Cedric the Forester

Is it just me or did it feel like Cedric ended several different times? Every couple of chapters brought a completely new dramatic arc: new intro, new rising action, new conflict, new resolution. The main characters remained the same, but little else did. Another really serious bloody conflict just a year or two after the last one was all figured out?! But maybe that's the Middle Ages for ya.  Perhaps I would not have been so confused had the title read: Cedric the Crossbowman: A Collection of Tales.

And I realize that Cedric is set in England during the Middle Ages, but it's still rather unsettling that every conflict in the book is resolved by killing someone (or several someones). I mean, Cedric is a pretty cool character. His underdog-championing is admirable and his pro-civil liberties cause is worth supporting. I just wish that he and Dickon (the narrator) didn't solve all of their problems with a crossbow.