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The Merlin's Shakespeare #2
The Mercutio Problem
Richard III still menaces Shakespeare's world.
The immortal wizard Merlin again sends high school actor Beth Owens back to Shakespeare's London and the world of Shakespeare's characters.Beth faces danger from Richard III, who seeks to damage Shakespeare's plays. Now Merlin gives her a new challenge: bringing a character she loves back from the dead.
But she risks losing her own life...
This is Book Two of the Merlin's Shakespeare Series. Book One, Merlin's Shakespeare, is also available.
The immortal wizard Merlin again sends high school actor Beth Owens back to Shakespeare's London and the world of Shakespeare's characters.Beth faces danger from Richard III, who seeks to damage Shakespeare's plays. Now Merlin gives her a new challenge: bringing a character she loves back from the dead.
But she risks losing her own life...
This is Book Two of the Merlin's Shakespeare Series. Book One, Merlin's Shakespeare, is also available.
294 pages, Paperback
Published May 7, 2019
670 people want to read
About the author
Carol Anne Douglas
12 books97 followersCarol Anne Douglas is a writer of novels and plays. In her lalest novel, Choosing Yellowstone, she looks at a long-term couple who make different choices and have to live with the consequences. In her novel Sister Matthew and Sister Rose: Novices in Love, Douglas revists her Catholic girlhood. She also passionately loves the Arthurian legends and the works of Shakespeare, and has used them as the basis of her own fiction. Her Arthurian books are Lancelot Her Story and Lancelot and Guinevere, in which Lancelot is a woman in disguise. Her young adult novels, Merlin's Shakespeare and The Mercutio Problem, are about a teen-age girl's time travels to Shakespeare's world.
She worked on a feminist news journal for many years and published many essays. She has taught women's studies classes at George Washington University. She is now focusing on her novels and plays. Several of her short plays was read at the Kennedy Center, and at the Writer's Center in Bethesda, Md.
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July 7, 2019This author's two books on Lancelot are easily my favorite Arthuriana, so even though I'm not really into fiction about Shakespeare or his plays, when I was offered a copy of this book to read, I was intrigued.
It's the second in a series, but readers could start here or there--the events of the first book are thoroughly explained. Early on we discover that high school student Beth, who loves drama class and did love Shakespeare but begins this book understandably gun-shy, has been visited by Merlin. As a result, she has magical abilities.
Merlin set her on a quest in the last book, and he's back with another challenge in spite of her craving for a return to normalcy: she has to save Mercutio from permanent annihilation.
In this universe, there is the present time, the time when Shakespeare wrote his plays, and then the magical world of the plays themselves, wherein the characters are real. And among those characters is Richard III, still very evil, who is conniving to force Shakespeare to write a play about King Arthur in order to have Mordred triumph and become king.
To embark on her quest, Beth undergoes a partial gender transformation, which sparks off the meat of the book, no less than an examination of racism, homophobia, and gender-essentialism both in the plays and in their time.
Through the story, Douglas displays a familiarity with Shakespeare's work that permits this kind of fictional play with time, history, and the fantastical elements of the plays. Though these weaknesses are illustrated, overall the author's love for Shakespeare's brilliance shines clear, and she never loses sight of mimesis or exegesis--that is, what the characters within the story know, and what we, the readers, outside of the story know about history, and the plays.
One of the best threads was one of Beth's actor friends, Frank, a person of color, insisting on playing Malvolio. Presented with discomfort by his friends when he states his wish to try for that part, Frank insists that that is exactly the emotion he wants to raise in the audience--which can lead to awareness and discussion. At heart Shakespeare wrote to examine all the complexities and mysteries of the human condition, so this sort of moment in the book rings with conviction.
Copy provided by author
It's the second in a series, but readers could start here or there--the events of the first book are thoroughly explained. Early on we discover that high school student Beth, who loves drama class and did love Shakespeare but begins this book understandably gun-shy, has been visited by Merlin. As a result, she has magical abilities.
