Customer Reviews

Sung in Shadow

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During the Renaissance of an Italy that never existed in our world, two young lovers in the city-state of Verensa met across lines of familial feuding and arcane powers to shape a story that everybody knows by heart . . . almost. The young man in question is beautiful, restless, burning Romulan Montargo. His contant friend and companion: the mocking, moody Flavian Estemba, called (for his quicksilver temperament) Mercurio. And the maiden, as beautiful, ardent, and directionless as Romulan himself, is named Iuletta Chenti-but all Verensa has a nickname for the Chenti family, after its heraldic emblem of a great cat, and calls them the Gattapuletti. There will be star-crossed love, duels of honor, feuding Houses and various deaths . . . and none of it will happen exactly as readers of "Romeo and Juliet" expect. Tanith Lee follows the very bare outline of the Romeo and Juliet story, but within that framework her characters are full of fascinating twists. Some of the similarities are a bit arcane-it only makes sense for Iuletta's cousin to be named Leopardo if one remembers that Tybalt is the name of a cat-while others, such as Romulan's parting words to Iuletta ("To part will be sweet, since we do so only to meet again") have a very familiar ring, but all of it is just different enough to keep the reader enthralled within the well-known pattern of Romulan and Iuletta and their bright, ardent, hopeless love. All right. Some of it is *very* different. But it's equally as good. Tanith Lee's colorful prose is enough to make almost anything readable, and she's working with high-quality material here. Such retellings work very well for fairy tales and myths, turning the story to illuminate angles never before seen. Why not with Shakespeare? Tanith Lee makes the attempt in "Sung in Shadow" and surprisingly enough, it really works.

On first glance, the reader may think "WHY should I read something that's just a retelling of the Romeo and Juliet story?". Why should you? Firstly, Tanith Lee writes beautifully. Secondly, this book is filled with subtleties -- weird cultural shifts that aren't quite what one would expect from Renaissance Italy; mysterious, unspoken relationships between characters. It may well take you more than one reading to really appreciate this book, but it's worth it.

Having read about twenty of Tanith Lee's novel, I have to say that this is definitely the worst. The idea of a Romeo & Juliet story played differently in a parallel universe is charming, but probably only merits a short-story or novella length work. 400 pages of tiresome infighting between the houses of swaggering Italian stallions causes the eyelids to droop. The characters of substance are peripheral, and we're expected to care about the traumas that befall the vain & vacuous. Not even her lovely prose, extensive colorful vocabulary, and the occasional interesting passages can save this novel from being an utter bore.

Books arrived fast and in excellent condition. I am very satisfied with my purchase.