Brightfall – Jaime Lee Moyer

Someone is murdering the Merry Men – and if Marian doesn’t stop them, her children will be the next to die: a wonderful re-imagining of Robin Hood and Maid Marian, perfect for fans of Katherine Arden, Naomi Novik and Christina Henry.

It’s been a mostly quiet life since Robin Hood denounced Marian, his pregnant wife, and his former life and retreated to a monastery to repent his sins . . . although no one knows what he did that was so heinous he would leave behind Sherwood Forest and those he loved most.

But when friends from their outlaw days start dying, Father Tuck, now the Abbott of St. Mary’s, suspects a curse and begs Marian to use her magic to break it. A grieving Marian bargains for protection for her children before she sets out with a soldier who’s lost his faith, a trickster Fey lord and a sullen Robin Hood, angry at being drawn back into the real world.

Marian soon finds herself enmeshed in a maze of betrayals, tangled relationships and a vicious struggle for the Fey throne . . . and if she can’t find and stop the spell-caster, no protection in Sherwood Forest will be enough to save her children.

Review

Brightfall is the reimagined take on Robin Hood, twelve years after he hung up his bow and hood. Instead of focusing on Robin, this book is all about Maid Marian. I was very excited to read this book, because I have a special kind of love for myths and legends. Everyone knows the story of Robin Hood, but I was very glad to hear that this book was going to put the spotlight on Maid Marian. Marian is a hedgewitch and healer. She’s Robin Hood’s ex-partner and mother of his twins. Just a head’s up: Robin Hood is not the hero we know him to be in this book. The story is set twelve years after he walked out on Marian and their children. Since then, Robin has been living at the monastery with Tuck, devoting his life to God, denouncing Marian and her magical powers and never visiting his children.

But then word reaches Nottingham that several of Robin’s old friends have died in mysterious ways. When word reaches Nottingham, Tuck asks Marian’s help. He thinks something more sinister is at work: maybe a curse? Marian herself has lost her partner to this mysterious curse, so she decides to help. She wants to visit the places her friends have died. Before leaving she calls on the Lady of the Fae in Sherwood Forest, asking for help in identifying this curse and protection for her children while she is away. On her journey visiting the ‘crime scenes’, she is joined by Bert, one of the Fae known as a jester. Jack, a Warrior, is also drawn into the mystery because of his sister, who was married to one of the men who fell victim to the curse. 

Although I thought the story was great and had enormous potential, I didn’t entirely enjoy reading this book. For one, I found the writing style quite jarring. I had that peculiar feeling of being told something rather than experiencing or letting my imagination fill in some of the details. 

The writing sometimes also felt quite repetitive. One example that comes to mind is telling us when Marian is using her “Other sight”. It seems Moyer felt the need to point this out every single time. It was a bit unnecessary because after a few mentions, we as readers know that when she is looking at anything to do with the Fae, she is using her gift. 

I also wasn’t very impressed by the characters. My favourite by far was Bert. He grew from a weird and ominous side character to a potentially untrustworthy companion to a compassionate hero. I would even say he is thé hero of the story here. This should have been Marian, but throughout the journey she just gets annoyed at Robin (with good reason though, what an *ssh*le), while lamenting the fact that she once loved him. She gets rescued by her “Warrior” and Bert all the time and she ultimately only contributes to the story here and there. Given that this is HER story, I was quite disappointed about that. I was looking forward to a story about a strong, independent woman but that’s not quite what I got. 

I even think the story would have been better without Jack. Marian has just lost the man she was with for the last decade and then gets all flustered about this strong Warrior that stumbles across her path. The story didn’t need another love interest for Marian. She is a strong woman who was abandoned by one man and then finally found love with a genuinenly good man. It seems out of character that she should would fall in love again, days or weeks after the news that her partner passed away. She doesn’t need Jack or any man to make her work as a character in this book. Althought Marian mourning her partner is mentioned every time the love interest aspect of the book comes to the forefront, it seems a bit forced. 

Robin as a character was annoying. A fanatical Christian, he denounced everything that didn’t fit into his religious bubble. He became estranged from his friends, his wife and his children. Although we do learn the reason behind this decision, he was still a frustrating character. I was also a bit annoyed that although he is not the main focus of the story and should be a side character, in the end, it all revolves around him again.

It is however easy to pinpoint grievances with a story or a book when you’re writing a review. It’s actually a lot easier than writing about a book you liked. For all that I struggled with some of the characters and the writing, I did find myself picking the book up again and again because I wanted to know what would happen next. Something in the book caught my attention and kept me reading. I think the story was a good one, the choice to focus on Marian excellent and the combination of historical/mythical fantasy with a murder mystery a recipe for an intriguing story. However, the execution could in my opinion have been better. 

I would have loved this book more if Marion and Bert had gone off on their quest alone, solving murders and dealing with dark magic, meeting magical creatures along the way. Now that is a book that I would have devoured!

Release Date: September 5th, 2019
Publisher: Jo Fletcher Books
Age Group:  (Young) Adult
Pages: 320
Format: Hardcover
Source: Received from the publisher in exchange for an honest review