レビュー要約

• 歴史上の人物を活劇の中心に据え、文学史と政治スリラーを重ねる構成が支持されています。設定の大胆さと読みやすい物語運びが魅力です。

レビュー

• Eine der besten " What if: " Geschichten, ever.

  In einem parallelen Universum hat die "spanische Armada 1588" wie erwartet gewonnen und knappe 10 Jahre später sitzt die Ex-Königin Elisabeth im Tower und Isabella, die Tochter des spanischen Königs sitzt auf dem englischen Thron. Unter dieser Prämisse startet eine der besten " Alternate History " aus der Feder Turtledoves und eine der besten, die ich je gelesen habe. Die Geschichte erzählt der Autor aus der Perspektive zweier Handlungsträger und bei diesem Autor muss man anmerken nur zweier Protagonisten, da er sonst eher zwischen dutzenden Perspektiven wechselt und dies auch beherrscht. So lässt sich die Story Zeit die beiden Charaktere in ihrer Umwelt zu beleuchten, Alltagssituationen gekonnt und realistisch zu schildern und auch die Nebenfiguren bekommen Tiefe. Obwohl ich den Verdacht hatte, dass Sprache und Inhalt eng an die damalige Zeit angelehnt sind habe ich bei unseren englisch sprachigen Lesefreunden nachgeschaut und mich über die Bestätigung meiner Vermutung gefreut, so tief stecke ich weder in den Werken von Shakespeares noch im altertümlichen Englisch, dass ich mir sicher sein konnte: "Writing in the language and style of the period, author Turtledove casually (and very skillfully) incorporates innumerable Shakespearean quotations into his text, often with humorous intent." Dafür eignet sich dieser Roman aber auch nicht für die ersten Versuche sich mit englischen Originalen zu beschäftigen. W. Shakespeare findet sich im Zentrum einer Verschwörung als er den Auftrag erhält zwei Stücke zu schreiben. Das eine soll das Leben von Phillip, dem Eroberer Englands und sterbenden Königs Spaniens, in ein gutes Licht stellen. Das andere soll die Initialzündung für die Erhebung des Volkes gegen die Besatzer werden, dabei will er eigentlich nichts als gute und mitreißende Theaterstücke schreiben und Erfolg haben. Als sein Konterpart agiert ein spanischer Offizier, der Spion und selbst Stückeschreiber, Schürzenjäger und eigentlich ein netter Kerl ist. Wie es Shakespeare gelingt die verschiedenen Strömungen auszubalancieren und zu überleben, davon erzählt der Roman mit viel Sachverstand und Humor, dabei spannend und sehr authentisch. Gespickt mit Anspielungen und Zitaten vom echten W. Shakespeare. Zitat: Turtledove kann einfach gut erzählen, allerdings neigt er bei seinen Serien zu Längen. Dieser Roman ist eine echte kontrafaktische Geschichte, dicht an der historischen Realität und in sich abgeschlossen. Eine klare Empfehlung für Freunde von historischen (was wäre wenn) Romanen und ich denke auch ein Spaß für Shakespeare Fans.

• Great Book

  A fascinating read. Well thought out and well researched - as you would expect from an author like HT. I do like the 'loop out the side' alternative history approach to this story. It seems to be implied that British history would more or less get back on track once Elizabeth had been restored to the throne. Also slots in nicely with real English Lit. The more non-fiction parts of the book conjour up the era and the characters in much the same way as 'Shakespeare in Love'.

• Turtledove's Best

  Another Turtledove alternative history, but this one posits Richard Shakespeare living in a London conquered by the Armada. He's recruited by the Spanish conquerors...and the English resistance at the same time. I love this book. It stands alone, and is thoroughly researched and feels very real. Shakespeare, and the players around him...Richard Burbage, Will Kemp, Christopher Marlow, Lope de la Vega...all feel real, like people rather than characters. The plot is propulsive and mixes the plots in with the trials of Shakespeare's everyday life magnificently. I've read a lot of Turtledove, and he hasn't written anything I didn't like. But I think this is his finest book, and it's not even close. This is a book a buy over and over to give to friends when they are looking for something new and exciting to read. A triumph.

