Publisher: Allison and Busby
Format: Paperback
Synopsis: In the Houses of Montague and Capulet, there is only one
goal: power. The boys are born to fight and die for honor and—if they
survive—marry for influence and money, not love. The girls are assets, to be
spent wisely. Their wishes are of no import. Their fates are written on the day
they are born. Benvolio Montague, cousin to Romeo, knows all this. He expects to die for his
cousin, for his house, but a spark of rebellion still lives inside him. At
night, he is the Prince of Shadows, the greatest thief in Verona—and he risks
all as he steals from House Capulet. In doing so, he sets eyes on convent-bound
Rosaline, and a terrible curse begins that will claim the lives of many in
Verona…
…And will rewrite all their fates, forever
I have to admit Prince of Shadows was not the top of my to
read list. I’d started reading a different book and I have a rather short
attention span, which doesn’t help with reading; if a book or plot doesn’t have be hooked if find
it very difficult to make my way through a book, so I realised a while ago that
it is better for me and the book in question to abandon it if I’m only at the
start. The problem was that I knew I didn’t want to read what I was reading but
I didn’t know what I did want to read, I copied Caragh’s post-it in a jar technique,
and Prince of Shadows is what came out. And honestly I didn’t have high hopes,
I love Morganville and the way it’s written. But as my colleague said when she
saw Prince of Shadows “It doesn’t look like the sort of book you would read”. I
have (despite never actually reading or seeing the play) always hated Romeo and
Juliet. I read the first page and I was hooked, I couldn’t put it down!
I’m not sure if my lack of knowledge of Romeo and Juliet was
a good thing or a bad thing – it led to at least one embarrassing incident (I
had no idea that Romeo was in love with Rosaline first).But it does also mean
that I have nothing really to compare it to, not that it matters much because Prince
of Shadows is the story of Benvolio Montague, and also I feel of Mercutio, less
so of Romeo although obviously he is there.
Rachel Caine managed to take a time period, culture,
language and partly subject matter, that I have no real desire to read and made
me unable to put it down, I’d read another 10 if she wrote them. The dialogue is not Shakespearean but I’d say
it was of the period, which normally I just don’t have the patience riddles and
people not straight forwardly saying what they mean, it frustrates and confuses
me and back to the attention span I lose interest and understanding by the of
the sentence; but not with Prince of Shadows. It helps that this book has plenty of action, and keeps moving there is always something happening or about to happen.
I fell a little bit in love with both Mercutio and Benvolio within the prologue. It felt like I had been friends with Mercutio for years… and I think I hate Rachel Caine a little for that, this is a book based on one of Shakespeare’s tragedies being emotionally attached to one of the characters is not really advisable and I spent a fair bit of the book in tears for Mercutio (If I’m being brutally honest I’m crying just reviewing it – although I did just finish it). I also really liked Balthasar, Rosaline and Benvolio’s mother. Rosaline mainly because she doesn’t think being a woman should stop her from using a sword or climbing a wall, and also because she sees the feud and the bloodshed for what it is – unnecessary and pointless, and she never really considers that the fact Benvolio is a Montague should be a reason for her to hate him, she judges him on who he is not who his family is.
I don’t want to say too much more and risk spoiling the bits which are not already widely known to everyone but me. But I loved everything about Prince of Shadows, even if it broke my heart.
I fell a little bit in love with both Mercutio and Benvolio within the prologue. It felt like I had been friends with Mercutio for years… and I think I hate Rachel Caine a little for that, this is a book based on one of Shakespeare’s tragedies being emotionally attached to one of the characters is not really advisable and I spent a fair bit of the book in tears for Mercutio (If I’m being brutally honest I’m crying just reviewing it – although I did just finish it). I also really liked Balthasar, Rosaline and Benvolio’s mother. Rosaline mainly because she doesn’t think being a woman should stop her from using a sword or climbing a wall, and also because she sees the feud and the bloodshed for what it is – unnecessary and pointless, and she never really considers that the fact Benvolio is a Montague should be a reason for her to hate him, she judges him on who he is not who his family is.
I don’t want to say too much more and risk spoiling the bits which are not already widely known to everyone but me. But I loved everything about Prince of Shadows, even if it broke my heart.
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