cedartonk's review against another edition

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funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted reflective medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

peggy_racham's review

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4.75

Its hard to find a collection of short stories that seems so well put together. But this is truly nearly perfect. This will make me read all of Shakespeare

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adrzeck's review against another edition

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3.0

I listened to this one, so that may impact your rating.
Like 3.5 stars and I hold off on the last half because I loved how Adler talked about the reasoning why the Merchant of Venice was chosen...so I wanted to know why everyone picked their picks.

They start off everything with a snippet from each Shakespearian work, then roll into the author(S) interpretation.
I really loved
"Parting is Such Sweet Sorrow" - Cause Romeo is a creep.
"Taming of the Soul Mate"
"King of the Fairies"
"I Bleed"
"Some Other Metal"

sanjevi's review against another edition

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reflective medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

alongreader's review against another edition

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4.0

We all know Shakespeare's stories and phrases, whether we know it or not. Fifteen authors have picked their favourite story - and in one case, sonnet - and reimagined it with present, or occasionally past or future, characters and settings. The result is an incredible mix of new interpretations of this stories.


Ok, don't shoot me, but; I'm not a huge Shakespeare fan. I appreciate that he was amazingly brilliant and that the plays are wonderful ruminations on humanity at its best and worst. I've just never really enjoyed them.

But I did enjoy these short stories. Some more than others, as always with short story collections, but none were any less than interesting and some were fascinating. I think I liked Macbeth best, but Romeo and Juliet had a wonderfully creepy tone! I would also love to read more of the King Lear featured here, it's really intriguing.

This is a great collection and would make a fabulous accompaniment to the script of any of the featured plays. Wonderful.

camilapagaan's review against another edition

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fast-paced
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

goosemixtapes's review against another edition

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3.0

(5/28 off the 2022-specific TBR)

two things before i start:
1. i like shakespeare so, so much.
2. i can be occasionally coaxed into the classic american pastime of "being a hater."

i have felt, as of late, wherefore i know not, that i might be growing out of YA—not in the sense that one can ever be too old to enjoy a genre, but in the sense that i, personally, have found that i get the most enjoyment from... how do i say "books written in subtle prose that are about really shitty people" without making myself sound like a complete lunatic or like i'm shitting on YA (which CAN be subtle and intense and involve shitty people i know i know i know i know). whatever. the POINT is that YA hasn't been doing it for me as much lately, which makes sense because i'm not in high school anymore, and this is a YA collection, and i understand that & the fact that i'm not entirely the target audience! that said, i am at least partially the target audience in that i fucking love shakespeare and i fucking love shakespeare retellings, especially retellings that include gay people (as a great many of these did), and so i was pretty sure going in that i was going to enjoy this. and i did. i'm rating this collection 3 stars overall because these individual stories were REALLY hit or miss, but on a holistic level, i had so much fun regardless of all the hater things i am about to say.

without further/much ado: the stories.

severe weather warning (the tempest): 2/5
The weather worsens with every minute. In the neighbors' yard, the wind knocks over the plastic play structure, pushing it into the fence. The rain is incessant, and new clouds have gathered on the horizon. I know one thing for certain. We're all trapped here—together—for a while.

this is a rough start to this collection because it is, to put it plainly, not very good. i mean, the writing is fine, but a storm, a cat named ariel, and a sibling rivalry does not a tempest retelling make. the bulk of this story is 1. prosper being bitter about her sister (sure, cool, let’s get into that more!) and 2. Another Bland Ass YA Romance. and i get it. people like romance. i like romance sometimes! but the tempest specifically is SUCH a cool play, & then this story is like.
I never figured he wanted me, with my face full of freckles, frizzy red hair, and overly large soccer sweatshirts.

(and not even for a miranda/ferdinand dynamic, which would maybe have been apter; the main character is a prospero figure and the "he" here is just some random guy.) i mean, each to their own. do what you will. but i came here to read fun shakespeare retellings, not high school romance #32: The Boy Has Abs.

shipwrecked (twelfth night): 3/5
Vi entered the gymnasium through the eastern door. They smoothed down the lapels of their red velvet suit. Over and over and over. A nervous reaction born of the cliff that seemed to open at their feet.Be you. Tell everyone. Suffer the consequences.

