lezreadalot 's review for:

Miranda in Milan by Katharine Duckett

3.0

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“What must you never do, when dealing with the Devil, girl? Turn your back to him, and give him time. Time, and books, and the sanguineous sea.”

2.5 stars. This was... fine? I'm a little disappointed overall. I reread the Tempest a while ago in preparation for this, and found it pretty dull and racist. This, happily, was not racist. And it was gay. And that's pretty much all I can say about it.

Well, no, that's not fair. The story is an imagining of the events that might have transpired after the end of the Tempest, as well the events in the history/lives of the characters that would have led to everything. We're following Miranda as she tries to get used to her new life in Milan after returning with Prospero. But she trusts her father less and less with every day, she hasn't heard from Ferdinand in weeks, and there's a sinister mystery surrounding the castle. Miranda slowly gets to the heart of it, alongside a new friend and confidante.

Duckett has a lovely writing style, and some parts were pretty striking. I think the beginning of this showed promise, and the story as was told was definitely interesting, but for some reason it just didn't capture my attention. The middle part dragged a lot, and I really think the author could have found a better way to tell the same story. Thankfully, the ending did pick up a lot. The romance was really cute, and I loved all of the Shakespearean courtship language. But it moved way too fast to have any impact on me, even for a novella. Dorothea was a great character, but I never felt like we got to know her enough. 

I definitely liked the idea behind this, and I can safely say I enjoyed it more than the original? But that was a pretty low bar to clear.