This week’s “beginning” comes from Hood, Stephen R. Lawhead’s reimagination of the Robin Hood myth. For those who haven’t read my post on Legends Reimagined, Hood features “Robin” as a Welsh freedom fighter during the Norman Conquest. Here is how it begins:
The pig was young and wary, a yearling boar timidly testing the wind for strange scents as it ventured out into the honey-coloured light of a fast-fading day. Bran ap Brychan, Prince of Elfael, had spent the entire day stalking the greenwood for a suitable prize, and he meant to have this one.
Eight years old and the king’s sole heir, he knew well enough that he would never be allowed to go out into the forest alone. So rather than seek permission, he had simply taken his bow and four arrows early that morning and stolen from the caer unnoticed. This hunt, like the young boar, was dedicated to his mother, the queen.
This opening focuses a lot on the defiant boy Bran (the future Mr. Hood), and barely hints at conflict – why Bran has to dedicate this hunt to his mother, suggesting something ill might have befallen her. The book presents an interesting take on the Robin Hood legend, but I’ll leave it to you whether its opening has the making of a great beginning.
Now for the blip. For the past six months or so I’ve regularly posted my main blog posts on Wednesday. This week, due to travel, I’ll need to push that to Thursday. So stay tuned then for my next post on the Top 5 Elements of a Great Epic. Hope you enjoy it!