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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A tour de force,
By Bob Remund (Park Rapids, Minnesota United States) - See all my reviews
This review is from: A Midsummer Tempest (Paperback)
This story is truly one-of-a-kind; a labor of love (being dedicated to the author's wife) as well as a tour de force. It can be savored on four levels: first as "simply" a fine and original fantasy novel; second as a clever and "natural" (that is, unforced) interweaving of characters and locales from Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream and The Tempest, with a light seasoning of Arthurian themes; thirdly as a masterful adaptation of the language rhythms of a Shakespeare play (with the chapters/acts divided into "scenes"); and finally as an extraordinary, subtle (that is, unobtrusive) integration of poetry (again a la Shakespeare) into prose narative. For example, chapters or "scenes" occasionally end with a rhymed couplet, but that is only the most obvious of the many Excellencies. All four levels are seamlessly incorporated in a most extraordinary manner. The first time I read this book - in 1974 - I was halfway through before I began to realize what the author had achieved. Thus lovers of fantasy can thoroughly enjoy the story, while connoisseurs of the English language will find additional reasons to rejoice. This book is a gem - a masterpiece. I have treasured my paperback copy for 27 years. I assume it is reprinted regularly, but I have never seen it again in bookstores. It deserves a fine hardcover "limited" edition with illuminated script highlights and four-color illustrations by a top artist sympathetic to the genre. I plan to commission one as soon as I win the power ball.
9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A classic that any fan of Anderson or Shakespeare will love,
By "wellsoul@zdnetonebox.com" (Boston, MA USA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: A Midsummer Tempest (Mass Market Paperback)
This is one of those books you want to keep and read again over the years. It's a historical what if? story. What if there was a world where Shakespeare's stories were history rather than fiction and in this world railroads were built 200 years early? It's a wonderful story with all the elements of fantasy of Shakespeare's "A Midsummer Night's Dream" combined with the battle between Royalists and Roundheads in a world of premature steam industry. The only thing that would be more wonderful would be if it were twice as long! This is a book you can read today and it is still as great as when it was written.
10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Absolutely superb! Deserves more than 5 stars!!!!!!,
By Hal Colebatch (Perth, Western Australia) - See all my reviews
This review is from: A Midsummer Tempest (Paperback)
I am sometimes sorry I cannot give less than one star to some books I have read (I read hundreds of books professionally). On this occasion I am sorry I cannot give more than five stars.It is absolutely superb, a perfect jewel of a book which I had never heard of and discovered only by chance. The heroic scale and width of concept, and I say this with all seriousness, can be called Shakespearean. Splendid descriptive writing, action and characters, with resonances at the very centre of great mytho-poetry. I knew Poul Anderson was a great writer, but this took my breath away! The best novel I have discovered in years!
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