Book Review: Her Majesty’s Will by David Blixt

Her Majesty’s Will by David Blixt

Ebook, 247 pages

Sordelet Ink

April 23, 2012

★★★ ½☆☆

Genre: Historical fiction, humor

Source: Received for review as part of Historical Fiction Virtual Book Tour

“Before he was famous, he was a fugitive.
Before he wrote of humanity, he lived it.
Before he was the Bard of Avon, he was a spy.
A very poor spy.

England, 1586. Swept up in the skirts of a mysterious stranger, Will Shakespeare becomes entangled in a deadly and hilarious misadventure as he accidentally uncovers the Babington Plot, an attempt to murder Queen Elizabeth herself. Aided by the mercurial wit of Kit Marlowe, Will enters London for the first time, chased by rebels, spies, his own government, his past, and a bear.

Through it all he demonstrates his loyalty and genius, proving himself to be - HER MAJESTY'S WILL”

This was a sort of different HF read than I am typically used to – one full of comedy and wit and William Shakespeare. I have read historical fiction interpretations of some of Shakespeare’s plays but never read a historical fiction where he is actually a character – and before he was a playwright none the less! This would best be described as a buddy story as the plot’s antics revolve around Will Shakespeare and Kit Marlowe and focus on their relationship in its various forms.

I certainly enjoyed the characters – how they were portrayed, their comedy, and relationships with those around them. As this is a story from the bottom of Elizabethan society looking up we encounter a lot of the “riff-raff” and personages you would not want to meet in a dark alley. I enjoyed seeing this side of things because in a typical Tudor or Elizabethan novel we are usually set within the court itself or with one of the noble families. This was a refreshing change – there were only a couple of characters from the upper class and they were bit parts.

This novel sets out to give us a potential option for what Shakespeare was doing during his “lost years” between Stratford and his London playwright days – in Blixt’s view, he might have been a very terrible and unwilling spy. While I enjoyed this unique plot idea and the vastly ridiculous amount of trouble the main characters find themselves in, I had a problem with it. My problem was that the fact that Shakespeare and Marlowe were the adventurous heroes didn’t seem to make a bit of difference to the story. It really could have been two fictional characters and the story would have come off every bit the same. For me there wasn’t much that made it important that Will and Kit were the duo of this story – I didn’t really “recognize them”.

Overall this was a laugh-a-minute tale that certainly should be read as a breather from the more serious and heavy novels. It will lift your spirits if you are having a bad day.

Reviews of this book by other bloggers:

• Kinx’s Book Nook
• Oh for the Hook of a Book

Buy the Book: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | RJ Julia

Also by David Blixt:

The Master of Verona (Star Cross’d #1)

Voice of the Falconer (Star Cross’d #2)

Fortune’s Fool (Star Cross’d #3)

The Prince’s Doom (Star Cross’d #4)

Varnished Faces (Star Cross’d Short Stories)

Colossus: Stone & Steel (Colossus #1)

Colossus:The Four Emperors (Colossus #2)

A Sea of Sorrow
[My Review]

Eve of Ides

Find David Blixt: Website | Facebook | Twitter

Follow the Tour!

You can follow along with the rest of the blog tour by visiting the HFVBT site or on Twitter with the following hashtag: #DavidBlixtVirtualTour

Giveaway!

Now for a giveaway!!! I have one e-copy of Her Majesty's Will to giveaway.  The giveaway is open internationally.  The winner will be able to chose the format they would like (pdf or mobi).  Last day to enter is December 29th.  Fill out the Rafflecopter below to enter & good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Copyright © 2012 by The Maiden’s Court

Audiobook Review: The Tempest by William Shakespeare

The Tempest by William Shakespeare

Unabridged, 2 hr. 7 min.

Naxos Audiobooks

Full Cast feat. Sir Ian McKellan (Narrator)

November 2004

★★★½☆☆

Genre: Classic

Source: Downloaded audio from my local library

“Sir Ian McKellen, fresh from his performance as Gandalf in Lord of the Rings is Prospero, and heads a strong cast in Shakespeare’s last great play. The wronged duke raises a tempest to shipwreck his old opponents on his island so that he can ensure justice is done. With Emilia Fox as Miranda, Scott Handy in the pivotal role of the sprite Ariel and Ben Owukwe as Caliban, this new production directed by John Tydeman, balances the magic and the earthiness with music playing a key role.”

