A review by jdhobbes
Caliban's Hour by Tad Williams
4.0
I love the idea of Shakespearean fanfiction, and have to respect any author brave enough to try it. I admit that The Tempest was never one of my more favorite plays, however, and I don't remember a lot of the details from it, so I may be missing the full flavor of this book.
That being said, I still enjoyed Caliban's Hour immensely. Tad Williams took a well-known villain, a literal monster, and turned him into a sympathetic character. Parts of his story are truly heart-breaking.
One of my favorite things about this book, however, is how Williams talks about words and language. Caliban had no concept of language or names before Prospero taught him, and the way Caliban describes this transition of understanding is quite spectacular. In the light of a Shakespearean character (when Shakespeare himself was such a pioneer of language), I think this theme is especially meaningful and I just love the handling of it.
That being said, I still enjoyed Caliban's Hour immensely. Tad Williams took a well-known villain, a literal monster, and turned him into a sympathetic character. Parts of his story are truly heart-breaking.
One of my favorite things about this book, however, is how Williams talks about words and language. Caliban had no concept of language or names before Prospero taught him, and the way Caliban describes this transition of understanding is quite spectacular. In the light of a Shakespearean character (when Shakespeare himself was such a pioneer of language), I think this theme is especially meaningful and I just love the handling of it.