Rate this book

Kill Shakespeare Volume 1 (2012)

by Conor McCreery(Favorite Author)

3.3 of 5 Votes: 4

languge

English

genre

Historical Fiction

publisher

IDW Publishing

series

Kill Shakespeare

review 1: This is a fun read where various Shakespearean characters are fighting over Shakespeare's quill. The bad guys (Lady Macbeth, Richard III, Iago, etc.) want to kill Shakespeare, here presented as a god-like figure, while the good guys (Juliet, Othello, Falstaff, etc.) fight for autonomy and to protect Shakespeare. With phrases like "Will's teeth!" (instead of "God's teeth") standing in as curses and "by Will's Grace" (instead of "by God's Grace"), this play on Shakespeare's godlike status (he did "create" these literary worlds, after all!) is clever. So is the dithering of Hamlet. He doesn't know who the bad guys and the good guys are and his dithering nicely represents Hamlet's inability to make decisions. His "madness" is also portrayed here in a clever way. Honestly, I th... moreink those who are REALLY familiar with Shakespeare (those of us who've spent years researching, writing, and teaching Shakespeare) will catch all these literary Easter eggs. Since I've studied and taught Shakespeare on the college level for a couple of decades, I'm not sure how much the casual Shakespeare reader or those who've only seen his plays or films will get out of Kill Shakespeare. But I say give it a whirl. It's a fun read and visually interesting at the very basic.
review 2: The story is certainly involving and the choice of Hamlet as the protagonist is inspired (after all, what other character creates as much personal conflict as Hamlet?) But although the plot is fun, the overall concept feels a little forced. I suspect this is because I believe it is done better in Fables and some of the characters feel too much changed in order to serve the narrative. Why it works better in Fables I don't know. Possibly it is superior writing, equally it may be that the characters in Fables are naturally changeable. Fairy tales and fables constantly morph based on location, era etc. Shakespeare's characters are defined by their motivations within their stories which never change and as such the characters are less malleable. This means that some of the events in Kill Shakespeare feel forced and some of the characters seem to behave out of character. (Not all though. Hamlet, Falstaff and Iago are nicely portrayed.)I wouldn't recommend this for serious Shakespeare fans as they may find it too loose an interpretation. But for fans of a good story, or those with little knowledge of Shakespeare, I'd say give it a go as it can be quite enjoyable. less

Download links for: Kill Shakespeare Volume 1

Advertising