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Her Majesty's Will (2013)

by David Blixt(Favorite Author)
3.56 of 5 Votes: 2
ISBN
0615776485 (ISBN13: 9780615776484)
languge
English
publisher
Sordelet Ink
review 1: It took a bit to catch on that this book is a farce. Sometimes I'm slow. Once I did I just let reality go and that's when I started to enjoy the book. 'Cause if you're looking for a lot of historical fact - it ain't here. If you're looking for fun historical conjecture then this is the book for you.William Falstaff is teaching in a school when he hears a kerfuffle outside and he goes forth to rescue a damsel in distress. Using his acting skill he puts forth that he is a great swordsman and the attackers back off - vowing to return with greater forces. He sends the beautiful lady off to his rooms to recover and he soon follows for what he assumes will be his erm, reward. What he finds when he gets there will change the entire course of his life. Which incidentally has alrea... moredy been set asunder by having to leave the town he has known all his life under a cloud of suspicion. He can't even use his real name, William Shakespeare.What follows is a fast paced, crazy romp through Elizabethan England. Encounters with Catholics working for the imprisoned Queen Mary and the infamous Francis Walsingham, Elizabeth's spymaster all come into play. As Falstaff/Shakespeare and his partner in crime, Kit Marlowe use their wit and acting abilities to get themselves out of impossible situations all the while trying to save Queen Elizabeth from a plot to kill her.It was silly, it was ridiculous, it was fun. The references to various plays of the time and the seeds planted for future Shakespeare classics made it all the more sly. I must say that I enjoyed the craziness even as I was shaking my head with the absurdity of it all. Mr. Blixt can turn a phrase.
review 2: I love William Shakespeare. I love his plays. He's just a really fascinating person in general so I was really excited to read this book. T I loved learning about The inspiration behind Blixt's Her Majesty's Will is how William Shakespeare, infamous playwright, ended up coming from Avon to London and becoming the man that we now remember him for being. So how does Blixt imagine Shakespeare made that journey? Well, he was a spy. Mr. Shakespeare was definitely not a very good spy but a spy all the same. In this book, Will and Kit foil the plans for the Babington Plot to kill the one and only Queen Elizabeth. So even though they sort of initially bumble some of their journey to figure out what is going on, in the end, they truly save the day.With as off kilter as this basis sounds, it makes for a great story that is often times very funny. Will Shakespeare teams up with Christopher Marlowe, better known as Kit, in this story to become a spy. In real life, it was suspected that Kit really was a spy. One thing that I loved about this book is the mix between fact and fiction. It just worked so well and made for a really intriguing story that definitely seemed plausible.While Will was a good character, I loved, loved, loved Kit. He is so funny in this book. He's witty and has so many great one liners. A couple of them had me laughing out loud. He makes a good foil for Mr. Shakespeare who is a lot more staid and serious in this book. Kit is such a great, larger than life character.Bottom line: A fun read about Will Shakespeare's lost years! less
Reviews (see all)
Tay
A humours tale about spies, plots, actors, and a variety of con artists in Elizabethan England.
lamooshi
Silly and fun with just enough depth to keep you anxiously turning pages.
peach
D'Artagnan meets Marlow on Brokeback mountain. Cute, amusing.
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