Customer Reviews

King of Shadows

5 star:		(42)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Nat Field, an actor in the American Company of Boys, goes to London with the troupe to play the role of Puck in "A Midsummer Night's Dream" at the new Globe Theatre. Suddenly, he is transported back in time to 1599 London and finds himself portraying Puck at the original Globe. Not only that, he's performing with Will Shakespeare himself, who is playing Oberon! The author brings the sights, sounds and smells of Elizabethan London to life and takes us behind the scenes of the Bard's own production of "A Midsummer Night's Dream." After reading this, you'll probably want to read the play and see a performance yourself. Susan Cooper, who was a student of J.R.R. Tolkien, is an outstanding writer and storyteller. Don't miss her magnum opus, the five-book "The Dark Is Rising" series.

This an extemely well written and well developed story. The plot leaves you with so much to think about: the growing relation between Nat (the main character) and Shakespeare (hopefully you know who that is!), and many other things left unsettled. I, a thirteen-year-old girl who is addicted to reading, am always looking for a good, thought-provoking, sometimes humorous, and "real" (not some cheap-o series with 100 pages each about some teenager losing her boyfriend) book, and King of Shadows meets and exceeds my requirements. If you like sience-fiction, or books about ordinary kids in not-so-ordinary situations, e.g. transported back in time, then READ THIS BOOK. Madeline L'Engle fans will love this too.

This was the best book I've read to date, and I'm serious (I don't mean that it's on a list of about five hundred other books that I think are good, I mean this is the number one book on my list).

The story documents the tale of Nat, a young actor travelling to London with a group of kids from all over the US in a play company who are going to perform Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream and Julius Caesar at the Globe. But when he gets sick with a terrible fever, he finds himself transported into the London in 1599 when the Globe was new and William Shakespeare is alive!

It is told in first person through the eyes of the protagonist, Nat, and it tells not only, in detail, about the feelings he gets when he finds out where (or when) he is. It's not just another fall down the rabbit hole type of book, and it's not really fantasy. It describes in rich detail the play company and the city of London in 1599 from the point of view of a young character who has been plagued by death in his life. If you love Shakespeare like I do, you'll absolutely love this book. Even if you don't, you'll still love this book. It was full of meaning, yet the story is layered in a way that can be understood by younger readers as well as on a deeper level by adults.

This is a great book and definately worth reading.

Susan Cooper has done an incredible job weaving together a plot that skillfully blends the present with the past. One is left with a warm and glowing feeling as the relationship with young Nat and Will Shakespeare grows. The author draws together the finely detailed past of the Global Theatre of 1599, slipping in key passages from Shakespeare's plays and sonnets, thus creating a feeling of traveling back to Elizabethean time. After reading King of Shadows, Shakespeare becomes more than a mere legendary name---he becomes a heartfelt, loving poet and playwrite, a father figure to Nat, and an inspiration to all those eager to enter the theatre, or just sit back and enjoy one of Shakespeare's timeless classics. As a beginning writer of young-adult fiction and an avid reader of children's literature, I am predicting a Newberry Award winner here!

When I read King of Shadows, I realized once again how well-written all of Susan Cooper's stories are. The characters are developed richly and they all have distinct personality. The plot is wonderful, and I would give this book an 15 on a scale of 1 to 10.A great read, as well as her series the Dark is Rising. Highly recommended!

"This is thy negligence. Still thou mistak'st,
Or else commit'st thy knaveries wilfully."
"Believe me, king of shadows, I mistook."
- Oberon and Puck, A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM, Act III scene 3

"'...nought shall go ill.
The man shall have his mare again,
and all shall be well.'

"And these last three lines I said out to the audience, or rather to the empty theatre where the audience would be, and they jarred me suddenly out of my happy time, my acting time. 'All shall be well.' I knew as I said it that it was a lie, Shakespeare's lie, because I knew from my own life that all does not go well, but that terrible things happen to people and cannot be put right, by magic flower-juice or by anything else in this world."
- Nat Field, who plays Puck for the Company of Boys - and the Lord Chamberlain's Men

Nat, who narrates his own story as he remembers it, brings us into his life on the first day of serious rehearsal of the Company of Boys - twenty of the best young stage actors in the United States, brought together to perform two of Shakespeare's plays as they were intended to be performed, using boys whose voices hadn't yet broken for the women's roles. After a few weeks of rehearsal (first in Cambridge, Massachusetts, then in London), they are to perform JULIUS CAESAR and A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM in the Globe, newly built in 1999 yet celebrating its 400th anniversary as a replica of the original theatre where the Lord Chamberlain's Men - Shakespeare's company - spent their most famous years.