First I’m going to point out that I seem to enjoy Shakespeare’s tragedies the best – I don’t know, I feel like they are written better and more engaging to the audience. To follow that up, I didn’t LOVE The Tempest - this is one of his comedies with somewhat of a romance angle. I didn’t really feel like too much happened – a lot of it is Prospero being introspective or speaking with his crony Ariel. I have not seen a stage production of this play and I don’t know that I really want to after reading and listening to this one.

★★★☆☆

This was an okay audio production. Sir Ian McKellan was wonderful – as would be expected from him. His voice was booming and perfect for the role of Prospero. It should be noted that there were sound effects used in this production – a lot of thundering and storming during the tempest. These effects made it very difficult to hear what was being said much of the time. Because of these sound effects, which were very overpowering, I became lost and confused as to what was going on in the story. I had to re-read the play to know precisely what happened. It was also very difficult to tell most of the male characters apart from one another which made it difficult to follow as well. I think I would have preferred this better not on audio book or maybe a different production.

You can check out a sample of the audio production below:

My reviews of other books by this author:

• Hamlet

Copyright © 2011 by The Maiden’s Court

Two Sides to Every Story: William Shakespeare v. Alternate Authors

William Shakespeare v. Alternate Authors

When a discussion of Shakespeare arises, at some point the theory that someone else wrote some (or all) of his works will surface. While the majority of Shakespeare academics discount the theory that it was someone other than Shakespeare, that fact that it is still pervasive indicates it should be addressed. Below we will explore some of the different possibilities of who might have written his works – as well as some of the evidence to support that it was none other than the Bard himself.

William Shakespeare

Of course the majority of people believe that William Shakespeare did indeed write his novels. Other people in Shakespeare’s time also believed in the identity of William Shakespeare. He was cited several times by other poets within their writings as a person of note in the genre. Even in his death he looked out for several of the other actors from the King’s Men – who starred in many plays with him. There is also evidence in the way he wrote his plays that support him as the true author – he wasn’t a highly educated man and his plays were not written for the highly educated. His writing avoids many of the stylistic methods that noble writers used and he frequently made errors when referring to classical events.

Interestingly enough, a study, The Claremont Shakespeare Clinic, was conducted from 1987 to 2010 by a person who was sympathetic to the idea that someone other than the Bard wrote his plays. This study used a computer model to compare Shakespeare’s writing style to the styles of numerous possible Shakespeare writers. The ultimate result of these tests suggests the plays were written by one person and eliminated all of the other possible authors. The stylistic evidence that they used included: he used fewer relative clauses and more hyphens, feminine endings, and run-on lines than most of the writers with whom he was compared.

Smatprt at English Wikipedia [CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

Alternate Authors

Since the idea that some or all of his works were not written by 1 person, over 70 alternatives have been brought up. Some of these potential authors are ridiculous while 4 others are considered in more depth. These 4 are: Sir Francis Bacon, Edward de Vere, Christopher Marlowe, and William Stanley.

Sir Francis Bacon – Bacon was brought up as a potential Shakespeare in 1856 – more than 200 years after Shakespeare’s death. The biggest evidence in support of Bacon is that there are many similar sentences and phrases in both Shakespeare’s and Bacon’s works. They also suggest that there are many legal references in the plays and supports the theory of Bacon because he was a lawyer. They also suggested that ciphers hidden within the plays support Bacon as the author – the word honorificabilitudinitatibus supposedly translates to the Latin phrase meaning – “These plays, the offering of F. Bacon, are preserved for the world”.

Edward de Vere – This theory came to popularity in the 1920’s. Those that support de Vere’s claim suggest that events that occur in Shakespeare’s plays are indicative of events in de Vere’s life – particularly in Hamlet. They also state that there are over 1,500 anagrams of the name E. Vere within Shakespeare’s works. The biggest downfall to this theory is that 10 of the Shakespeare works came out after de Vere died and supporters say that these works were really written at a different date that usually attributed to them.

