La Fletxa negra (1888)

The afterward to the Black Arrow edition I read called it a minor work by a major author. I would agree with this assessment. An enjoyable read about a young nobleman set during the War of the Roses in the 1400s. The protagonist Dick Shelton is seventeen and the ward of a Lord who Dick learns is his father's murderer. Dick struggles to free himself and regain his rightful inheritance and he must decide which side of this form of a civil war he should take. Stevenson threw a silly, improbable and unbelievable tale of mistaken identity into the mix of this story. The "lad" Jack is clearly a girl dressed as a boy to everyone except the main character. Is he that dense? The Black Arrow is no Treasure Island or Kidnapped but Stevenson wrote for a living and had to produce on a regular basis, everything he wrote wasn't golden.

I read Stevenson at Silverado by Anne Issler awhile ago. This book tells about Robert Louis Stevenson's time in Northern California. An interesting time in the authors life. He came to California in poor health and in a bad financial condition. He and his wife had to find a cheap place to live where he could write and restore his finances. He found the cheap place in the abandoned Silverado Mine in the upper Napa Valley. This book led me to want to read more of Stevenson. ( )

Very good historical adventure novel. Lots of plot twists and very interesting use of language. ( )

This book wasn't for me. I wasn't fully engaged in really much of the story. When I did tune in to the audiobook, I liked what I heard, but not enough to stop everything else and pay real close attention. ( )

An adventure story from medieval England, one of the best things RLS wrote, much less known but for my money much more captivating than The Treasure Island or The Master of Ballantrae, although yet not as good as Kidnapped. (Unless I'm too sentimental, this being one of the first books by him I've ever read.) ( )

Loved this book when I read in high school, disappointed when I realized it was a Dramation and not the actual book.