The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood is not the story from any of the movies, as there is no Maid Marian, and while they kind of help the poor, they mainly prank people and keep guys who ran afoul of the law from getting killed. However, the stories are classics, and this version does cover most of the major characters.

I've tried to decide how much characterization there is, and it is a bit tough, as the characters are presented very much as regular guys who like to hang out, drink, sing, and occasionally punch each other or prank someone. While that seems kind of shallow, probably a lot of people are like that. The reader does know a fair amount about what the named characters are like, so I think that counts.

The setting is a bit odd, as it is idealized beyond even the idealization of fairy tales. Yeah, some people are poor, but mostly, it is poverty for the sake of story ("they were poor, so the son stole something, so he got in trouble with the law, and Robin Hood rescued him") rather than poverty being an ongoing problem. The main evil in the world are corrupt members of the clergy and the sheriff. When the aristocracy are in conflict with Robin Hood, which is rare, they are usually being egged on by a greedy member of the clergy. From what I can find, this choice of Catholic clergy as the bad guys worked well for the Protestant population of England who would have been reading it.

As for the plot, some of it is helping people or going to a fair to compete, but plenty of it is "they went out to cause some good, clean mischief and here's what happened". I have to admit that the "going out to cause trouble" part wasn't my favorite, but each of the stories had a beginning, middle, and end, plus some humor and often the introduction of a new character. It was plotted pretty well, even if it wasn't to my taste.

I probably wouldn't read this book again or another book by this author, as I just don't think pranking people or watching guys punch each other is all that fun. However, these stories are very accessible, and the audiobook read by David Case was quite good. He does a wonderful job singing all the songs in the book, which makes them much more appealing than they probably would otherwise have been. So, if you are interested and like audiobooks, I recommend that one.

If you like watching people prank each other on YouTube and don't like the Catholic church all that much, probably you would enjoy this book. Even if pranks aren't totally your thing, it isn't a hardship to read.