Christopher Marlowe – The idea of Marlowe being the author or a co author was suggested in 1884. He came from the same social background and was very close in age to Shakespeare. To support this theory it must be believed that Marlowe faked his death in 1593. He then wrote under the name of Shakespeare to avoid being collared for atheism. There are stylistic similarities between the two authors and hidden meanings in his works. Shakespeare’s first play, Venus and Adonis went on sale just shortly after Marlowes death.

William Stanley – Stanley was raised as a potential author in 1891. Derby was known to pen some plays and his initials were also W.S. Several of the people that he was known to associate with and events in his life are believed to alluded to in plays – William Cecil (Hamlet), events in Navarre (Love’s Labour’s Lost), and William Herbert and Philip Herbert (who First Folio was dedicated to).


Have you heard any of these theories? What do you think of them – do they hold water for you? For me, Shakespeare is Shakespeare.





Copyright © 2011 by The Maiden’s Court

Book Review: The Gentleman Poet by Kathryn Johnson

The Gentleman Poet by Kathryn Johnson

ARC, Paperback, 336 pages

William Morrow Paperbacks

September 7, 2010

★★★★★

Genre: Historical Fiction

Source: Received from the author for review

“Many scholars believe one of Shakespeare’s most beloved plays, The Tempest, was inspired by a shipwreck and true tale of survival that captured the imagination of 17th-century London. But what if the greatest playwright of all time didn’t simply read about the wreck of the Sea Venture off the Bermuda coast? What if Will was on board, fleeing powerful enemies, daring one last great adventure near the troubled end of his career?”

This novel has it all: adventure, Shakespeare, romance, survival, sadness. The story of the shipwreck of the Sea Venture and the subsequent survival of its crew is fascinating and told in engrossing detail. You will certainly be hard-pressed to put this book down. It is a fast read that can be finished in one day and leaves you wanting to know more.

The story is told from the first person of Elizabeth and you feel all of her fear, frustrations and sadness. We get to experience through her the terror of a ship being tossed like a toy in a raging storm, we learn what it is like to be one of a handful of women on an island dominated by men, and we learn what it is like to come into our own as a woman. The other characters of the novel were well developed and I very much enjoyed the character who we later discover is Shakespeare. I loved how the author used this experience as the fodder behind Shakespeare’s later play. It gave you a sort of behind-the-scenes access.

I had never read anything before that takes place in the very start of colony life. These survivors really had to start from the ground up and figure out how to survive. One of the things that Elizabeth does is discover what plants are good to eat and brings them back to the camp. These foraging experiences brought to mind the experiences I had in the my primary school days playing the game Oregon Trail where you have to do the same thing. Also, as this colony is on Bermuda you really get the sense of fear and mysticism that surrounds this island - you learn a lot of this from the superstitious sailors.

The only issue I had with the book was with the ending. The whole novel builds up to this ultimate event and then in just a few short pages things change and the story ends. I felt a little let down because what you had been hoping for all along finally happens and then something happens which basically makes you feel like everything leading up to it was for naught and then it ends. I think if there had been maybe 20 more pages to frame out the ending I would have been more satisfied.

However, I truly did love this book and would encourage all to read it if you enjoy a good adventure story. You really don’t have to know anything about The Tempest to enjoy it - I didn’t read the play until after the novel - which encouraged me to seek out the original work.

If you would like to preview the story before reading it you can use the Browse Inside feature below:

Reviews of this book by other bloggers:

• The Season for Romance
• Lit and Life

Buy the Book: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | RJ Julia 

Also by Kathryn Johnson

Mercy Killing (Affairs of State #1)

Hot Mercy (Affairs of State #2)

No Mercy (Affairs of State #3)

Find Kathryn Johnson: Website | Twitter | Blog

 
Copyright © 2011 by The Maiden’s Court

Movie Preview - Anonymous

We all have heard the rumor that Shakespeare did not write all/some of his plays. The to-be-released-this-fall film, Anonymous, explores this idea more fully. The primary focus of the film is who wrote these plays but it is also described as a political thriller set in the Elizabethan Era around the Essex Rebellion. For those of you who are interested in Shakespeare and this time period, this movie looks interesting. The trailer is below – it certainly looks dramatic!

In the USA, UK, and Canada it is scheduled to be released September 30, 2011. You can check out the release dates by country here.

