Homecoming

by Laura McVey

When Robin of Locksley returned to England after fighting in the Crusades, he expected a quiet homecoming. He did not expect to find his home burned and his family kidnapped by the Sheriff of Nottingham- but now that he has, he must battle to save his people from the treacherous Sheriff.

Genres: Short Stories

48 pages, Kindle Edition

First published June 15, 2014

Reviews

[Lanie · Rating 4 out of 5]

So! I recently celebrated my 21st birthday. Buy buying nearly $300 worth of books (and a totally adorable stuffed penguin. Love those things.) as a gift to myself. :D including a few Robin Hood books.

And as we all know, I fucking LOVE Robin Hood. So it was a must that I get some. (I know I haven't read very many Hood books this year & I'm working slowly to remedy that.)

"Homecoming" was only a dollar & the preview I read on Amazon seemed pretty good, so I went ahead and bought it and the next one. Even though I was honestly a little worried going into it, because as a general rule, I'm NOT a big fan of short stories. Or episodic/serialized stories. Others that I've read just haven't impressed me. Or flat out pissed me off.

But I AM so glad I bought this. :D this was amazing! Fucking brilliant. This is THE best piece of short fiction I have read in a LONG time. Probably all year. "Homecoming" is Only about 50 pages but we get so much characterization in this short space of time.

We see how strong Marian is, for standing up to the sheriff in such a cool, dignified manner. She might not be able to fight, but damn do I love this gal.

We see how badly will was hurt by Robin leaving, how much he wants to be seen as a fighting man & not a kid.

We see how guilty Robin feels, how the war affected him.

We see how angry The Robins "friend" is for being dragged away from her home. (Sorry. Can't remember how to spell her name right now.

the writing was good to. Clear & straight to the point & very powerful.

This story was basically a set up piece of basic plot for the rest of the series -fighting the sheriff & all that jazz. But it just didn't feel like a set up to me at all. We just so got to see so much here! It's really amazing how much we learned & saw in such a short amount of page time. How bad things have gotten, how the sheriff is basically being a shellfish dick & fucking everything up. We saw so much emotion We got some great action scenes. We got just so much characterization & saw just enough of their personalities. But there wasn't an overload of it. There was no info dumping.

We were given just enough. This perfect amount to make us readers actually start caring what happens to these characters. But there's still plenty to learn about them, still questions to be answered.

I don't know how historically accurate it's going to get or anything like that. But right now, I'm so impressed with the characters & writing that it doesn't matter much.

& that ending! Omg, what a perfect cliff hanger! So glad I bought the 2nd book! I'm gushing & fangirling so hard. I just loved this so much! Also, this reminds me so much of my beloved BBC's "Robin hood". XD which might be why I liked it so much, but still. This is excellent, even of you haven't seen that show.

But seriously. You totally need go watch it. A must for Robin Hood fans. It's so much fun!

This writer has some serious talent & I can't WAIT to see what the rest of her series as to offer. Highly recommended to all my fellow Hoodies out there!

[Liberté · Rating 4 out of 5]

Short and sweet, this was a fresh take on an old story. As the first installment of a series, it feels much like stories published chapter by chapter in old newspapers must have felt, in a good way. There were several elements of this version that I already found interesting: First, that Robin himself appointed the Sheriff of Nottingham before he left on the Crusades; second, that Robin and Marian are married but still have relationship conflict to unpack; and lastly, the character of Shaima, a woman from Jaffa who Robin and John have brought back to England - apparently as a slave, although I'm sure that's only the tip of the iceberg in a story like this.

And one good thing about coming into a series long after the first publication is there are plenty of new installments to catch up on!

[Kathy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sherwood Forest: Homecoming
By Laura McVey
Reviewed March 11, 2023


Sherwood Forest: Homecoming by Laura McVey is the first installment in a multi-part retelling of the Robin Hood legend. Each book averages anywhere from 30 to 50 pages in length, making them more like chapters than independent stories. Think of this as a serialized story.

Thankfully the author has not turned obtaining her stories into a financial burden (as there are 11 in the series), having made them available on Barnes & Noble and Amazon at no charge. Now, I have found that freebies can be a mixed bag when it comes to quality, some good, some bad, and some just blah. So the good news is that based on reading the first “chapter” of this story, this is one of the better ones, being well written with interesting characterizations and good descriptions.

Homecoming is an introduction to this version of Robin Hood. Robin, lord of Locksley Manor, has returned from several years on Crusade. Instead of the happy, prosperous village he left, he returns to a burned out manor house and is greeted by disgruntled villagers who blame him for the hardships they have been enduring. And his wife, the Lady Marian, is nowhere to be found.

Robin soon learns that his wife and father are being held at Nottingham Castle by the sheriff, under a version of house arrest. While he’s been gone, and with King Richard I likewise absent, lawlessness pervades many parts of the kingdom with unscrupulous men such as the sheriff carving out their own little fiefdoms.

While Robin figures out how to rescue his wife and father, we are introduced to the various characters. There are familiar names such as John, Will Scarlet, Marian, the Sheriff of Nottingham, and Guy of Gisbourne (who I confess I picture looking like Basil Rathbone), as well as original characters such as the Shaima, the Middle Eastern woman who is traveling with Robin and John.

This first installment is a good opening chapter that has whet my appetite for more.

[Hannah · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Homecoming" is the first story in the Sherwood Forest series, which retells the Robin Hood legend in a way that's less merry Disney foxes, more thoughtful examination of the sociopolitical dynamics underlying the original stories. I have to admit that the Robin Hood I am most familiar with is the super cheesy BBC TV series from a few years ago (and it was often no picnic, y'all), so I'm really enjoying getting to delve into a new version of this tale.

The first story begins with Robin's return to England after fighting in the Crusades, where he finds a very different Nottingham than the one he left--a village that not only desperately needs a hero to protect them from the Sheriff, but is vaguely resentful that Robin left them to fall into such destitution in the first place. Robin doesn't take on the role of hero easily; he's haunted and shaken by fresh memories of war:

Home. Where was home, now? Nowhere he recognized.

But perhaps that wasn’t the problem. Perhaps he’d been gone so long, and fighting so hard that the Crusade had melted him down and forged him into something new- a valuable tool for God’s war, but entirely unusable for anything else.

The story introduces a number of really compelling characters. My favorites so far are Marian -- Robin's wife, held captive in the Sheriff's castle, fiercely pragmatic and good at hiding her fury at the way Nottingham has fallen to pieces -- and Shaima, a young woman brought back from Jaffa by Robin and rightfully upset over being dragged into a new world that seems to have no place for her. (I gotta say that the dynamic between Shaima and Will Scarlet stands out; friends, I ship it already.)

Fans of Robin Hood tales, medieval settings, and/or compelling ensembles of characters will really enjoy this read. I love serialized storytelling and the way it lets us get to know the characters in such a substantial, long-lasting way; I'm really excited to get to know the Sherwood Forest characters better in the following installments! A fantastic beginning.