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ROBIN AND HER MISFITS by Kelly Ann Jacobson

ROBIN AND HER MISFITS

by Kelly Ann Jacobson

Pub Date: April 25th, 2023
ISBN: 978-1-953103-31-4
Publisher: Three Rooms Press

Robin and her Merry Misfits steal from the rich and give to themselves.

All five of the Misfits, including Robin, keep secrets about their lives before Nottingham, the home they built on an overgrown, foreclosed lot in Florida. The world rejected them, but they found each other. Together, they steal watches, televisions, diamonds, and more for Uncle Frank, a brutal mob boss who recruited Robin off the streets when she was 16. Their cherished life at Nottingham comes to an end when someone puts a $500,000 bounty on Robin’s head. In this modern reimagining of the legend of Robin Hood, a cast of queer girls fight to free themselves from the control of powerful crime families and their own pasts. The fast-paced action and high stakes offer initial appeal, but the story suffers from bland characterization and sudden plot twists that rely heavily on after-the-fact flashback sequences to explain the events. Robin’s flat personality makes the nonlinear plot more difficult to follow. Both Robin and her best friend, Little John, fall for Daisy Chain, a White, culturally appropriating Manic Pixie Dream Girl who speaks in Shakespeare quotes. Their messy love triangle is resolved by the hasty introduction of a new character. Most of the cast is presumed White; Robin’s surname is Ramirez, but her characterization includes no significant indicators of her ethnicity.

A heist with no payout.

(Fiction. 14-18)