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3.79 AVERAGE
3.79 AVERAGE
What it's about: Having survived the court of King Lear, court jester Pocket, his apprentice Drool, and their comrade (and monkey) Jeff find themselves barely alive after a piratical adventure gone wrong. They quickly discover things are not as they expect; there are lots of weird people about, some extremely stupid, some with seemingly magical powers. Pocket quickly finds his considerable wits challenged as he tries to figure out how to survive the wilderness of Greece - after all, he's a city fool, not a country fool, and food does not often grow on trees.
All too soon, Pocket finds himself in mortal danger. Although he is short of stature, he is not short on acuity, but as he gets swept into an increasingly confusing series of events, it's unclear if even a gifts fool like Pocket can survive the intrigues of a blood-thirsty royal court, a world of fairies ruled by a mad queen, a kingdom of goblins rules by a dark king, a multi-sided romance that seems bound for tragedy, and a dramatic production by some of the dumbest players ever to take the stage.
What I thought: This book is weird and profane and funny and interesting. It's also a particular treat if one is familiar with Shakespeare, and A Midsummer Night's Dream in particular (though it draws ideas and lines from across Shakespeare's works).
Pocket is a creation of Moore, but is based on characters from Shakespeare's works. The main storyline here follows that of Shakespeare's work for a while before heading off in a completely different direction. Following the story through the point of view of Pocket provides some interesting exploration of some of the characters mentioned in Shakespeare's original - for the most part, the original characters come off like gits, generally in humorous ways.
I put this book on my TBR list when I learned it was a retelling of Shakespeare's Midsummer Night's Dream; I didn't realize it's actually the third book about the character Pocket, each of which is a sort-of retelling of one of the Bard's works. I will probably go find those other volumes to see how Moore handles other Shakespearean retellings.
Why I rated it like I did: Moore has created a very interesting blend of extremely profane characters set squarely in a Shakespearean story. He does an excellent job of exploring the dusty corners of this classic work to create something new and different and definitely weird; and yet it all feels organic to the original. Moore has done an excellent job of using details from Shakespeare's own works to whip up this frothy, fun, confusing work. And despite its darkness in places, it also shows some heart throughout.
All too soon, Pocket finds himself in mortal danger. Although he is short of stature, he is not short on acuity, but as he gets swept into an increasingly confusing series of events, it's unclear if even a gifts fool like Pocket can survive the intrigues of a blood-thirsty royal court, a world of fairies ruled by a mad queen, a kingdom of goblins rules by a dark king, a multi-sided romance that seems bound for tragedy, and a dramatic production by some of the dumbest players ever to take the stage.
What I thought: This book is weird and profane and funny and interesting. It's also a particular treat if one is familiar with Shakespeare, and A Midsummer Night's Dream in particular (though it draws ideas and lines from across Shakespeare's works).
Pocket is a creation of Moore, but is based on characters from Shakespeare's works. The main storyline here follows that of Shakespeare's work for a while before heading off in a completely different direction. Following the story through the point of view of Pocket provides some interesting exploration of some of the characters mentioned in Shakespeare's original - for the most part, the original characters come off like gits, generally in humorous ways.
I put this book on my TBR list when I learned it was a retelling of Shakespeare's Midsummer Night's Dream; I didn't realize it's actually the third book about the character Pocket, each of which is a sort-of retelling of one of the Bard's works. I will probably go find those other volumes to see how Moore handles other Shakespearean retellings.
Why I rated it like I did: Moore has created a very interesting blend of extremely profane characters set squarely in a Shakespearean story. He does an excellent job of exploring the dusty corners of this classic work to create something new and different and definitely weird; and yet it all feels organic to the original. Moore has done an excellent job of using details from Shakespeare's own works to whip up this frothy, fun, confusing work. And despite its darkness in places, it also shows some heart throughout.
I was sent an advanced copy by the publisher on Netgalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
I read my first Christopher Moore book, Lamb, when I was probably too young to have read it. Still, it managed to excite in me a love for this author and I have read many of his books since then and will probably continue to read many more in the future. The way his humor plays into the books is so captivating, and Shakespeare for Squirrels is no exception.
In keeping with the rest of the Fool series, Shakespeare for Squirrels is a retelling of a Shakespeare play, this time A Midsummer Night's Dream, featuring many reoccurring characters from the other books such as Drool, Jeff the Monkey, and of course, Pocket. Pocket finds the body of Puck aka Robin Goodfellow, in a meadow and must solve the mystery of what happened to him, what happened to the "object" he was carrying, and what the hell is going on in Athens anyway?? With the cast of characters from AMND along for the ride, Pocket solves the mystery once and for all!
This is where I confess... I can't remember reading the other books (I might have, I just can't remember them if I did) so this book was my first foray with the characters. And I must say, for being the 3rd book in a series, I was able to keep up very well and wasn't left behind at all! So if by some crazy happenstance like me, you start reading on this book, you're fine! I'm sure there are jokes that I missed due to not remembering the other books and/or having read them, but there were also plenty of jokes that stood up alone and had me laughing out loud. I also think the length of this book really works in it's favor, because it keeps up a nice, steady pace.
