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embereye's review against another edition
4.0
Nice take on a fusion of Shakespeare's possible early life with things from his plays and possible inspirations in the form of elves from faerieland. Etc. Fun and written with the idea of trying to be similar to the plays in terms of style of writing.
kcollett75's review
Will Shakespeare’s wife Nan and baby Susanna have been taken by the Fair Folk; Quicksilver, usurped brother of the fairy king, wants to use Will to avenge his parents’ murder and get the throne back. One of my main quarrels with the book is that Will doesn’t seem smart enough, and he is almost entirely passive. I think I want him to be more like Miles Vorkosigan. At any rate, _some_ of the intelligence and wisdom we see in his writing ought to be evident in his character.
mermahoney's review
2.0
This book tried be like a play, including having each chapter be a scene. There were many references to Shakespeare's plays in the text though I'm sure I missed a lot of them. Ultimately it didn't work for me because the chosen style resulted in lots of running around and talking a lot more in the manner of Shakespeare's plays than Shakespeare himself and his contemporaries probably did. While fairies may reasonably speak that way, Shakespeare as a young man probably didn't. The story had some interesting components but the plot moved slowly.
cj_jones's review against another edition
2.0
I got about a third of the way into this book before I had to set it aside. The concept was irresistible--Shakespeare versus the fairies. I think there's a story in here, but it suffers from first novel syndrome. The writing is... something like 'florid' and close to 'purple', but the result is that everything described seems like a set piece on stage--from one angle, it looks magnificent, but step a little to one side and you see the front and the lumber propping it up. The author tries much to hard to show how clever the story is--oh look, here's Henry IV, oh there's Hamlet, and here's Romeo and Juliet, Big Ben, Parliament... I would have been delighted by this in high school, but now I find it awkward and a bit painful. We're moving from scene to scene in a precious Shakespearean clip episode.
I know the author is a Shakespearean scholar, so I trust the dialogue is accurate, but it feels very Renne Faire.
I kept on reading this book long after good judgement said to move on, because I really wanted to like it. But I couldn't manage it.
(Oh. I forgot the annoying bit where all the women know about fairies and have to talk about it in hushed tones away from the menfolk and it seems like that's *all* they talk about.)
I know the author is a Shakespearean scholar, so I trust the dialogue is accurate, but it feels very Renne Faire.
I kept on reading this book long after good judgement said to move on, because I really wanted to like it. But I couldn't manage it.
(Oh. I forgot the annoying bit where all the women know about fairies and have to talk about it in hushed tones away from the menfolk and it seems like that's *all* they talk about.)
karireads's review against another edition
2.0
It seemed like such a good idea. Unfortunately the prose veers between Shakespeare quotes (I was prepared for some, I got a whole lot more than I expected) and prose that was overwrought, nigh onto purple. The combination was just too much.
I found the plot intriguing: Nan, young Will Shakespeare's beloved wife, is taken (along with her baby) by the usurping elf king to be his wife and nursemaid to his daughter. The rightful elf king wants his throne, Nan wants to go home to Will, and Will wants his wife and daughter back. I particularly appreciated a fictional Shakespeare and Ann who love one another and want to be together. Too often, Ann is either a shrew or a non-entity.
But all the quotes made it feel like the book was one of those hidden object puzzles where the image exists purely for purposes of hiding other images. If you think a game of "I spy the Shakespeare reference" sounds like fun, you'll probably like the book. For me, it got tiresome quickly.
I found the plot intriguing: Nan, young Will Shakespeare's beloved wife, is taken (along with her baby) by the usurping elf king to be his wife and nursemaid to his daughter. The rightful elf king wants his throne, Nan wants to go home to Will, and Will wants his wife and daughter back. I particularly appreciated a fictional Shakespeare and Ann who love one another and want to be together. Too often, Ann is either a shrew or a non-entity.
But all the quotes made it feel like the book was one of those hidden object puzzles where the image exists purely for purposes of hiding other images. If you think a game of "I spy the Shakespeare reference" sounds like fun, you'll probably like the book. For me, it got tiresome quickly.
alyssaarch's review against another edition
4.0
I couldn’t help but pick this book up: a Shakespeare historical fiction with fae? Yes, please. I figured it would be kind of silly, but at least entertaining, and it was that.