• "no one expects the English Inquisition"

  This book at 1-1/2 inches thick is not a light read, a certain amount of awareness of 16th century English is needed, as with Harry's work the detail is all there, the Armada succeeded in invading Britain in 1588, the story starts in 1597 with Shakespeare witnessing a public execution of heretics and criminals, by burning. Thence onward it tells of life under Spanish rule and the day to day business of living under the ever watchful eye of the English Inquisition, ready to denounce anyone not conforming to the strict rules. All of the locations in the story existed, the lodging house in Bishopsgate just past the old wall, there is a building there now with a sign denoting 'the cross keys inn' the theatre in Shoreditch was the curtain theatre, this showed original works such as Henry 5th. The story involves spies, intrigue, assassination, murder and a lot of skulduggery on the part of the occupying forces and Queen Elizabeth's men. William is in the middle of all this trying to keep his head on his shoulders and keeping both sides happy to think he is innocent of any wrong doing. quite a task, the characters in the book, for the most part, did exist, and acted on stage. or in events of the day. With patrols of Spanish soldiers on the street, agents lurking in the fog, not to mention stuff being hurled from windows, it paints a picture of London city in all it's noisy glory. Eventually it gets there, with all the protagonists literally running thither and yon to keep control of the situation. This book took me 2 months to read on the train to and from work, I'm one of about 4 people on any journey with a book, all the rest are glued to their phones, poor devils. If you want a long detailed read of plots and counter plots, a different history from the one we know, this is for you, it's not a thrill a minute, it takes it's time, and like the 1590's, is slower than the pace of life today, but you never know just who's watching you, or why?

• The Theater as a Political Power

  For a writer to portray the life of another writer, one for whom daily living details are in short supply, is a difficult job. When it is not a work of biography, but rather an alternate history, and the writer being portrayed is Shakespeare, this act takes courage and more than a bit of chutzpah. Happily, Turtledove is (mostly) equal to this task. Imagining a world where the Spanish Armada won, and England conquered and placed under the nominal rule of Queen Isabella, subsidiary to King Philip II of Spain, in many ways this is an intriguing look at the both the time and place - and its overlap with another SF writer's look at this time, Neal Stephenson's Baroque Cycle, provides an interesting comparison. Instead of Stephenson's incredibly broad look at the times, people, and politics, Turtledove chooses to limit the scope of this book to the theater and its environs, with Shakespeare becoming the focal point of an attempted rebellion, as William Cecil commissions him to write a play designed to inflame the audience. Almost simultaneously, he is commissioned to write a play praising the life and deeds of King Philip, due to be performed upon Philip's death. The tension in this book derives from these two opposing objectives, of how Shakespeare can write and get rehearsals performed of a subversive play while being closely watched by the Spanish for his progress on the King Philip play. Many of the characters presented are familiar ones: Kit Marlowe, Francis Bacon, Richard Burbage; and in general they are well fleshed out, and conform in the main to what is actually known about these people. But more than plot or character, this book is driven by style and place. The dialogue is done in the Elizabethan English of the time, what Shakespeare basically wrote in. At times this is a little unnerving, as the syntax, word order, and vocabulary is such that you need to read a sentence two or three times to make sense of it. But it certainly provides a definitive ambience, which coupled with the descriptions of living, working, hygienic, and religious conditions, the typical fashions in dress and social customs, gives one a very good sense of the era. Turtledove has also inserted some wry jokes: changes in the names of Shakespeare's plays (such a "Love's Labour Won" instead of "Love's Labour Lost") and at various appropriate places in the dialogue he has stolen some of Shakespeare's most famous lines, given them perhaps a slightly shifted meaning. You don't need to be a Shakespearian scholar to recognize these, as most of these lines are so famous they have almost become part of the English language, though trying to match the lines to what play they belong in (and if that play had been written by the time of this book) is a more difficult but fun exercise. The major failing I found with this book was that the basic idea behind the plot, that those planning a major rebellion would try to use a play as one of its major lynch-pins, does not come across as very believable. The play could obviously only be performed once, and would an audience of a couple hundred or so really make that much difference to the outcome of an uprising? But as a fun, light read that provides an interesting perspective on the times and the writer, this work does quite well. --- Reviewed by Patrick Shepherd (hyperpat)

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