Book Review: Scarlet by A.C. Gaughen

Image (c) Walker Childrens

Scarlet (Scarlet #1) by A.C. Gaughen
Release Date: February 12th, 2012
Book Format: Library Book
Rating: Three stars

Will Scarlet is good at two things: stealing from the rich and keeping secrets - skills that are in high demand in Robin Hood's band of thieves, who protect the people of Nottingham from the evil sheriff. Scarlet's biggest secret of all is one only Robin and his men know...that she is posing as a thief; that the slip of a boy who is fast with sharp knives is really a girl.

The terrible events in her past that led Scarlet to hide her real identity are in danger of being exposed when the thief taker Lord Gisbourne arrives in town to rid Nottingham of the Hood and his men once and for all. As Gisbourne closes in a put innocent lives at risk, Scarlet must decide how much the people of Nottingham mean to her, especially John Little, a flirtatious fellow outlaw, and Robin, whose quick smiles have the rare power to unsettle her. There is real honor among these thieves and so much more - making this a fight worth dying for.

I'm not quite sure what I was expecting when I read this book, but I certainly wasn't expecting this mess of a love triangle between Scarlet, John Little and Robin Hood. I was hoping for a female who kicked ass and defended herself valiantly. I was expecting something that was... not this.

We follow a girl named Will Scarlet (but, oh- she's hiding her identity and masquerading as a guy, so technically Will Scarlet isn't her real name at all) who ends up being in a group of thieves with John Little, Robin Hood and Much (surely I'm not the only one confused with that guy's name. At first, I didn't even think it was referring to someone, to be honest...). They steal to help the poor, which... you know, since the group has someone named Robin, it's not much of a surprise. Scarlet remains hidden to keep away from her past which is slowly catching up to her, which involves a man called Lord Gisbourne. He has shown many times that he would do anything to find her, including killing many people in his wake, and it's ultimately her decision to decide whether her running away is worth all the bloodshed she's leaving behind to save herself.

That's the thing, though: I can't understand why she'd willingly watch all these people die knowing what the Lord really wanted in the end. Even so, all those deaths weighing on anyone's mind would be enough to push me to wonder if all of this was really worth it if innocent lives were on stake for freedom for myself.

But I think the worse offense of this whole thing is the love triangle. The horrid love triangle. There was so much of it I barely kept up with it all. Scarlet indicated that she had a hint of a crush on Robin but never really went for it cause he'd never hinted that he liked her too. In fact, I saw him more as her older brother or something and I was hoping it would stay that way. John took a little bit longer to admit his admiration for Scar, but at least he did, but she pushed him away. It was after that when Robin suddenly became jealous and got irritated at her for even thinking about liking John to the point that he threatened her to leave the group because, you know, it's better to leave her off alone than to admit he liked her too. It's like watching a ping pong tournament that never ends and all you wish is that you could get your wasted time back.

[Highlight to see spoilers). Out of all of this, once Scarlet finally came face to face with Lord Gisbourne (and I mean had a small conversation with him), I ended up liking him much more than any other character in the story. All he wanted was to pursue her and marry her, just like in the contract her father made for the both of them. There even hinted that he was never a bad guy, only that she made him this way, and... a little part of me shipped them together, okay? I mean, the ship is much more logical than John Little and Robin fighting over Scar and hnnnnngh come on.

Still, I can't say I didn't like this book. If you can bypass the love triangle, it's a fairly good book. In the end, it's still about Scarlet who wants to help others even if she does become a little bit too selfless to where she could have gotten herself killed many of times. On top of that, she really doesn't do much to hide her identity as a female. There were a couple of times where I read the book and wonder how the hell does anyone NOT know that she's a female? Honestly. She certainly didn't try hard enough to keep it a secret in my opinion.

If you're looking for adventure and don't mind a side of romance *coughlovetrianglecough*, then you'd love this book.

 Originally posted and shared January 11th, 2014