loses points for the clunky prose (i think i just don't love mark oshiro's style. why is it so choppy), the cheesiness of it all, and the sense that it needed a bit more resolution (felt like a lot of buildup and then it all just sort of worked out; a story with this many characters really deserved more page time). wins points for nonbinary viola (YESSSSSSSS FUCK YES), viola/olivia (RE: YESSSS FUCK YES), putting all the gayest parts of twelfth night on-page, and being generally fun. not sure how i feel about this malvolio interpretation, but i’ll let it stand [tossing aside my large rock].

taming of the soul mate (taming of the shrew): 2.5/5
"My name is Petrucio," he said firmly. "And I'm your fucking soul mate."

folks. folks, i am not gonna lie to you. i really do not love making petruchio the polite reasonable character and katherine the antagonistic irrational character in a retelling of a play about a woman being gaslit and abused by her husband. otherwise, i like the concept, and i think the ending was effective even if the writing didn't always hold up (yes. i got emotional at the end), but i think this one is hobbled by its source material being what it is and the story not really pushing back on any of it.

king of the fairies (midsummer): 4/5
Titania tells me that my mother would have wanted her to have me.

LOVE the whimsical gorgeous writing LOVE the reckoning with colonialism in general and in this play (the story is from the perspective of the changeling child oberon and titania fought over) LOVE the way it makes midsummer somehow gayer LOVE the fact that trans people are real because dear god no one ever puts us in anything. and i LOVE that stupid line about nick bottom. only 4 stars because it never made the nebulous jump to 5 in my head, but it did make me think that god, i need to read more mclemore.

we have seen better days (as you like it): 4/5
Dad swore Camp Arden used to be paradise, but every year that I was there, it got a little bit worse.

i wish this one had been longer; i love how well it captures the spirit of the original play and the characterizations of celia, orlando, and ESPECIALLY rosalind. i agree with rachel in that i was somewhat startled the story didn't take the chance to play with gender, but i'm willing to accept that it had a different focus: rosie's disenchantment, particularly with her father and the camp she used to love. (summer camp AYLI... fucking inspired.)

some other metal (much ado about nothing): 3.5/5
"They set us up... to live out the story of Benedick and Beatrice. To fall for one another or some such nonsense."

TRAAAAAAANS PEOPLEEEEE. but also head-hopping? also, the main characters in this story did not need to be named tegan and taron. this story is set in space, which isn't really relevant but does allow for what i find a very clever title (the quote being that beatrice won't marry until god makes men "of some other metal than earth"); i wish it had done more with that setting, and i think all of these characters talk too stiffly for a story presumably set in the future, but i'm forgiving it because i like when trans people exist and are t4t.

i bleed (merchant of venice): 5/5
"So if you don't pay the money back in a month..."
"I get to cut that 1488 out of his skin."

yeah this is the one. this is the one. standout story in this anthology, reason to read it, well-written, all i could ask from a merchant of venice retelling, etc etc etc. i'm a gentile, so take my opinion with a grain of salt, but god this story is so fucking good.

his invention (sonnet 147): 5/5
All at once, she felt a welling in her mouth, the sudden desire to spit. She parted her lips and let a long bloom of blood spread down her chin and to the floor. Sophie touched her face with both hands and took them away warm and stringed with red. Outside, she heard Michael singing along to the radio. She stood with her mouth open.

this is a really really good short story. probably the best in the book on a technical level. i have no fucking idea what it has to do with shakespeare. it’s not based on a play, it’s based on a sonnet and has, like, a thematic connection? tangentially? love as frantic and corroding i GUESS? am i just too dumb to get how this relates? enjoyed it but confused about its inclusion.

partying is such sweet sorrow (romeo and juliet): 1.5/5
I love you
I'm sorry tonight got so out of control
You're the most important thing in the world
And I swear I'm going to protect you

man, come on. this reads like every archive of our own fanfiction written by high schoolers who were forced to read shakespeare in english class and wanted to make it funny. i'm biased against any r&j interpretation where romeo is a creep (i am emphatically of the belief that he is just some guy who is sad a lot and feels too much), but even disregarding that, this did very little for me. i didn’t love the characterizations or the style (despite the texting thing, none of these people sound like teenagers) and i especially didn’t love the shoehorned-in quotes. i did like this juliet a lot, though ;__; which is preventing me from giving this a flat 1-star.

dreaming of the dark (julius caesar): 5/5
The thing about the gift is, it doesn't matter how you call on it, not really. What matters is believing. What matters is knowing yourself and what you have to bargain with. And Julia—there is nothing she wouldn't give.