Merlin set her on a quest in the last book, and he's back with another challenge in spite of her craving for a return to normalcy: she has to save Mercutio from permanent annihilation.
In this universe, there is the present time, the time when Shakespeare wrote his plays, and then the magical world of the plays themselves, wherein the characters are real. And among those characters is Richard III, still very evil, who is conniving to force Shakespeare to write a play about King Arthur in order to have Mordred triumph and become king.
To embark on her quest, Beth undergoes a partial gender transformation, which sparks off the meat of the book, no less than an examination of racism, homophobia, and gender-essentialism both in the plays and in their time.
Through the story, Douglas displays a familiarity with Shakespeare's work that permits this kind of fictional play with time, history, and the fantastical elements of the plays. Though these weaknesses are illustrated, overall the author's love for Shakespeare's brilliance shines clear, and she never loses sight of mimesis or exegesis--that is, what the characters within the story know, and what we, the readers, outside of the story know about history, and the plays.
One of the best threads was one of Beth's actor friends, Frank, a person of color, insisting on playing Malvolio. Presented with discomfort by his friends when he states his wish to try for that part, Frank insists that that is exactly the emotion he wants to raise in the audience--which can lead to awareness and discussion. At heart Shakespeare wrote to examine all the complexities and mysteries of the human condition, so this sort of moment in the book rings with conviction.
Copy provided by author
July 2, 2019
3.5 Stars
*I'd like to preface this review with noting I got it on Net Galley and that I haven't read the first one*
TW: In the book but not in my review a character tries to commit suicide
This book was not what I expected it to be (I picked it up because I love stuff about Shakespeare and frequently use his works in my own writing. The first twenty or so pages of this book were a bit rough because they were very much telling versus showing-- everyone was saying their exact motivations and how they feel and it felt a bit off and wasn't very interesting to read.
After this first bit the book got much more interesting. As a whole I think the ideas in the book are marvelous but the book is very literal when it comes to who the characters are and what they do.
The idea behind the world -- that characters exist separate from our world and have to live with their actions in their respective texts-- is so interesting and really extrapolates the characters. While Othello realises his mistake in regards to killing Desdemona, Hamlet sees how his life and death played out as justice. As someone who has read most of Shakespeare's works and seen and been in a handful, these character interactions were fascinating and I think for the most part faithful to who the characters were in their own stories. "The Mercutio Problem" really addresses how, while Shakespeare's works are brilliant, they are also rampantly sexist and racist. The protagonist, Beth, meets frequently with Lady MacBeth and Titania and shows that they are more than the framework and time frame they were written in.
The writing in the initial part of the book had me fairly certain I would not like it (in fact I had to force myself to read it some weeks after starting). I was reading along as Beth and her friends were saying who they wanted to be in "As You Like It," when Frank (who is noted to be black and overweight) declares he wants to be Malvolio. Everyone else is visibly uncomfortable about having someone black being put in the subservient position of Malvolio. Frank tells everyone "I don't like the way Malvolio is treated in the play, and having me play the part will heighten the audience's discomfort-- as well as yours. That's a good thing. People should be uncomfortable about Malvolio. That's what makes this play more than a story of love and mistaken identities" (p.24). This moment was utterly brilliant and such a wonderful way to address race both in our world but also within the Shakespearean canon. There were a few other moments like this later in the story that made me so much more engaged in the story and less hyper-aware of some of the writing choices.
While I do have some issues with the writing of this being a bit on the nose, and that some of the characters' motivations and interactions could have been more nuanced, I was nonetheless really impressed;I certainly would not have had any issues with the writing had I been reading it as a young teen. It addresses racism, sexism, and homophobia without feeling like pandering or like it was making it worse.
A very intriguing read!
*I'd like to preface this review with noting I got it on Net Galley and that I haven't read the first one*
TW: In the book but not in my review a character tries to commit suicide
This book was not what I expected it to be (I picked it up because I love stuff about Shakespeare and frequently use his works in my own writing. The first twenty or so pages of this book were a bit rough because they were very much telling versus showing-- everyone was saying their exact motivations and how they feel and it felt a bit off and wasn't very interesting to read.
