Shadow of the Wolf - Tim Hall

A world of gods and monsters. An elemental power, rising. This is Robin Hood, reborn, as he has never been seen before… 
Robin Loxley is seven years old when his parents disappear without trace. Years later the great love of his life, Marian, is also taken from him. Driven by these mysteries, and this anguish, Robin follows a darkening path into the ancient heart of Sherwood Forest. What he encounters there will leave him transformed, and will alter forever the legend of Robin Hood.

First, I have to take a moment to talk about how beautiful the book cover is. I bought this on my Kindle, but I want to buy the hard copy, just for the amazing cover.

This is a book which is hard to put into a category.  I will call it a historical supernatural fantasy OR high fantasy. It follows a boy - Robin Loxley - over a series of about 8-10 yrs of his life. I am not sure about how much time has lapsed in this book, so that is an estimate. The other main Protagonist is Marian Delbosque. She is a hard girl to like in my opinion. 

The supernatural elements in this book were very unique. I have not read anything like it. I do feel as though they were a little confusing, and we do not fully know what the special power is. I hope that this will be straightened out in the next book. 

Like most YA fantasy book that I have read, there is one main enemy figure, but there are also others which are evil and cruel. The Sheriff was the main enemy and he really is evil and twisted. This, again, i hope will be taken further in the next book because there is so much more that can be done with this character and there is so much that is unknown about him. Edric, if The Sheriff is evil, this guy is truly psychotic. I loved the way this character was portrayed. It was just right. I sometimes find that characters like Edric are over dramatised, but here it was not. 

The writing in this book was second to none. I had never read anything by Tim Hall, so I didn't know what to expect and I LOVED THIS BOOK. Definitely one of my favourite YA books of all time. Please read it. 

5/5 stars.

P.S. If you do not like cliffhangers, do not read this book. It is not a WHAT ON EARTH type of cliffhanger, but it is still there.