first line is the brutus and cassius characters being heterosexual. huge L. however. i fucking love julius caesar and i fucking love the conceit of “group of high school girls [and one they/them iirc] who have summoned a dark spirit” and god the characterizations in this are SO good. and line references! caesar as literal sacrifice! if a retelling of something i love can entertain me while also making me think "god [source material] is so good" then it wins in my mind and this wins. the only genuine issue i have is that the story keeps hinting at something that happened to briony and i don’t think it ever tells us? which felt very anticlimactic. my other complaint is that brutus and cassius should be lesbians. however. caesar and antony WERE lesbians so i’ll allow it.

the tragedy of cory lanez: an oral history (coriolanus): 4/5
There are no monuments to Cory Lanez in the Rose Park neighborhood of Long Beach, California. Briefly, on Ohio Avenue, a poster of the rapper/singer had been taped to a palm tree and, over the course of a few days, several bouquets of goldenrod and roses had been laid at the makeshift memorial. Within the week, the whole thing had been dismantled, but not before the poster had been vandalized, a red X spray-painted across the seventeen-year-old boy's face.

this is a REALLY interesting spin on coriolanus (coriolanus and aufidius are rival rappers; coriolanus's postmortem story is told by his friends and family in interview format). my first thought upon finishing it was “this could have been longer; i would read a whole novel of this” and honestly, i would, but upon reflection i think the length suits the formatting of an oral history. 3.5 for content + .5 for said formatting because i LOVE innovative formatting.

out of the storm (king lear): 3/5
CORA: Please. Don't do this here, with him there. Still breathing, still sucking the oxygen out of the room. Still tearing us apart.

i love to paint the titular king lear as the villain i LOVE to focus on his daughters over that shitty old man (and i do think lear is a fascinating and multifaceted character who merits exploration, but i also understand why this story used him mostly as a setpiece, for length and thematic reasons). that said, this one fell flat for me, which sucks because i love both this play and—i'm gonna say it again—weird formatting.

elsinore (hamlet): 1.5/5
When she looks at me, she wears the wickedest smile. Camilla faces me, the near product of the monster we face. Now I know, now I am certain: my father was killed by a vampire.

speaking of plays i love and stories that didn't work for me. i had this one down for 2 stars in my notes app but the more i think about it the more it annoys me. vampire hamlet is a banger fucking concept, but this was just... not all that well-executed. it was set in the 1890s, but none of the character voices read that way, nor did the journal entries read like journal entries. the dialogue was fake-deep. the prose in general was mediocre. we did not need a straight-up "alas poor [name]" reference. i did like the dracula references, but the journaling thing didn’t work here; the story seemed crunched into the length allotted. also, L + no horatio + your hamlet and ophelia are both girls but they’re not even lesbians

we fail (macbeth): 2/5
It wasn't like I was going to graduate at that point anyway. I refused to go to class, and the counselors had urged my teachers and principal to let me take "as long as needed" to heal from my "traumatic incidents," the first of which was losing the baby. The second was the wreck.

another one where i love the concept and am getting increasingly irritated that the execution fell through. the writing was fine, i guess, but the story suffered from constriction to such a short space, and honestly it doesn't really tangle with any of the themes of macbeth at all. the ending was clearly meant to be ambiguous and imply further things, but it just left me unsatisfied.

lost girl (winter's tale): 4/5
"The story can end however you want it to end. Even if it doesn't make sense. Even if it doesn't seem likely. The Greeks loved a deus ex machina."

this is one of the best stories in terms of how it works as a retelling, and also, honestly, in how much i liked it. a lot of these stories try to tackle everything happening in their play at once, and rarely succeed, but this story balances its narrower focus with a clear consciousness of its self-referential status to the overarching plot of the winter's tale. the way the storytelling thing and the classics thing and the tree thing all weave together as motifs... the way i love this straight couple i saw less than 20 pages of... really well-executed & a good ending note.

and a final ranking, because i fucking love sorting shit:
1. i bleed
2. dreaming of the dark
3. his invention
4. lost girl
5. king of the fairies
6. we have seen better days
7. the tragedy of cory lanez
8. some other metal
9. out of the storm
10. shipwrecked
11. taming of the soul mate
12. severe weather warning
13. we fail
14. elsinore
15. partying is such sweet sorrow

bookishlychar's review against another edition

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5.0

I have been listening to this book on audio and I really enjoyed the different stories based on Shakespearean stories. My favourites were:

Severe Weather Warning - Emily Wibberley and Austin Siegmind-Broka - this is a first for these authors for me. I really enjoyed their take on the story and the writing style. It was so good and enjoyable.

