The Outlaw Chronicles

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.

The Tagline of Outlaw: "Meet the Godfather of Sherwood Forest"

A Historical Fiction re-imagining of the Robin Hood legend by Angus Donald, narrated by Alan A'Dayle, known as Alan Dale, who first appears as a 13 year old thief who lives near Nottingham in 1188, and is caught by the Sheriff, Ralph Murdac, who is responsible for the hanging of Alan's father, second son of a minor French Knight, a former wandering trouvère (troubadour). Alan is taken by his mother to Robin to seek his protection, and gives an oath of service until death. He is soon established as Robin's protégé and eventually becomes his right hand man, fighting alongside him first against Murdac (who forms an army to destroy Robin, and misleads Robin about the size of said army via assistance of The Mole), who is defeated and flees to Prince John, then, after Robin is pardoned and marries Marie-Anne, Countess of Locksley, becoming an Earl, and leading an army on the 3rd Crusade (Robin being Robin, he has an ulterior motive). In the latest book, Alan is dispatched to Germany to find and rescue King Richard who has been taken captive, while thwarting Prince John's efforts to keep Richard away from England and take power himself.

Robin in this version is the son of a Norman nobleman, known as Robert Odo, outlawed after torturing horribly and killing the abusive Priest who was his tutor and forms a base of support not unlike that of a modern Mafia Don. By the First book, he has long established his power base.

So far 3 books have been published, with a 4th (Warlord) due in 2012:

  • Outlaw (2009)
  • Holy Warrior (2010)
  • Kings Man (2011)
Tropes used in The Outlaw Chronicles include:

Goodie: He's my man bitch!

  • Anti-Hero / Anti-Villain: Robin is entirely self interested, but is fiercely protective of his friends, family and servants.
  • BadassJew: Reuben. Very much so. Throws knives so hard they go an inch into solid wood, and wields a scimitar with devastating skill.
  • The Archer: Robin, Friar Tuck and several others.
  • Aristocrats Are Evil: Murdac, Malbete, Prince John, and YMMV on Robin.
  • Badass Preacher: Friar Tuck. Brigid to an extent, since she is a pagan Priestess.
  • Big Bad: Murdac, later Prince John.
  • The Big Guy: Little John.
  • Boisterous Bruiser: Little John.
  • The Captain: Alan becomes this.
  • The Dreaded: Robin as an Outlaw, and the thought of his vengeance in later books.
  • Driven to Villainy: Nur
  • Face Heel Turn: Alan in King's Man its temporary, planting Alan as a spy in Prince John's household. Nur in a tragic Driven to Villainy example.
  • Fate Worse Than Death: Sir John Peveril. Robin cuts off all his limbs minus his left arm.
  • Famed in Story: Robin. Unsurprising, since Alan is the narrator and the one who writes the songs.
  • Gentle Giant: John, to an extent. Just don't piss him off.
  • Little Miss Badass: Goodie in Outlaw. At the age of 10/11, out in a bitterly cold winter after having seen her parents killed by Murdac's men and her home burnt down, she dispatches first a cannibalistic mad man and then a Big Badass Wolf with Alan's poniard (a foot long knife/short sword).
  • Moral Event Horizon: Robin crosses this. Repeatedly.
  • The Obi-Wan: Sir Richard at Lea to Alan.
  • Public Domain Character: Most of them. Alan also takes the role of the probably apocryphal minstrel Blondel.
  • Revenge: Robin does this a lot. Alan's father is hanged on Murdac's orders. Alan captures Murdac and has him hanged.
  • Reverse Mole: Alan
  • The Rival: Murdac to Robin and Guy of Gisborne to Alan.
  • Roaring Rampage of Revenge: Robin against the Peverils.
  • Ship Tease: By the beginning of Holy Warrior it is quite obvious that Alan and Goodie are going to get together at some point.
  • Smug Snake: Murdac, Prince John and Guy of Gisborne.
  • This Is Sparta: At the end of King's Man: "You! Killed! My! Kitten!
  • Title Drop: Regularly and obviously in the first two books, and with greater emphasis in King's Man, when Alan vows to himself that he will serve Richard for all his life, declaring himself: "A king's man"
  • Villain Protagonist: Robin to an extent.
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