Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Oh, my! What a story!, 19 Aug 2008
The main characters in this amazing book (Part II is 'Hell and Earth') are William Shakespeare and Christopher (Kit) Marlowe. Marlowe is dead, to begin with. The action moves between the England of an ageing Queen Elizabeth and the court of the Queen of the Sidhe in Faerie. This is not the Faerie of the Flower Fairies, or even Tolkienian Elves: the Sidhe are beautiful but they are not the least human. They are cruel. Marlowe now lives in Faerie: he can briefly visit his friends in England, but if he stays away too long he will die.
The politics of both courts drives the plot (which is fascinating), but what struck me most is the abiding friendship between Will and Kit: I could understand that the prospect for Kit of gradually losing everyone he has ever loved is terrible. Will, too, suffers because his life has become involved with Faerie.
I know these are books I will re-read again and again, and find something new each time.
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5.0 out of 5 stars
Beautiful, lyrical story of Shakespeare and Faerie, 14 April 2009
Ms. Bear's prose is utterly beautiful and suits this Faerie story perfectly. But - these are NOT the fairies of fairy tales, these are the strong-minded, wilful, and (when necessary) vicious, inhabitants of a parallel universe, where time flows at a different rate, but whose borders with our own (or in this case, Elizabethan) world are blurred.
The adventures of Christopher (Kit) Marlowe (tragically, but not permanently, dead), along with a certain Mr. Shakespeare, and a cast of dubious supporting characters, faeries, goblins, lunatics, queens (real and faerie), lords, ladies and assorted low-life, are an absolute treat.
You could read the books just for the elegant poetic prose, which envelops you and the story with a style that is perfect - and then, almost as a bonus, you have this well plotted, intriguing, and surprising tale.
Highly recommended for anyone who has enjoyed Mary Gentle's alternate worlds of Ash, or the harder works of Ursula Le Guin, as well as the wonderful world of Neal Stephenson's baroque trilogy.
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