Cool! King Edward (the somethingth - first?)...I don't know when this was, but well after Richard Lionheart (the period I know best). Hugh Fletcher has a lot of Robin Hood's stories - the master bowman, outlaws in the forest (though not Sherwood), the tournament - but he's far from a replica. Different past, very different friends and allies - I'd have liked to see more of Ambrose. And a very different way out of the woods - he joins the King's army going to France, and plays a large part in the battle of Crécy and the lead-up to it. The story is exciting, the characters are rich and well-drawn, the history is fascinating (there's an afterword explaining who really did what Hugh is credited with in the story). Worth reading and rereading, and I am confirmed in my desire to find more Ronald Welch books! ( )

Raised in the forest of Goodrich since the day he was found, an abandoned infant, Hugh Fletcher was an outlaw with some unusual qualities. Disciplined, honorable, and very skilled as a bowman, he had a vision for the community of fellow outlaws around him, and when circumstances saw one of his closest companions—veteran soldier and master bowman Jack Cherryman—taken prisoner by Sir Henry Mortimer, he mounted a rescue effort that solidified his status as a leader. Soon his band of forest outlaws were known throughout the area of Goodrich, and even beyond. When Sir John Carey—one of King Edward III's right-hand men—came looking for bowmen to take with him to France, Hugh knew he himself had found a leader he could follow. The campaign that followed was one of danger and conflict, as Hugh and his men participated the King's French offensive, during the course of the Hundred Years War...

After greatly enjoying Ronald Welch's Knight Crusader, the Carnegie Medal-winning novel which told the story of a young knight in the Holy Land during the time just before and during the Third Crusade, I was eager to pick up this second installment in the "Carey Family Chronicles," and I was not disappointed. Sir John Carey is the descendant of Philip d'Aubigny, protagonist of Knight Crusader, but this is not really a sequel, and Sir John is not the true hero here. That role falls to Hugh, whose story is immediately involving and engaging. Much like the previous book, Bowman of Crécy drew me in immediately, and kept me hooked—I read it in two sessions. The first part of the book felt very Robin Hood-like to me, with its story of a disciplined band of outlaws establishing a parallel society of their own, in the midst of the forest, while the second part extended outward, past the forest and past England, into one of the most protracted struggles of the Middle Ages. Welch does not sugarcoat his tale, and there is frank description of the carnage of battle, and the inglorious behavior of invading armies, from looting to inter-unit conflicts amongst the soldiers. That said, he stays strictly away from any sexual aspects of warfare, whether that be camp followers or rapes committed by soldiers, which is probably not surprising, given the target audience here.

Although I don't know that I enjoyed this one quite as much as the first—somehow, Philip just appealed to me more, as a protagonist, than Hugh did; and I also greatly missed the illustrations of William Stobbs, finding Ian Ribbons' work second-rate, in comparison—this was still immensely engaging, and is one I would recommend to young readers who enjoy historical fiction. This one stands alone—Philip d'Aubigny is not mentioned at all, so if the reader does not already know this is somehow related to Knight Crusader, there is nothing here to tell him—so it can be picked up without any worry about prior or subsequent titles about the members of the Carey family. ( )

Very, very readable. I wouldn't give it to a sensitive child to read however, as both men and horses die violently, and descriptively!