Een fantastische hervertelling van Robin Hood

Arrows & Gems by Erin Halbmaier is a retelling of several fairytales all in once: Robin Hood, Snow White and Rose Red. As I love reading fairytales and have read several books by this author, I really wanted to read this book.

Now that I have read it, I can say this is one of the best fairytales I have read lately. From the very first page I was pulled into the story of Princess Helena, who runs away to avoid a forced marriage. When she runs into famous outlaw and archer Cap, they immediately don’t like each other. But somehow, they are stuck together as Helena (or Margit, as she does not want him to know who she really is) gets injured and Cap has no choice but to aid her.

I just love Helena! She is a great character, feisty, fierce and full of banter and a great archer. Everything she says is funny, but she hides behind her jokes as she has a sad history. She does not want anyone to know who she really is. But archer/outlaw Cap is also not who he appears to be. Cap is also a wonderful person, he is really a kind of Robin Hood, and while I was reading, I wondered who he really was. Erin Halbmaier gives some hints during this story, so I kept reading. The story is engaging and there are several twists and turns in this story, that I had a really, really hard time putting the book down. I did not want it to end, but at the same time I wanted to know all.

The writing style is flowing, fast paced. The world-building, story-line and plot are fantastic. Near the end I thought all was lost, but then a really good plot-twist came along.

Arrows & Gems is a fantastic fairytale retelling, with a fantastic FMC, a great MMC, a good supportive cast, and with a great story-line. If you want to read a superb retelling, filled with great banter, you have to read this book! I cannot wait to read the next book by Erin Halbmaier.

Highly recommended!