‘Doctor Who: The Return of Robin Hood’ – Paul Magrs (Puffin)

As far as my reading goes, I can’t really remember what the first part of this year was all about. But as we start to turn the final corner and head for the end of 2023, I can say with great certainty that I am all about comfort reading for the foreseeable future. Not that my life is particularly bad at the moment, there’s just a hell of a lot of it trying to cram itself into not enough space and that’s where the comfort reading comes in. Good books that I know I’ll enjoy and a way to take time out to get my head straight before heading back into it. You know what I mean, don’t you? Yes, you do… 😊

And that’s where the good Doctor pokes his head out of the TARDIS to say hello. You lot probably knew this already but it struck me, the other day, that a ‘comfort read’ doesn’t have to be a book that you’ve read countless times before. All it needs to be is familiar and for me, that instantly includes every single ‘Doctor Who’ book, whether I’ve read it or not. Especially if it has the Fourth Doctor on the cover, that’s really all it took for me to pick up ‘The Return of Robin Hood’ and give it a read…

Gold had come to the greenwood . . .

Robin Hood is disenchanted. Maid Marion has disappeared, and the legend of the Doctor has retreated into the shadows of Sherwood Forest.

But the Doctor is back! (Although this is his first visit - time travel does strange things to a story.)

And the timing couldn't be better. A new Sheriff of Nottingham is in town, out to get the Outlaws, and behind the scenes, the mythical Mother Maudlin has designs on the realm that are not of this earth . . .

With the Kingdom in peril, it's time for the return of the Lionheart.

The only problem with comfort reading is writing posts like these afterwards… With comfort reading, you’re not looking for a book that sparkles; you’re looking for a book that well, you know… All the stuff that I said. And that’s exactly what I got with ‘The Return of Robin Hood’, a book that did exactly what I wanted it to, and that was it. And that was perfect, it really was, it just doesn’t leave me with a lot to say here…

What I can say is that while the plot itself does its job, it doesn’t do a lot that’s new and that’s ok, the adventure/horror crossover was exactly what I was after. The concept of the Fourth Doctor visiting Sherwood after his future self does, but his future self not remembering, is a great hook to get you interested and it certainly worked for me. What kept me reading wasn’t so much the plot though, more the characters; that is where the ‘sparkle’ is to be found. Magrs just gets not only who the Fourth Doctor, Sarah-Jane and Harry are but also how they interact together. Watching these three on the page is just like watching them in any of their TV stories and you can’t ask for any more than that really. That’s what made the book really work for me and I know that long-time fans will enjoy it just as much as I did.

So… ‘The Return of Robin Hood’ was just the comfort read I needed and it will definitely be re-read somewhere down the line. I’m inevitably reading books far later than everyone else so if you’re a Doctor Who fan then you’ve already read this one and I’m guessing that you enjoyed it as much as I did. If you haven’t though, I think you should 😉