After this first bit the book got much more interesting. As a whole I think the ideas in the book are marvelous but the book is very literal when it comes to who the characters are and what they do.
The idea behind the world -- that characters exist separate from our world and have to live with their actions in their respective texts-- is so interesting and really extrapolates the characters. While Othello realises his mistake in regards to killing Desdemona, Hamlet sees how his life and death played out as justice. As someone who has read most of Shakespeare's works and seen and been in a handful, these character interactions were fascinating and I think for the most part faithful to who the characters were in their own stories. "The Mercutio Problem" really addresses how, while Shakespeare's works are brilliant, they are also rampantly sexist and racist. The protagonist, Beth, meets frequently with Lady MacBeth and Titania and shows that they are more than the framework and time frame they were written in.
The writing in the initial part of the book had me fairly certain I would not like it (in fact I had to force myself to read it some weeks after starting). I was reading along as Beth and her friends were saying who they wanted to be in "As You Like It," when Frank (who is noted to be black and overweight) declares he wants to be Malvolio. Everyone else is visibly uncomfortable about having someone black being put in the subservient position of Malvolio. Frank tells everyone "I don't like the way Malvolio is treated in the play, and having me play the part will heighten the audience's discomfort-- as well as yours. That's a good thing. People should be uncomfortable about Malvolio. That's what makes this play more than a story of love and mistaken identities" (p.24). This moment was utterly brilliant and such a wonderful way to address race both in our world but also within the Shakespearean canon. There were a few other moments like this later in the story that made me so much more engaged in the story and less hyper-aware of some of the writing choices.
While I do have some issues with the writing of this being a bit on the nose, and that some of the characters' motivations and interactions could have been more nuanced, I was nonetheless really impressed;I certainly would not have had any issues with the writing had I been reading it as a young teen. It addresses racism, sexism, and homophobia without feeling like pandering or like it was making it worse.
A very intriguing read!
August 4, 2019
I picked up The Mercutio Problem unaware that it was a sequel to Merlin’s Shakespeare. One of the challenges of writing a stand-alone book within a series, or linked to other series, is the balance between giving the new reader all the necessary background, developing the characters well enough, and yet not boring readers who are already familiar with the cast and setting. Sometimes I can’t tell if a book is a sequel or a stand-alone with a rich and brilliantly handled back story. In this case, it became obvious almost immediately, although to her credit, the author gave me all the information I needed to understand and enjoy the present story.
So the back story from the first book is that Merlin (from the legends of King Arthur) enlists the help of Beth Owens, high school theater student, to convince William Shakespeare to write a play about King Arthur. In the course of this adventure, she meets many characters from Shakespeare’s plays, including flirtatious, charismatic Mercutio (from Romeo and Juliet) and the ultimate villain, Richard III.
At the beginning of the present book, Mercutio is dead, slain not by Tybalt but by Richard. Here comes Merlin again, only this time the problem is that Richard wants to change the ending of Shakespeare’s plays (especially his own) and is going about enlisting various other characters and the ghost of Christopher Marlowe in order to pressure Shakespeare. Not only that, but Merlin offers an added inducement to Beth, that she will take the form of Mercutio within Shakespeare’s plays and if she dies in that form, he will live again. Got all that?
Then comes the fun part, visiting the plays and interacting with the characters, many of whom wander into other plays, too. The dialog is often brilliant, reflecting not only Shakespearean language but the particularities of the specific character (for example, Julius Caesar always talks about himself in the third person and rambles on about honor and fate). Bottom has gone missing, so Midsummerland is perpetually rainy (and Bottomless). Lady MacBeth, who knows a thing or two about tyranny and regret, plays a pivotal role in organizing the resistance against Richard, and King Lear, consumed with guilt, goes rampaging through the other plays to slay anyone who wants to keep the plays as they were originally written.
