Merlin's Shakespeare (The Merlin's Shakespeare, #1)

by Carol Anne Douglas

[chymerra]

When I was in high school, I was a huge Shakespeare nerd. I read and reread his plays. I watched everything and anything that even mentioned Shakespeare. My enjoyment of his work hasn’t faded as I have gotten older. I am also a massive fan of Canterlot. So when I read the blurb and saw that Merlin’s Shakespeare contained both, I knew that I had to read this book.

I felt divided about this book. I loved that the author was able to bring Shakespeare, Oberon, Titiana, Richard III, Lady Macbeth, Mercutio, and other characters to life. Each character was how I pictured them to be, and it made that aspect of the book enjoyable to read. But there were parts that I didn’t like about the book. I felt that the non-Shakespearean characters lacked depth. I didn’t like how Merlin was portrayed. And the ending didn’t jive with me (even knowing that there was going to be a book two).

I did like Beth and felt for her. She was picked to do something that other people couldn’t. But I had questions about her. I wanted to know how she got her magic. Was it inherited? Did her unnamed father have it? I would have loved to see more focus on that. I also wanted to see more of her out of non-Shakespeare relationships. It bothered me that they were shoved to the back burner for almost the whole book.

I did not like Merlin. He rubbed me the wrong way the entire book. He appeared whenever he felt like it. He came across as surly and grumpy for the whole book. I didn’t like him.

I did like how the author entwined Shakespeare and the legend of Camelot together in the book. To have King Richard III be based on Mordred was fascinating. There were similarities there.

Speaking of King Richard III, I loved his character. Go figure, liking a villain. He was sneaky, charming, and ruthless. He was the perfect villain.

There were some wanna be romances in the book. Romeo trying to woo Lady Macbeth was hilarious. The attraction that Beth had for Mercutio was cute. But nothing took off, which made what happened at the end of the book interesting.

The end of Merlin’s Shakespeare was exciting. I can’t get into it because of spoilers, but a whole lot of craziness went down. Individual storylines were ended, and certain storylines were left open. I am interested to see where book 2 goes.