Shakespeare gets home to find that his wife and daughter have been captured; he finds out that the local fae king is responsible and works to get his family back. Overall, I thought this was a fun read. It’s entertaining and I love the idea of fae elements inspiring Shakespeare. Quicksilver is a fantastic character and I hope we get to see more of him in future books. I enjoyed seeing his character growth throughout the book. It was also fun to be introduced to the area where Shakespeare might have lived, and I always enjoy reading new takes on fae lore.
I did have a few issues with it, though. There were a few too many direct quotes from Shakespeare’s works to make me take it too seriously. Also, not much really happens. It’s a lot of internal growth and internal thought, which is fine, but when you have a battle between Shakespeare and the fae king, I want just a tiny bit more action. I’m also not a huge fan of how most of the female characters are portrayed. Maybe it’s just looking at them through Will’s or Quicksilver’s eyes, but they were not given complex roles at all. They were either very mean or simpering, which was unfortunate.
However, I still found this enjoyable and I’m interested to see what adventure awaits in the sequel. It’s a bit of a different take on both fantasy and historical fiction, so I love it for the uniqueness if nothing else.
Also posted on Purple People Readers.
Shakespeare gets home to find that his wife and daughter have been captured; he finds out that the local fae king is responsible and works to get his family back. Overall, I thought this was a fun read. It’s entertaining and I love the idea of fae elements inspiring Shakespeare. Quicksilver is a fantastic character and I hope we get to see more of him in future books. I enjoyed seeing his character growth throughout the book. It was also fun to be introduced to the area where Shakespeare might have lived, and I always enjoy reading new takes on fae lore.
I did have a few issues with it, though. There were a few too many direct quotes from Shakespeare’s works to make me take it too seriously. Also, not much really happens. It’s a lot of internal growth and internal thought, which is fine, but when you have a battle between Shakespeare and the fae king, I want just a tiny bit more action. I’m also not a huge fan of how most of the female characters are portrayed. Maybe it’s just looking at them through Will’s or Quicksilver’s eyes, but they were not given complex roles at all. They were either very mean or simpering, which was unfortunate.
However, I still found this enjoyable and I’m interested to see what adventure awaits in the sequel. It’s a bit of a different take on both fantasy and historical fiction, so I love it for the uniqueness if nothing else.
Also posted on Purple People Readers.
ellenw's review against another edition
3.0
Does what it says on the tin, but nothing beyond. I rolled my eyes a couple times at the "Shakespeare's inspiration!" bits.
(One of my goals for the year is to read through a chunk of my print backlog and determine whether to keep things. Cross one off that list! And this one's not a keeper!)
(One of my goals for the year is to read through a chunk of my print backlog and determine whether to keep things. Cross one off that list! And this one's not a keeper!)
kimberlybea's review
4.0
Have you ever read a book for a second time and gotten so much more out of it than you had the first time you read it? That's how [b:Ill Met by Moonlight|13989|Ill Met by Moonlight (The Doubled Edge, Book 2)|Mercedes Lackey|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1166575485s/13989.jpg|16088] was for me. I think I read it first in 2003, and enjoyed it, but I'm not sure I sensed just how clever the book actually was. Quicksilver is the youngest son of Titania and Oberon, by rights the heir to their kingdom after their mysterious deaths. However, his older brother Sylvanus holds the throne, and has taken a mortal woman, Nan, as nursemaid for his daughter and possibly more. Suspecting foul play, Quicksilver, who switches genders at will (no pun intended), seeks out the help of a mortal to avenge his parents' death, a mortal who happens to be Nan's husband, a young petty schoolmaster named [b:William Shakespeare|18135|Romeo and Juliet|William Shakespeare|http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51XTDJ3P4XL._SL75_.jpg|3349450]. Hoyt has a lot of fun with Shakespeare in this novel, playing around with the facts of his life and the identity of his mysterious "dark lady," but also peppering her novel with references to his works, both their plots and their language. I think initially I found Quicksilver unsympathetic, but actually his behavior seems quite consistent with the portrayal of elves in Elizabethan ballads.. Nan and Will come across as likable, if flawed, human beings, and it is easy to see their appeal for their elven suitors. The dialogue is Elizabethan (and some of it will be very familiar), but not overly stilted or difficult to understand. An enjoyable read for most [b:fantasy lover|84136|Fantasy Lover (Dark-Hunter, #1)|Sherrilyn Kenyon|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1171050604s/84136.jpg|2384]s, I think, and doubly so if they like Shakespeare as well.
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