“Marian" by Ella Lyons (2016)

Marian by Ella Lyons is the very first lesbian Robin Hood retelling I read back in 2017, and lesbian Robin Hood retellings has since become my niche. This book spurred me into reading as many lesbian Robin Hood novels as I could find, searching for the ideal book for me. Marian was the perfect place to start that search and promised a female Robin Hood and a lesbian romance.

Marian Banner is a young girl of fourteen, living in a small village where her father is revered for his earned position as a knight in King John’s retinue. As her father ascends in his position, Marian and her father move to Nottingham, where Marian meets Robin, a girl who dreams of becoming a knight and serving the king. The two quickly become friends, and after a short time begin to have deeper feelings for each other.

As a Robin Hood retelling, this novella acts as more of a prequel, and we see Robin and Marian develop into the heroes we’re more familiar with. The traditional characters are few, limited to only Marian, Robin, Little John, Friar Tuck, and King John. Notably, there is no Sheriff of Nottingham, and most of the Merry Men are not present either.

Rather than historical fiction, I think this book is best enjoyed as historical fantasy. The “historical” elements of this book stop with the names of the previous and current king. I don’t think the book suffers from this, however. Without the weight of being historical fiction, we are given two young queer girls who can freely determine their sexuality without the constraints of medieval society. Robin is forthright about her lack of desire for a husband, and Marian at once recognizes that she is the same — a scenario that seems quite unlikely in medieval England.

The limited historical inspiration worked well for the LGBTQ storyline, but ultimately felt jarring for me as a reader. Idioms, names, housing, social hierarchies (and more) have very little basis in historical fact. Which, in the context of a cute historical fantasy, is fine. But it feels wrong anyway, and the historical dissonance is what ultimately made this book unenjoyable for me.

Another problem for me is that I don’t understand who the target audience is for this book. While Part One makes up the book’s majority and feels very much aimed at younger readers, the second part of the book, which is much shorter, contains more graphic and mature content.

Marian is (somewhat graphically) sexually assaulted and physically abused. She is also accused of “f***ing the knights in their beds”, which really threw me for a loop in a book that otherwise feels appropriate for 4th grader. 

Part One felt much younger, both because of the characters’ ages and the writing style. Part Two is much more obviously YA. These two vastly different types of story left me confused. Having a more concentrated narrative in one style or the other might have made for a smoother reading experience.

If you’re looking for a historically inclined Robin Hood retelling, or medieval historical fiction with a lesbian relationship… this is not it. If you want a sweet historical fantasy with two girls falling in love with content loosely borrowed from Robin Hood, I guess this could be the book for you?

(Note: This review is an edited version of a review I wrote on Goodreads in July 2017. I'm currently working to fill out my bibliography of Robin Hood book reviews here on this blog as I move away from using Goodreads.)