Tuck 1: Intro

Stephen R. Lawhead’s Tuck is the final installment of his "King Raven" trilogy.

Robin Hood has changed a lot over the years. Originally, the name was just a common name for a robber. Then it merged with the popular English stereotype of the trickster, and soon the character picked up some pious yet anti-authority qualities and eventually became the patron saint of redistributing wealth. But he also moved away from his common, lower-middle class origins to become linked with nobility (originally Saxon). Sir Walter Scott was one of the first to make him an anti-Norman freedom fighter in Ivanhoe.

So now he's a Welsh lord with a retconned name (Rhi Bran y Hud). It makes sense, because his weapon of choice was of Welsh origin. In a way the story is almost more about the longbow, which I think could be considered the first truly modern weapon. Instead of fighting face to face or at least at relatively close range, a Welsh archer could strike you dead before you saw him him and definitely before you could reach him. He was the first sniper, and his weapon must have seemed like the Devil's own magic. Only the crossbow came close, and given its comparatively pathetic reload rate, it didn't come that close.

(Cannons and trebuchets are more awesome to look at, but try wheeling them through a forest or targeting a specific person, and you'll see why the accuracy, speed, and agility of the archer made his longbow even more terrifying.)

Anyway--in Tuck we find Rhi Bran and his nemesis of the moment, the hissably icky Abbot Hugo, each facing sharp reductions in headcount without the other's knowledge. So they both decide to pick up some new fighters, which means in Bran's case a new character--Alan A. Dale, not to be confused with his kinky terpsichorean brother Chip N. The Lady Merian has her own clever ideas about recruitment that show the area badly needs a good newspaper with Society and Obituary pages.

But Bran's personal edition of Mission: Impossible is probably the best part, in which he somehow plays Salome without disrobing. (No, I won't explain that beyond saying Chip N. Dale isn't involved. Read the book.) Suffice it to say that it tests all Bran's fiber, and he learns an important lesson about gratitude.

Through it all, Tuck is a pacifist before the fight and a head-basher during it. This is called versatility. Despite numerous rebuffs, he keeps trying to find someone to join him in a duet of "Why Can't We Be Friends?" What a trouper.

Meanwhile, the rest of the CSFF bloggers are your friends, and unlike me, they'll probably be delighted to loan you money. Why don't you drop in on them and ask?

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