Shipwrecked - Mark Oshiro - this one was awesome. I loved Vi in this book. They were absolutely awesome.

I Bleed - Dahlia Adler - this was not my first reading by Dahlia Adler and she did such a great job writing Jewish hate and prejudice. Being married to a Jewish man, I heard the hate that was in here and I felt so much pain.

Dreaming of the Dark - Lindsay Smith - this one was such an interesting interpretation of a portion of Caesar. I liked the gender swap and interpretation.

The rest of the stories were great too. I did not know all these Shakespearean stories, but for the ones I did know I liked to compare to the original. When I didn’t know the original I found myself wanting to read the original.

I was definitely a fan of this type of anthology and hope that more come out in the future.

giulay's review against another edition

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4.0

Mini Rather Random Reviews™️

Comedies

Severe Weather Warning by Emily Wibberley and Austin Siegemund-Broka: 3 ⭐️
Inspired by The Tempest
Ridiculously short synopsis: Patience and Prosper, Sam and Benjamin. Two sets of siblings, a lot of emotions and a tornado warning.
Ridiculously short personal comment: This was enjoyable. I liked the writing style, the overall story and the characters. I was not a fan of the romance as I found it was just a bit out of the blue, in my opinion. And I think that’s because the story was too short to properly develop what it wanted to, and because there was no chemistry. But all in all, this was a good beginning!

Shipwrecked by Mark Oshiro: 3.5 ⭐️
Inspired by Twelfth Night
Ridiculously short synopsis: It is prom night and the lives of six students are about to change.
Ridiculously short personal comment: This was so darn cute! But, alas, I found some of the relationships too insta-lovey to bear. I loved the diversity and the representation, though.

Taming of the Soul Mate by K. Ancrum: 4 ⭐️
Inspired by The Taming of the Shrew
Ridiculously short synopsis: Life is all in grays, until you meet your soulmate. Then colours explode. But maybe not only that.
Ridiculously short personal comment: This was nice! I thought it lacked a bit of development – in other words: I would love a full-length novel, lol. I really liked the characters and the concept. Overall, this was a very pleasant reading experience.

King of the Fairies by Anna-Marie McLemore: 5 ⭐️
Inspired by A Midsummer Night’s Dream
TW: colonialism, racism, coercive adoption
Ridiculously short synopsis: The court of Titania and Oberon is about to be shook. And I’m here for it.
Ridiculously short personal comment: The best of the best. La crème de la crème. One of my favourite authors and one of my favourite Shakespeare’s plays. What could go wrong? Yes, you guessed it: absolutely nothing. Loved this short story to pieces and I would not change a thing. Magical, whimsical, unique whilst also tackling important topics (such as colonialism and race and gender) in a gorgeous way. My heart is aching, and I simply adored how the story took place after the events of A Midsummer Night’s Dream and thus also integrating its characters and plot. I am enamored.

We Have Seen Better Days by Lily Anderson: 2 ⭐️
Inspired by As You Like It
TW: child neglect
Ridiculously short synopsis: Hiding away at the old summer camp, Rosie’s father is escaping reality. And it is Rosie’s task to look for him with her old and dear camp-friends.
Ridiculously short personal comment: A bit confusing and a lot underwhelming. The romance was surface level, in my opinion, and the plot was not remarkable or memorable :/

Some Other Metal by A.R. Capetta and Cory McCarthy: 4 ⭐️
Inspired by Much Ado About Nothing
Ridiculously short synopsis: It was a Much Ado About Nothing inception.
Ridiculously short personal comment: This is another one of my favourite plays and I truly am satisfied by this short story. Loved the diversity, loved the angst, loved the energy. Was not particularly a fan of the retelling aspect (it was a bit too much obvious), and I found the storyline to be ever so slightly confusing, but this was truly a breath of fresh air regarding the representation!

