Myrlin A. Hermes

Hamlet is probably one of my all-time favorite Shakespeare plays, so I knew I had to pick this one up, and I'm super glad I did. Myrlin Hermes weaves a world for Hamlet and Horatio outside of the Denmark court, before the death of King Hamlet and all the insanity that followed. The writing style was definitely the first thing that drew me in about this book. I was amazed at the beauty of prose. It's definitely at a level that the Bard would have been proud of. The book begins with Horatio accepting a "translating" job from a baron, where he meets her rather un-lovely wife Adriane. But the book really picks up once Horatio discovers Hamlet by the riverside. The scene in which Horatio and Hamlet first meet is one of my absolute, favorite parts of this book. The prose is vivid and paints a beautiful scene, but it's Hamlet who the reader falls in love with here. Hermes paints him as beautiful and dangerous, intelligent and insane. She captures Shakespeare's Hamlet so beautifully that I knew right from that moment that this book would end up being a favorite of mine.

The characters really give this book depth. Not only can Hermes capture the beauty and complexity of Shakespeare's characters, but she creates Lady Adriane, who's dark and sexy and fits in so well with Horatio and Hamlet that I'm surprised I can't dig her out of the original play itself. Life for Hamlet and Horatio wouldn't have been so difficult if not for Adriane, and in that sense the reader comes to love her and hate her. She's a character that you won't soon forget.

As it's set before the original play, I was expecting certain events to take place at a certain time, so this book would inevitably lead into the play. But I was surprised at the twists and turns that Hermes pulls. They're by no means loud and shocking, but quiet, so quiet that the reader could almost miss the crucial decisions that Horatio makes near the end that inevitably change his and Hamlet's destiny indefinitely. The end is every bit as beautiful as I'd hoped with enough variation from the original text that I never once skimmed or became annoyed with predictability.

If you're a fan of Hamlet, or Shakespeare in general, I highly recommend this book. It's everything you expect it to be and everything you don't. It's dark and sexy and I can't get enough of it.

5/5 Stars. An instant classic.… (meer)

Not my usual thing, but sold as “Shakespeare turned topsy-turvy,” specifically Hamlet, and I’m a sucker for all things Hamlet. Horatio is a failed academic in Wittenburg; Hamlet is the prince of Denmark, a beauty and wit who hasn’t done much with his life; there are echoes of various other elements of Shakespeare’s play as well as several others. Horatio writes Shakespeare’s sonnets, to Hamlet and to his other lover/patron. It’s sort of a famous phrases/images mashup, like a fever dream you’d have after shotgunning one play after another. I don’t know whether I liked it or just found it familiar.… (meer)

This novel starts with an intriguing premise: the main narrator is Hamlet's loyal friend, Horatio, and the reader expects a retelling of Shakespeare's famous tragedy. But that's not quite what Myrlin Hermes offers. Instead, it begins as the story of their blossoming friendship/love in Wittenburg, its highs and lows, interspersed with the question of who was Will Shake-speare (in addition to who wrote the plays and sonnets). A mysterious dark lady, Adriane, plays a significant role as Horatio's patron and part of the famous Shakespearean love triangle, rendered here among Adriane, Horatio, and Hamlet. There are plenty of twists and turns to a story and a sonnet sequence that you thought you knew.

For a number of reasons, I almost gave up on this book about 40 pages in. Every page is dotted with quotes and near-quotes from Shakespeare's work, a strategy that I initially found irritating but eventually decided to treat as a game. (Thankfully, I didn't start counting the references, but in addition to Hamlet and the sonnets, Hermes draws on As You Like It, Henry V, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Henry IV (Parts 1 & 2), King Lear, Othello, Twelfth Night, etc.--even Macbeth's drunken Porter makes a brief appearance. And then there is the scene of Horatio's first meeting with Hamlet. Walking alone by his favorite riverside retreat, Horatio comes across a beautiful, naked, weeping maiden--only it isn't a maiden, it's Hamlet, and he isn't weeping, he's masturbating. So--if that sort of thing bothers you, be forewarned that there are a lot of graphic sex scenes in this novel, both straight and gay. I read on a bit further, and the interesting development of the characters kept me involved (despite an occasion "ick!").

In the end, my reservations and the entertainment factor balanced out, and while I can't recommend The Lunatic, the Lover, and the Poet to everyone without reservations, it's a jolly good read for those who like Shakespearean spin-offs.… (meer)