The Time of Your Life
Book
A programme text edition published in conjunction with the Finborough Theatre to coincide with the...
Corporate Commonwealth: Pluralism and Political Fictions in England, 1516-1651
Book
The Corporate Commonwealth traces the evolution of corporations during the English Renaissance and...
Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Literature but Were Afraid to Ask Zizek
Book
Challenging the widely-held assumption that Slavoj Zizek's work is far more germane to film and...
The Marlowe Papers
Book
Winner of the 2013 Desmond Eliott Award for New Fiction On May 30th, 1593, a celebrated young...
An Assassin's Guide to Love and Treason
Book
When Lady Katherine's father is killed for being an illegally practicing Catholic, she discovers...
historical fiction young adult ya romance Shakespeare
Martin Clunes - the Biography
Stafford Hildred and Tim Ewbank
Book
Martin Clunes has been a familiar face on British television for almost two decades. During that...
Doc Martin Men Behaving Badly
Antony and Cleopatra
William Shakespeare and Ania Loomba
Book
This Norton Critical Edition of Antony and Cleopatra is based on the First Folio (1623), the only...
As You Like it
Leah S. Marcus and William Shakespeare
Book
Since its return to the London stage in 1740, As You Like It has delighted theatergoers, readers,...
The Dangerous Kingdom of Love
Book
The kingdom of love is a frightening place. A dangerous place. What kind of fool wants to live...
Historical fiction King James I England
Amanda (96 KP) rated An Assassin's Guide to Love and Treason in Books
Mar 12, 2019
The story was detailed and beautifully written. You can really get a sense of the amount of research the author put into writing this book. I've never been a huge historical fiction fan, but I did enjoy this book in particular.
Not only did Katherine (Kit as a boy) commit an illegal act (dressing up as a boy to be in a play - yes, I know, but women were not allowed to act in plays) but if Toby's secret ever came out about him liking men and women, the queen would hang him, whether she favored him or not. I felt badly for both of them. Although, sometimes, Kit was rather reckless and probably shouldn't do certain things - such as going to a dark alley and witnessing a fight so you could learn how to. Male or female, don't do that, seriously.
The plot twist, however, I wasn't expecting but it left me more confused than awed. I didn't quite understand the twist and I feel like it wasn't really explained. The ending was not too bad, but then again, I myself couldn't think of a better way to end a story like that.
I know Boecker has a witch hunger series, so I'm curious about that and hope to pick up the first book soon.
All in all, the book was a great detailed story. There are some parts where it felt like it trailed off, but it's historical fiction, and the plot twist I wasn't really that impressed. The story as a whole was good - I'd say 3.5/5 stars. This is more for people who are huge into historical fiction, but if you like the whole premise of a story with Shakespeare, I'd say give it a try at least.