Where Will Shakespeare Is a Spy

The Assassin of Verona by Benet Brandreth
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

For me, this is a "liked it a little" book. That's a 3 to me.

I could give it a 4 for the last chapter, which was pretty good; but I could give it a 2 for a very disappointing plot. Let me explain.

The premise is fun: Shakespeare, as a younger man, before he wrote all his plays, ends up with a couple friends impersonating delegates from England, becoming actual spies in the process. They reach Venice in book 1. This is book 2, where he and Hemmings and Oldcastle are trying to return to England with important intelligence. And for about 80% of the book, nothing of note happens.

They're separated, and end up in the forests around Verona. Will, depressed by a severe loss, hangs out with bandits in the woods. Does nothing. Says little. His friends are stuck at the local Duke's court, playing new roles to avoid the pope's men. But they don't come up with any plans or attempt to do anything intelligent.

None of them do.

If the duke's daughter didn't drive the action, nothing would happen.

I'll grant that a lot of Shakespeare plays also have very loose plots--think The Tempest or A Midsummer Night's Dream--where stuff happens but nobody achieves anything much. So maybe he's going for that here. But imagine having Shakespeare as a character while not having him do anything or say anything interesting for most of the book.

Disappointing. The last chapter or so sees a bit of action, but then ends on a horribly sour note that definitely does not make me want to read any more like this. Just a bummer.

Anyway, it's written well, as far as prose I mean, with some fun allusions to language from the plays, and has a few good scenes. Overall: thumbs-up, but without much conviction.

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