I Bleed by Dahlia Adler: 5 ⭐️
Inspired by The Merchant of Venice
TW: racism, anti-Semitism, bullying, white-supremacy
Ridiculously short synopsis: The Merchant of Venice in a modern, high school setting.
Ridiculously short personal comment: Oh yes. Oooooh YeS! Oh Yeeeeessss! Oh HARD YES! I am so happy that my favourite play has been revisited in such a wonderful way. This was truly and plainly perfect. Powerful, thought-provoking, unfortunately and sadly timely. Unforgettable, marking, flawless. You name it. This short story was spectacular: the characters, the writing style, how the original work was wonderfully woven and adapted…I am blown away.

Sonnets

His Invention by Brittany Cavallaro: 3 ⭐️
Inspired by Sonnet 147
TW: emotional abuse, grooming, self-harm
Ridiculously short synopsis: Is it love or is it just a toxic relationship?
Ridiculously short personal comment: This was an interesting one. I cannot say I fully grasped what it wanted to achieve, but I still very much appreciated the haunted and nostalgic vibes that this short story oozed.

Tragedies

Partying Is Such a Sweet Sorrow by Kiersten White: 4 ⭐️
Inspired by Romeo and Juliet
TW: homophobia, parental abuse
Ridiculously short synopsis: Romeo and Juliet’s romance through text messages.
Ridiculously short personal comment: Colour me impressed. I am not a fan of Romeo and Juliet and, in general, I am not the biggest fan of Kiersten White’s writing style. But this short story, fam, she delivered. I loved how she decided to narrate the story through group chats and messages. So clever and addicting! Fantastic.

Dreaming of the Dark by Lindsay Smith: 3 ⭐️
Inspired by Julius Caesar
TW: blood
Ridiculously short synopsis: Dark magic and its possibilities intoxicate a group of friends and everything falls apart – tragically.
Ridiculously short personal comment: I am confusion. But I also am intrigue. I liked the concept and the characters, but I was also lost and things were just too murky to be fully appreciated. The setting though was mysterious and on point.

The Tragedy of Cory Lanez: An Oral History by Tochi Onyebuch: 3 ⭐️
Inspired by Coriolanus
TW: homophobia, parental death, racism, white supremacy, police brutality
Ridiculously short synopsis: The life of Cory Lanez told by people close to him.
Ridiculously short personal comment: The writing style was simple and effective. And I liked how the story itself was narrated: it was like an interview in the sense that people who knew Cory shared their stories. It was a good and, yet again, the topics tackled were (unfortunately) very timely.

Out of the Storm by Joy McCullough: 2 ⭐️
Inspired by King Lear
TW. Parental abuse, parental death
Ridiculously short synopsis: Three sisters meet after years in front of their father’s deathbed.
Ridiculously short personal comment: This was a bit of a miss for me – and maybe that was because I am not a fan of King Lear to begin with. I liked the way in which the story was narrated: as if it was a play. But I found the plot itself to be slightly underwhelming and chaotic.

Elsinore by Patrice Caldwell: 2 ⭐️
Inspired by Hamlet
TW: parental abuse, parental death, ableism,
Ridiculously short synopsis: Hamlet but with a touch of vampirism.
Ridiculously short personal comment: I was not blown away by this short story. I appreciated the adding of the vampire-aspect, but apart from that I found this to be unremarkable. I am sure it did not help that I do not particularly vibe with the original play…

We Fail by Samantha Mabry: 3.5 ⭐️
Inspired by Macbeth
TW: miscarriage, mentions of suicide, grief
Ridiculously short synopsis: A car accident can change your whole entire life. Pain and guilt can indeed change your whole entire life.
Ridiculously short personal comment: This was haunting – which is highly appropriate! I liked how the author’s note explained the general idea behind the short story because I would not have known otherwise (yes, I am an ignorant slug). The explanation, then, further deepened my appreciation for the short story. This was, all in all, a good one.

Late Romance

Lost Girl by Melissa Bashardoust: 3 ⭐️
Inspired by The Winter’s Tale
Ridiculously short synopsis: You gotta fight for your love. And maybe you gotta fight with your family for it. But families are full of surprises, and things can change quickly.
Ridiculously short personal comment: This one was okay; ever so slightly predictable. A somewhat underwhelming ending to the anthology since I loved the first stories much more. But this one was nonetheless enjoyable and easy to read.


Overall
Rating: 3.33 ⭐️

I refuse to round this down.
I thoroughly enjoyed this anthology and I honestly recommend you pick it up.
If you love Shakespeare.
If you love retellings.
Heck, if you love some good freaking diversity and representation.
This anthology is for you.

meabird's review against another edition

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3.0

3.75