My three star rating is largely based on my enjoyment of the book: I had fun and it made me laugh, but it also wasn't anything special and I found myself skimming large paragraphs of fighting, moving from place to place, etc. I think some of those could have been cut or at least bridged with some sentences, but again I thought the length worked really well. In reality, my 3 star rating says that this book was "good." And this is coming from, again, someone who wasn't attached to the characters before or knew about the other books so really, that's saying something.
Ultimately, if you're a fan of this series, you're going to enjoy this book. It has a lot of Christopher Moore's signature elements and is a good romp through the zaniness that is A Midsummer Night's Dream.
I read my first Christopher Moore book, Lamb, when I was probably too young to have read it. Still, it managed to excite in me a love for this author and I have read many of his books since then and will probably continue to read many more in the future. The way his humor plays into the books is so captivating, and Shakespeare for Squirrels is no exception.
In keeping with the rest of the Fool series, Shakespeare for Squirrels is a retelling of a Shakespeare play, this time A Midsummer Night's Dream, featuring many reoccurring characters from the other books such as Drool, Jeff the Monkey, and of course, Pocket. Pocket finds the body of Puck aka Robin Goodfellow, in a meadow and must solve the mystery of what happened to him, what happened to the "object" he was carrying, and what the hell is going on in Athens anyway?? With the cast of characters from AMND along for the ride, Pocket solves the mystery once and for all!
This is where I confess... I can't remember reading the other books (I might have, I just can't remember them if I did) so this book was my first foray with the characters. And I must say, for being the 3rd book in a series, I was able to keep up very well and wasn't left behind at all! So if by some crazy happenstance like me, you start reading on this book, you're fine! I'm sure there are jokes that I missed due to not remembering the other books and/or having read them, but there were also plenty of jokes that stood up alone and had me laughing out loud. I also think the length of this book really works in it's favor, because it keeps up a nice, steady pace.
My three star rating is largely based on my enjoyment of the book: I had fun and it made me laugh, but it also wasn't anything special and I found myself skimming large paragraphs of fighting, moving from place to place, etc. I think some of those could have been cut or at least bridged with some sentences, but again I thought the length worked really well. In reality, my 3 star rating says that this book was "good." And this is coming from, again, someone who wasn't attached to the characters before or knew about the other books so really, that's saying something.
Ultimately, if you're a fan of this series, you're going to enjoy this book. It has a lot of Christopher Moore's signature elements and is a good romp through the zaniness that is A Midsummer Night's Dream.
This is a bit of a take off on Midsummer's Night Dream on crack. Pocket and his group have washed up on Greece's shore and is soon going to perform at the Duke's minister's daughter Hermia and Lysander. But she doesn't want to marry him. The Duke decrees that she will be executed. Unfortunately Pocket declares the Duke's decree is stupid and causes them to escape with their lives and goes into the fairy realm by accident where even more craziness happens. It was a fun read. But if you dislike cursing you will not like this as the work f..k is used many, many times. But I was fine with it.
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
In this third Shakespeare retelling with our delightfully crass hero, Pocket of Dog Snogging, he finds himself in mythical Athens and in the middle of a film noir version of A Midsummer Night's Dream where Puck dies. I cannot get enough of Moore's writing. It's hilarious, vulgar, and has me chuckling the whole time I'm reading.
I received this as an ARC last year from the publisher. I was immediately intrigued. A Midsummer Night's Dream is my favorite Shakespeare play, like many others. The blurb also mentioned Dashiell Hammett and I was sold! I loved it so much. It was raunchy and vulgar and funny. It's a face paced read that is a creative take on the play. The best part is the interweaving mystery a la Dashiell Hammett. It kept me engaged and enthralled. It renewed my love for the Shakespeare play, so much so that I cannot wait to re-read MSND. I understand this book is not for everyone and I wouldn't recommend it to everyone; however I have friends that would love this book (and you know who you are!).
Coming in from Fool (being blown away to be exact), I was really excited about Shakespeare for Squirrels. However, it did not impress me much... I don't know if that was because I went in with too much expectation, but the storyline was quite flat, the jokes were not that engaging and quite frankly I struggled to finish the book.
I would like to point out that this is a kind of a sequel to Serpent of Venice. I read this book without reading the Serpent of Venice but I don't think reading the later beforehand would have contributed to my review of Shakespeare for Squirrels in any way...
I really wanted to love this book...
I would like to point out that this is a kind of a sequel to Serpent of Venice. I read this book without reading the Serpent of Venice but I don't think reading the later beforehand would have contributed to my review of Shakespeare for Squirrels in any way...
I really wanted to love this book...
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
Fun and frolicking! This enjoyable romp with Pocket and the fairies is also a mystery. Of course, I always love Christopher Moore, but with a retelling of Midsummer Night’s Dream, what could go wrong?