In a Dark Wood

Children's Literature - Mary Sue Preissner

In this newest addition to the Robin Hood lore, Cadnum has chosen Geoffrey, Sheriff of Nottingham, as the vehicle for this tale. Conflicted by his personal desires and those of duty, Geoffrey must additionally deal with this thief Robin-an affront to the Crown. In an age where violence and torture are commonplace, he learns compassion and justice from the country's most infamous criminal. After a harrowing time held prisoner in the dark forest, Geoffrey emerges able to confronts his feelings and sense of duty, and able to make peace within himself.

School Library Journal

Gr 9 UpGeoffrey, Sheriff of Nottingham, is informed by the king's steward that a local highwayman must be eliminated. This outlaw, Robin Hood, is only a minor nuisance to Geoffrey. The sheriff is much more concerned about his strained relationship with his wife; his affair with the Abbess; his anger at the mimicking Fool; his confusion over his feelings for his young squire, Hugh; and his desire to appear strong and courageous to the people he leads. First tricked, then captured, and later rescued by Robin Hood and his band, the man learns that courage is more than torturing a miscreant and that love is more than lust. At the end of the novel, he is able to accept the mocking of the mute Fool for the apt criticism that it is, and publicly declare that courage is not necessarily physically winning. The medieval setting is clearly and accurately realized. There is no softening of the explicitness of the sexual encounters and it takes a strong stomach to read the sections of the torture and subsequent hanging of a declared thief. The sections in which Hugh grapples with his feelings for Geoffrey, and in which Hugh fights Robin Hood to defend Geoffrey's honor make this book accessible to young adults. However, the frank portrayal of adult sexual desire make this a difficult book to offer to teens. Because it is Geoffrey's story, and not Hugh's, it is an adult novel that includes a sympathetic teenage character.Wendy D. Caldiero, New York Public Library

Kirkus Reviews

Cadnum departs from his absorbingly realistic contemporary novels for a retelling of aspects of the Robin Hood legend from an unusual perspective, that of Robin's nemesis, Lord Geoffreythe Sheriffpresented as a likable, if complex, character. Estranged from his wife, the Lady Eleanor, Geoffrey is passionate, but unfaithful; he is vain enough to consider himself a just ruler, yet so greedy that he over-taxes his peasants. The overall picture is a bit wishy-washy and pathetic, and while readers will feel sympathy for Geoffrey, he's an odd choice for so much attention. Still, this is his tale, and so Robin Hood appears only in a couple of chapters, when Geoffrey is tricked and held captive by the merry men as a way of humiliating the king and his servant. While Geoffrey at first wallows in self-pity, he eventually rises above such pettiness, ultimately freeing Robin's fellow, Will Scathlock. With his marriage mended, and a glint of true leadership sparking within him, Geoffrey is improved for his tussle with the man he called his enemy; unfortunately, the character's journey is a prolonged, tepid, and belabored tale. (Fiction. 11-13)