Hamlet II: Ophelia's Revenge [Mass Market Paperback]

David Bergantino (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 1, 2003 | Series: Bard's Blood (Book 1)

Bard's Blood #1

The classic tales of William Shakespeare are often as packed with gore and corpses as the scariest slasher flick -- and can spawn equally gruesome sequels....

Football star Cameron Dean is genuine campus royalty at Globe University, but his life is more of a nightmare than a dream. Not only was his dad murdered under mysterious circumstances, but Cameron suspects that his mom and aunt may have had something to do with it!

When he unexpectedly inherits a creepy old castle in Denmark, Cameron tries to put his worries behind him, inviting his girlfriend and college buddies along on an overseas trip to check out the gloomy fortress. The plan is to get some serious partying done. Too bad nobody counted on the ghost of a drowned girl rising from her watery grave with vengeance on her mind!

Now the only question is: to die or not to die?

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Pocket Star (February 1, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0743456246
• ISBN-13: 978-0743456241
• Product Dimensions: 6.9 x 4.4 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,255,679 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Entertaining and Tragic, September 5, 2003

By 

Joshua Koppel (Chicago, IL United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Hamlet II: Ophelia's Revenge (Mass Market Paperback)

Unlike other reviewers, I did not pick this up thinking it was a "modern retelling" of the Shakespeare classic, just a horror-style sequel. I actually only picked it up after the second Bard's Blood book came out.

Cameron Dean is a football star at Globe University. His father is dead and his mother is shacking up with his father's sister (Aunt Claudia). Messed up as that is, he suddenly finds himself heir to four-billion dollars and a castle in Denmark. But he cant collect until his 21st birthday (just a few weeks away).

Cameron decides to invite the team (and their sweeties) to the castle for his birthday. Nearly a hundred people head out for the party including comic relief Rosenberg and Gyllenhal.

But the castle has a secret as Ophelia's ghost rises from her peat-bog grave intending to destroy all love in the castle and reclaim Hamlet (his soul is tied to Cameron's).

Ophelia is an interesting character as she finds herself able to possess the bodies of women. The side effect is that she is changed by them and begins to think in more modern terms (a clever trick by the author so he would not have to match her personality to Shakespeare's original).

Like the play it purports to be a sequel to, this book is a tragedy. But all of the cute little Shakespearian references were quite entertaining and while there is some gore involved, most of the imagery is more classic ghost tale.

I am looking forward to more in the series.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Almost as Good as the Original!, December 28, 2003

By 

Amanda Sloane Murray (Los Angeles, CA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Hamlet II: Ophelia's Revenge (Mass Market Paperback)

Feeling the stress from having an essay due for my Famous Vengeful Danish Ghosts in Elizabethan Dramatic Plays 201 course, I picked up a copy of this book, hoping that it would give me some idea of what this Shakespeare guy is all about. Imagine my surprise when I discovered the unpretentious, yet undeniable intelligence buried deep within author David Bergantino's modern, stylish adaptation of this supposedly well-known play. I could not have been more relieved not to have to slog through the original. Bravo, I say, to Mr. Bergantino's writing, and I can't wait for the next installment of this soon-to-be classic series.

6 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars This is the farthest thing from Hamlet EVER!!!, March 22, 2003

By 

R. Stringini "moviman7643" (Addison, IL United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Hamlet II: Ophelia's Revenge (Mass Market Paperback)

Ok, I have only read about half the book, but I have to say that they should have just tried to market this as its own book, not a "modern re-write" of Hamlet. Why? Well, for one, the book is pretty dang bad. It is brought even farther down by the fact that it is being compared to Hamlet, a classic work of Drama.

To start things off, well, this is suppose to be a YA book, right? Wrong. No YA book I have ever read has ever had so many f-bombs!!! In the first chapeter alone there are three or four. So the 12-16 crowd is out. Plus all the characterization is completely messed up. If they are following Hamlet then the relationships should be at least a bit similar. For example Ophelia's counterpart, Sophia. In Hamlet she is a faithful daughter, and a loving sister. In Hamlet 2: Ophelia's Revenge she is...well, a complete witch. The way she treats her brother alone keeps her from being at all what Ophelia was. And replacing the war issues with Football works a bit, except that the author over does it a bit. Having the Ghost of Hamlet's father appear in the end zone? COME ON!!! Ugh!!!

If you want a "so stupid its fun" type book pick this up, maybe. And the next book in this series worries me. A horror version of Midsummer's Night Dream? Why wouldn't they try and conquer an easier task, like say Hamlet or even The Tempest? Well if it is half as slow as this book, I will end up doing a Bard's Blood Bonfire.