Whoever designs these covers should be given a prize, they’re so beautiful…

This has been on my TBR for years! A.C. Gaughen took two years in releasing this after Scarlet, the cliffhanger of the same being brutal. It’s also a content-heavy first novel so I had forgotten what had happened by the time Lady Thief came out and lo behold, Lady Thief has been covered in metaphorical dust for a while. Readers who are unfamiliar with the story, be warned this review will contain spoilers for Scarlet.

So picking up right after that excruciating ending, Scarlet is married to the man she hates, in love with Robin Hood, deathly afraid to commit the sin of adultery and in general still trying to save Nottinghamshire from the devastation that comes with Gisbourne, Prince John and another Sheriff like the last.

This book is considerably rougher than the last and that was surprising to me because I thought the last one had plenty of hard moments. This one has a lot of questions regarding abuse in terms of both violence and sexual. There’s also a lot more political intrigue in the book compared to the last one. Where Scarlet was filled with action in terms of saving the citizens of Nottingham, Lady Thief had more political elements that sometimes ended with action scenes. It was interesting to see the change in the narrative. I like the idea that we’re adding onto elements of this story because sticking to the idea of Robin ultimately defeating the Sheriff through thieving would be far too similar and result in monotony.

In terms of characters, this book focuses more on Scarlet and Robin and sidelines the other members of the band. They still play roles and they are still loveable characters, but the focus is clearly trained on Scarlet and Robin and a lot of time is given to the nobility, especially Gisbourne as the villain.

Romance wise I loved the book, Scar and Rob are so good for each other. When Robin in his tortured state beats Scarlet while he sleeps, I was a bit concerned at how the book would tackle it. It’s done so well because while abuse under trauma can’t be condoned, one sees Robin take control of his actions. He tries anything and everything to get rid of his demons and in doing so he proves that he would never in a state of control over his senses do what he did. When he realized the situation is getting out of hand he does everything in his power to ensure he isn’t a danger to Scar or anyone in the band. It’s also a parallel drawn between how Rob treats Scar and how Gisbourne does. One getting a hold of himself and his trauma to ensure the sin is never committed again and one abusing Scar by beating her, allowing her to be insulted, allowing for her fingers to be cut off out of spite. It’s a parallel drawn so well because Scar admits that Gisbourne looks the part of a handsome lord, it’s the behaviour that differentiates both the men. I thought it was a healthy way to treat the subject and also Rob and Scar’s growth as a couple.

That being said Scar faces a lot of physical trauma in this book and that was hard for me to read because I can’t imagine the pain she must go through in this book. She gets threatened with rape multiple times, loses limbs, gets strangled, the broken hand that is constantly mangled, beaten and towards the end assaulted. So for readers who need a trigger warning, this is it.

The language remains harsh, in comparison to modern-day English, which added to the world-building in my opinion, but as Scar gets reacquainted with the nobility, we see the way she starts to speak ease out a bit from the churlish English she uses, though there are times where she seems to deliberately slip back into it.

And as the first book ended, the second ends with an even worse cliffhanger! I’m actually glad I’m picking these up in a single go because having to wait for the third book after this one would have been torturous!