Theatre is Nat's world - the place where, for a few precious hours at a time, he can be somebody else, somebody who doesn't have to remember his parents' deaths, or answer questions, or be sympathized with - he can be Puck for an enchanted while, or the Boy in HENRY V. He expects London to be even better, in a company where with few personal connections that will be playing in another country. (Not that he's unfriendly - working with Gil Warman as Oberon helps him understand Puck better, as well as being good for laughs when the two of them are working with Rachel the voice coach. Nat's accent being naturally close to Elizabethan English is one thing, but faking a southern accent to match him is not a pretty sight. I recommend Jim Dale's unabridged narration very highly - since Nat is narrating, he sticks with Nat's accent except when speaking in another persona, and does them all very well.)

But Nat's first day of rehearsal in the Globe itself takes him far beyond what he ever hoped for, as he wakes up the next day not in 1999, but 1599, having changed places and times with another Nathan Field, an actor from St. Paul's School on loan to the Lord Chamberlain's Men to play Puck in a command performance of the Dream, though the public will not know that the Queen herself has a whim to see the new Globe in secret.

This is a beautifully crafted story. Nat's situation is built up perfectly - his character's personal pain and how he copes with it, the culture shock he experiences constantly in 1599, and the theatre and its people, then and now. The book brings Shakespeare to life in more ways than one; the book can serve as an introduction to the Dream for someone who's never seen it performed, as living history of Shakespeare's time by showing London in concrete terms rather than dry statistics, and by introducing Nat to Shakespeare the person and the other members of his company, who first brought his plays to life.

Nat's problems are also well thought out. Apart from shock at being displaced in time, the culture shock stretches further than one might think, reaching even into the small details like not sleeping on a bed or having one's own cup and plate at table, as well as the more obvious lacks of plumbing and artificial light. Nat himself is a kid, not an historian; he can pass as well as he does only because his counterpart was a sheltered educated softie by the standards of the day, on loan to a commercial theatre where he wasn't known personally. What he *does* know about Shakespeare's time is more likely to get him in trouble than to help; how many people, for example, can remember which plays he'd already written by 1599? Or what the current political troubles at court were? (The reader might even want to follow this book with A YEAR IN THE LIFE OF WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE: 1599 by James Shapiro, because Nat of course doesn't learn *all* the reasons for everything that's going on.)

But there's one compensation that makes up for all this, when Nat - still suffering from the loss of his father three years before - meets a man who lost his son three years ago.

"'Greet Master Shakespeare, boy.'
It was as if he'd said, 'Say hello to God.'"

Nat Field steals your heart and captures your attention in Susan Cooper's newest masterpiece, King of Shadows. Nat is hand picked to be a part of an all boy Shakespearian acting troupe at the Globe reproduction in London. While there he becomes ill and when he wakes the date is 1599, and he is Nat Field, a player on loan for the part of Puck in the original production of A Midsummer Night's Dream. Here he develops a personal relationship with Master Shakespeare and his personality and 'wanna reach out and hug him' descriptions only add to this great work. A must for any reader...and another amazing work from Susan Cooper.

I found this book extremely absorbing, full of life and wonderful descriptions so realistic you could practicly see the person standing in front of you. This story was hard to understand at points but it all came together in the end as another brilliant Susan Cooper book.

With this novel, I think that Cooper has created a fun and original work. It is a story of a boys acting company who travel to London to preform at the rebuilt Globe Theater. For one boy, the trip involves not just a voyage across the Atlantic, but a journey in time as well. Nat Field finds himself back in Elizabethian London acting in the role of Puck in Shakespeare's personal production of A Midsummer's Night Dream.

This odd transposition in time allows for some interesting interaction with the setting. For a twentieth century boy, the London of Shakespeare's day is a strange world. Having no modern convieniences (such as toilets) and having the drink at every meal be ale are things that don't fit the everyday life of a young American boy. But Nat gets along and proves himself as an actor in Shakespeare's own production.

Given the general elements of this book, not all young readers would enjoy it. To identify with or even to like the main character, one cannot by a typical American kid. The theatrical world and the ability to understand the historical setting of Shakespeare's time are, unfortunately, completely foreign to most kids these days. So this book is not for the typical nintendo-playing sports-loving kid, but rather for the imaginitive book-lover. (For the book is full of imagination and history.)

The book isn't perfect, but it is still a fun read. As an adult reader, I wished that I could have read more about the purpose behind the time travel, but I realize that what was written is sufficient for a younger audience. So, as a young adult novel, it is a great book, well worth the read.

In this book, Nat is a young actor who had been shattered by the death of his parents. He traveled to London to perform as Puck A Midsummer Night's Dream in the remake of the Globe theater, and is mysteriously transported back in time to when the play was first performed. He soon bonds with the Bard himself who helps him begin to heal his emotional scars.

I absolutely loved this book. Susan Cooper is one of my favorite authors. She really brought the world of Shakespeare alive with her descriptions of the life back then. When she writes about Nat's emotions while he is acting, you can almost feel yourself onstage with him, getting caught up in the moment. You should read this book!!!!