Joely Richardson will play a young Elizabeth Tudor while Vanessa Redgrave will play Queen Elizabeth. I don’t recognize any of the other actors in this film.

Do you think you will see this one?





Copyright © 2011 by The Maiden’s Court

The Historical Hamlet

After I read the famous Shakespeare play Hamlet the other day, I started looking up information about the play (a typical exercise after reading). I knew that the Bard wrote historical plays and I wondered if Hamlet might have any basis in a historical setting. I came across this one line in a book I was reading on Shakespeare critique “derived from older sources – the twelfth-century legend of Amleth, told by the Danish author known as Saxo the Grammarian, which was later adapted into French by François de Belleforest in 1570, the primary source for ur-Hamlet, or original Hamlet”.¹ The legend of Amleth huh? So of course, off I go to check this out…

Apparently, Saxo the Grammarian wrote History of the Danes, which is 16 volumes long! In books 3 and 4 appears the legend of Amleth (Hamlet if you move the H to the beginning of the word). As the legend goes – Orvendil and Fengi were chosen by the King of the Danes to rule over an area called Jutland. Orvendil was married to Geruth and their marriage produced one child, Amleth. Fengi, who was jealous of his brother in every way, kills him and subsequently marries Geruth. Amleth pretends to be “mad” in order to exact revenge on his uncle for his father’s murder.² Sounds familiar doesn’t it?

This book, translated in French, as well as ur-Hamlet would have been available at the time that Shakespeare wrote his most famous tragedy.

I will leave you with this hilariously funny animation summary of the play.




Sources:
¹ Garber, Marjorie. “Hamlet”. Shakespeare After All. New York: Anchor Books, 2008. Kindle E-book.
² Mabillard, Amanda. Shakespeare's Sources for Hamlet. Shakespeare Online. 6 Feb. 2011. <>.





Copyright © 2011 by The Maiden’s Court

Audiobook Review: Hamlet by William Shakespeare

Hamlet by William Shakespeare

Unabridged, 3 hr. 30 min.

BBC Audiobooks Ltd

Ensemble Cast (Narrators)

September 6, 1999

★★★★☆

Genre: Classic

Source: Downloaded audio from local library website

“A radio dramatization of Shakespeare's "Hamlet, Prince of Denmark". The play is introduced by Richard Eyre, former Director of The Royal National Theatre.

The play, set in the Kingdom of Denmark, recounts how Prince Hamlet exacts revenge on his uncle Claudius for murdering the old King Hamlet, Claudius's brother and Prince Hamlet's father, and then succeeding to the throne and marrying Gertrude, the King Hamlet's widow and mother of Prince Hamlet. The play vividly portrays real and feigned madness—from overwhelming grief to seething rage—and explores themes of treachery, revenge, incest, and moral corruption..”

I always feel a little inadequate when I read/review classics. That being said, my review of the work itself is going to be brief, but I will spend more time critiquing the audio version I listened to.

I have to say that I really didn’t even know the premise of this play before I read it. Of course I knew a couple of the most famous lines from Shakespeare came from this play and I have read several of his tragedies, but this one I had missed. The play itself follows Hamlet as he strives to take revenge out on his Uncle for the crime he committed but at the same time leads people to believe he, himself, is crazy. The play really does make you question when is he faking it and/or is he really crazy. I felt that the one weak spot in the play was the character of Ophelia. She was the one character that I knew most about coming into reading this, so I was really surprised to see that her impact on the story is marginal. I found myself not really caring what happened to her because I didn’t feel a connection to her.

★★★★½☆

I chose to listen to the BBC Radio version of this play because I have always been happy with watching BBC productions. This production was not like a boring narrated book, but it was as if I was watching the play and had shut my eyes and was just taking it all in through my ears. You could hear people walking around on stage, there were sword fights, and there was singing and music. Each character was voiced by a different person. I thought that this was one of the best audio books that I have had the pleasure of listening to. I would absolutely recommend the other Shakespeare plays by this production.  The only part where it got a little tricky to figure out what was going on was the final scene where there is a lot of action happening – I began to lose track of what was happening to whom. Otherwise it was a great production!

You can listen to a sample of the production (links to Audible):

Copyright © 2011 by The Maiden’s Court