‘Mischief, Magic, Love and War.
It is the Year of Our Lord 1601. The Tuscan War rages across the world, and every lord from Navarre to Illyria is embroiled in the fray. Cannon roar, pikemen clash, and witches stalk the night; even the fairy courts stand on the verge of chaos.
Five stories come together at the end of the war: that of bold Miranda and sly Puck; of wise Pomona and her prisoner Vertumnus; of gentle Lucia and the shade of Prospero; of noble Don Pedro and powerful Helena; and of Anne, a glovemaker’s wife. On these lovers and heroes the world itself may depend.
These are the stories Shakespeare never told. Five of the most exciting names in genre fiction today – Jonathan Barnes, Adrian Tchaikovsky, Emma Newman, Foz Meadows and Kate Heartfield – delve into the world the poet created to weave together a story of courage, transformation and magic.’

I don’t usually cut and paste the descriptions for the books I review but the above is perfect so I thought I’d sneak it in here.

Monstrous Little Voices is a book that I simply fell in love with.  I can’t even begin to tell you how much I enjoyed this book – although I will give it a go.

Firstly, in case you’re thinking ‘this is Shakespeare and I haven’t read any of his works’, well, to be honest, I’ve only ever read A Midsummer Night’s Dream.  I’ve always felt that as these were written as plays they’re something you have to watch – although plenty of people I am sure would disagree with me there.  I am familiar with a number of the plays but not all of them and certainly not well enough to know all the characters.  So, I probably felt a little bit wary going into this but my fears were groundless.  This was so good.  Forget Twelve Nights – I devoured this in two and couldn’t put it down until I was finished.  I just loved it – did I mention that already.  It’s one of those books that made me smile – in fact it’s one of those books that I wanted to hug.

Basically, this book contains five stories each taking characters, settings and influence from different plays created by the bard.  I’m usually the first person to say I don’t enjoy short stories but just recently I’ve discovered that I do – provided they’re in the context of a bigger picture.  So, whilst these stories are short they already feel familiar.  I felt like I already had the setting and the characters in my head and I knew the background to the plays.  On top of this the writing is uptodate and it really is all wonderful – and I do mean all five stories.  And, finally, all of the stories overlap to form what is effectively one larger tale.  Absolutely brilliant not to mention wonderful that five different authors could come together in this way, all with their own unique style and yet create this perfect little gem that flows so easily and is so very entertaining to read.

I don’t know that I should really go into the detail of the stories themselves because that would simply spoil it.  You’ll probably already have some background – or maybe you’ll have a whole heap of background – but no matter what your level of expertise in terms of Shakespeare I think this can be easily enjoyed and in fact I’m sure people will take different things away from the read.

Word to the wise – go into this with the knowledge that all the stories connect and so whilst they probably can be read individually you will want to keep each story in mind when reading the next so that you pick up all the little nuances.

What I can tell you here is that this story is full of magical characters.  The fae world comes to life on the page with Oberon and Titania playing a much stronger role in our mundane lives. Puck is one of the earlier characters that you will meet, plus sorcerers, witches and ghosts.  There’s love, there’s war, there’s deceit and trickery. You really do have to hand it to Shakespeare for such early fantasy delights and then to have those characters brought back to the page in such a lovely form with a more modern voice and one overall story arc makes for a thoroughly enjoyable read.

I can’t recommend this book enough.

An excellent achievement.  My hearty thanks go to the authors involved and thanks to the publisher for a review copy.  The above is my own opinion.