Turning Off The TV #6: BBC’s Robin Hood

Welcome to my regular Thursday feature, Turning off the TV! In this feature I recommend books similar to TV shows or films you may have enjoyed, both series and specific episodes.

The TV series this week is: BBC’s Robin Hood.

After 5 years of fighting in the crusades, Robin returns to England and leads a band of outlaws to outwit the Sheriff of Nottingham.

I’ve not watched this one properly (my sister loved it when it came out and she has the DVDs), but I’m planning to! It’s part of my very long Netflix queue… The actor who plays the Sheriff of Nottingham (Keith Allen, father of Lily and Alfie Allen) lives nearby, and literally everyone in my family has met him… except for me. My dad has even played golf with him!

Hodd by Adam Thorpe

Hodd by Adam Thorpe is a dark version of the more traditional tale of Robin Hood, and is written by a monk who was part of Hodd’s band as a young boy. Don’t go into this one expecting anything like the legend, and especially any similarities to the Disney version…

Scarlet & Lady Thief (Scarlet #1 & #2) by A.C. Gaughen

The Scarlet series by A.C. Gaughen is a retelling with a twist. The story focuses not on Robin Hood himself, but around a young woman called Scarlet, who is part of Hood’s band. Disguised as a boy, she helps the people of Nottingham and protects them from the evil Sheriff – but it’s not only her real identity that she’s hiding. I requested the second book from Netgalley last month, but was rejected as it was US only, boo hoo! Although looking at my ratio, that’s most likely a good thing…

The Forest Wife Trilogy by Theresa Tomlinson

A brilliant retelling of the classic story from Marian’s point of view, The Forest Wife Trilogy by Theresa Tomlinson is an action-packed novel that portrays Marian as more than just a damsel in distress. I read this one when I was about 14 and really loved it.

Are you a fan of BBC’s Robin Hood? Do you have any recommendations to add?

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Weekly Roundup #28

My ‘Weekly Roundup’ is where I share the books I have received in the past week, whether bought, gifted, borrowed etc.

Bought

• Dragon Age: The Stolen Throne (Dragon Age #1) and Dragon Age: The Calling (Dragon Age #2) by David Gaider – so I recently finally played Dragon Age: Origins after owning it since it was released, and I LOVED it! I’ve been fangirling over the series (and Alistair) with Paola from A Novel Idea, and she said she enjoyed the books. I haven’t been impressed with Bioware’s previous books (Mass Effect ones) but… when I love a series I kind of soak up everything to do with. Even if it’s bad. But I’m hoping I’ll enjoy these ones! Now I’m onto Dragon Age: Origins – Awakening, and then Dragon Age II (and a long wait for Inquisition…).
• Prince of Thorns (The Broken Empire #1) by Mark Lawrence – this is the Fantasy Book of the Month for my Goodreads book group, Dragons & Jetpacks. I bought it before the result was chosen though, because it was half price on Amazon and I’ve wanted to read it for a while.
• All Our Yesterdays (Cassandra Chronicles #1) by Cristin Terrill – so I kept seeing this book everywhere, with such good reviews. I got approved for it on Netgalley but when I went to download it, it had been archived… so I bought it instead! And it was worth every penny.
• Crown of Midnight (Throne of Glass #2) by Sarah J. Maas – I own Throne of Glass but haven’t read it yet… and even so, I bought the second book. It’s another series I’ve heard such good things about – and my friends Charlene and Paola got to meet Sarah recently! I’m hoping I’ll get to meet her in October, at the Cheltenham Literature Festival.
• The Wise Man’s Fear (The Kingkiller Chronicle #2) by Patrick Rothfuss – the sequel to the aaaaaaamazing The Name of the Wind (I’ve done features on the book here and here), I want to read this as soon as possible!

 

From the library

• Scarlet (The Lunar Chronicles #2) by Marissa Meyer – so I picked this up forgetting the order of the books, and I haven’t read Cinder yet – but I’ve ordered it from the library to read first! Marissa is taking part in my Sci-Fi Month event, as Nara from Looking for the Panacea is interviewing her.
• Article 5 (Article 5 #1) by Kristen Simmons – I’ve wanted to read this one for a while, and spotted it in the library – not my usual one, but one a little further from home that I should visit more often!
• Leviathan (Leviathan #1) by Scott Westerfeld – this is another one that I’ve seen around the blogosphere quite a bit. It’s an alternate history, which sounds pretty interesting as I haven’t read too many of those.
• Guardians of Paradise (Hidden Empire #3) by Jaine Fenn – I’m interviewing Jaine for Sci-Fi Month, and read one of her books, Downside Girls (review here) at the beginning of the year. I thought it would be good to check out some more of her work!

 

That’s everything from last week! I bought more brand new books that I have in a long time – what did you get this week?