Description: Though once a baron's daughter, Lady Merry Ellison is willing to go to any lengths to protect the orphaned children of her former village. Dubbed "The Ghosts of Farthingale Forest," her band of followers soon become enemies of the throne when they hijack ill-gotten gold meant for the king.
Timothy Grey, ninth child of the Baron of Greyham, longs to perform some feat so legendary that he will rise from obscurity and earn a title of his own. When the Ghosts of Farthingale Forest are spotted in Wyndeshire, where he serves as assistant to the local earl, he might have found his chance. But when he comes face-to-face with the leader of the thieves, will he choose fame or love?
My Thoughts: The story which takes place in Dauntless is entertaining, if a bit less grand of a story than Robin Hood. The message to it is far more personal, about the choices we make in life, rather than national, the distribution of wealth and power.
There is a love triangle, and for once I found myself on the side of the guy who you know wont win the girl. I had liked Allen for Merry far more than I had liked Timothy. Unfortunately, this might have been because Timothy was described in the beginning in a very feminine way (soft, with hair pretty enough to be a girls), where Allen was more masculine. It took me a while to believe that Merry could have found Timothy so handsome, and then even longer to decide what else she liked about him.
As an "enemy" to the King, Merry constantly had to worry about being arrested. I believe most everyone remembers King John from the Robin Hood stories and how tyrannical he was, so Merry's concern was well justified. That and her being a thief, a crime punishable by hanging, made the conflict very real. However, I was disappointed when, toward the end, the villain Hadley served as the climax (or at least the final conflict, as my book was missing about 20 pages before this). It was disappointing after the continued reminder of just how dangerous the king was.
There is a good bit of the story to love. The kids are adorable, Allen's pretty awesome, and the danger is historicallyaccurate. Unfortunately, the ending disappointed me. I would have liked a little more conflict, as well as some more loose ends left to be tied up in the next book (which will probably be about Allen).
I received this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
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