haplessly wander into danger and seem to get away with things when they really shouldn’t.

So if you’re after a queer Robin Hood retelling, this is indeed that, but I can’t say I could enthusiastically recommend this one. It would make for a good summer/vacation read where you don’t take any of this too seriously. But this just didn’t have the same oomph as Gwen and Art Are Not in Love.

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Title: Not for the Faint of Hert
Author: Lex Croucher
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Beloved author Lex Croucher’s second queer historical YA romance, with all the swoons, laughs, and heart-pounding moments you’d expect from a story about the granddaughter of Robin Hood and the girl she’s accidentally kidnapped.

‘You aren’t merry,’ said Clem to her captor. ‘And you aren’t all men. So there’s been some marketing confusion somewhere along the line.’

Mariel, a newly blooded and perpetually grumpy captain of the Merry Men, is desperate to live up to the legacy of her grandfather, the legendary Robin Hood. Clem, a too-perky backwoods healer known for her new-fangled cures, just wants to help people.

When Mariel’s ramshackle band of bandits kidnap Clem as retribution for her guardian helping the Sheriff of Nottingham, all seems to be going (sort of) to plan … until Jack Hartley, Mariel’s father and Commander of the Merry Men, is captured in a deadly ambush. Determined to prove herself, Mariel sets out to get him back – with her annoyingly cheerful kidnappee in tow.

But the wood is at war. Many believe the Merry Men are no longer on the right side of history. Watching Clem tend the party’s wounds and crack relentlessly terrible jokes, Mariel begins to doubt the noble cause to which she has devoted her life. As the two of them grow closer, forced by circumstances to share a single horse and bed, one thing is clear. They must prepare to fight for their lives and for those of everyone they’ve sworn to protect.

Lex Croucher’s Not For the Faint of Heart is a thrilling adventure full of hijinks, found family, and romance destined to change the lives of the inhabitants of the Greenwood Forest forever.