(Scarlet #3)
Publication
Date: May 19, 2015
Hardcover, 348 pages, Bloomsbury USA
Genres:
YA, Historical
The eagerly-awaited conclusion to
the Scarlet trilogy delivers another action-packed and romance-filled
adventure.
Scarlet has captured the hearts of
readers as well as the heart of Robin Hood, and after ceaseless obstacles and
countless threats, readers will finally find out the fate of the Lady Thief.
Imprisoned by Prince John for
months, Scarlet finds herself a long way from Nottinghamshire. After a daring
escape from the Prince's clutches, she learns that King Richard’s life is in
jeopardy, and Eleanor of Aquitaine demands a service Scarlet can’t refuse: spy
for her and help bring Richard home safe. But fate—and her heart—won’t allow
her to stay away from Nottinghamshire for long, and together, Scarlet and Rob
must stop Prince John from going through with his dark plans for England. They
can not rest until he’s stopped, but will their love be enough to save them once
and for all?
My Review
It’s over! This trilogy about Robin Hood and Maid Marian is
over! Why?! I only started it last year…
As you can see, I’m a little sad that this series has come
to an end. I really enjoyed reading about Scarlet and her escapades with the
dreamy Robin Hood. (I mean, who doesn’t enjoy reading about anything Robin Hood
related?) However much I enjoyed the series though, it still didn’t have as
great of a series-ender as I was hoping for.
Scarlet is still the same old Scarlet. She’s putting herself
in danger, standing up for people, and just generally being a head-strong young
girl. In a good way. But I noticed with this book, that Scarlet just puts
herself in danger too much, especially given the revelations we learned about
in books one and two. I also noticed that her fellow guards, knights, friends,
etc. never seemed around when she actually needed them, so she’d end up doing
the fighting by herself. While I am all for girl-power and being able to fight
someone with just a pair of daggers in my hand, I didn’t like how Gaughen made
the other characters seem by having Scarlet rush into danger. It made them seem
incompetent with their jobs. And this brings me to Robin. Robin Hood was a
soldier in the Crusades and he’s the original Katniss Everdeen—his arrows fly
like nobody’s business! Yet Gaughen doesn’t portray Robin as someone who is
capable of ruling a land or as someone who can take care of himself. This
disappointed me just because I didn’t want my idea of Robin Hood to be
tarnished. He’s still a good character to read about, he just needs to be a
little bit more fangirl-worthy (does that make sense?), in my opinion.
The plot of the story didn’t really connect with me at
first. I couldn’t remember what happened at the end of Lady Thief, so I was scratching my head when it came to the start
of the book and the characters I was re-introduced to. Once I got into it,
though, I didn’t mind all that much. The storyline was fast, maybe too fast,
but I liked it. However, the ending just didn’t feel like a real ending. It was
so abrupt. I was kind of hoping for an epilogue of some sort. Boo…
All in all, Lion Heart
is a good addition to a good historical series. If you want to read about a
girl kicking butt in the sixteenth century, I would definitely suggest picking
up this fast-paced trilogy.
*Note: I
purchased a copy of this book for myself.