For me, though, the most interesting parts of the book were the subtle examinations of gender and sexual orientation. Beth encounters the world of the plays primarily in Mercutio’s male (heterosexual) body – although for some reason her genitalia remain female. This anatomical omission strikes her with a sense of relief, which that bothered me. I couldn’t quite put my finger on it until I had a chat with a trans man friend, who spoke about longing about the flat chest he’d had as a child. It seems to me a cheat to give Beth an emasculated, sexless version of Mercutio, instead of the experience of being truly male. Being in Mercutio’s body and behaving as Mercutio offers so many openings for challenging Beth’s notions of gender and orientation, it seems a shame to chicken out of the hard parts (excuse the pun).
A number of times Beth finds herself puzzled but not put off by her/Mercutio’s attraction to women, and wonders what this means for her own, hitherto straight, sexuality. She wrestles with jealousy when her best friend, Sita, comes out as lesbian and gets a girlfriend. Unfortunately, these issues were only suggested and not fully played out. Beth becomes temporarily disenchanted with Mercurio’s flirting but she never comes to a resolution about her own orientation. It would have been marvelous to see her explore non-cis-gendered sexuality, to see her insights and empathy play out in her relationships, and to have her accept being different in more ways than being able to travel to the world of Shakespeare’s plays. While The Mercutio Problem is labeled Young Adult, I don’t think these issues are beyond teens; in fact, I see today’s sophisticated teens as hungry for honest, deep explorations of gender and sexuality.
The book’s prose itself was uneven, from awkward sentence structure and jolting shifts of place and thought progression to nicely described settings from the plays, characterizations, and occasionally brilliantly insightful lines. My favorite was spoken by Ms. Portia Desdemona Capulet, the drama teacher: “But remember that loving great people from the past must always be a one-way love.”
All in all, though, this book was an enjoyable read and a delight to anyone familiar with the many worlds of Shakespeare’s plays. I look forward to reading more of Beth’s adventures, especially her journey of gender and sexual self-discovery.
The usual disclaimer: I received a review copy of this book, but no one bribed me to say anything in particular, one way or the other, about it.
So the back story from the first book is that Merlin (from the legends of King Arthur) enlists the help of Beth Owens, high school theater student, to convince William Shakespeare to write a play about King Arthur. In the course of this adventure, she meets many characters from Shakespeare’s plays, including flirtatious, charismatic Mercutio (from Romeo and Juliet) and the ultimate villain, Richard III.
At the beginning of the present book, Mercutio is dead, slain not by Tybalt but by Richard. Here comes Merlin again, only this time the problem is that Richard wants to change the ending of Shakespeare’s plays (especially his own) and is going about enlisting various other characters and the ghost of Christopher Marlowe in order to pressure Shakespeare. Not only that, but Merlin offers an added inducement to Beth, that she will take the form of Mercutio within Shakespeare’s plays and if she dies in that form, he will live again. Got all that?
Then comes the fun part, visiting the plays and interacting with the characters, many of whom wander into other plays, too. The dialog is often brilliant, reflecting not only Shakespearean language but the particularities of the specific character (for example, Julius Caesar always talks about himself in the third person and rambles on about honor and fate). Bottom has gone missing, so Midsummerland is perpetually rainy (and Bottomless). Lady MacBeth, who knows a thing or two about tyranny and regret, plays a pivotal role in organizing the resistance against Richard, and King Lear, consumed with guilt, goes rampaging through the other plays to slay anyone who wants to keep the plays as they were originally written.
For me, though, the most interesting parts of the book were the subtle examinations of gender and sexual orientation. Beth encounters the world of the plays primarily in Mercutio’s male (heterosexual) body – although for some reason her genitalia remain female. This anatomical omission strikes her with a sense of relief, which that bothered me. I couldn’t quite put my finger on it until I had a chat with a trans man friend, who spoke about longing about the flat chest he’d had as a child. It seems to me a cheat to give Beth an emasculated, sexless version of Mercutio, instead of the experience of being truly male. Being in Mercutio’s body and behaving as Mercutio offers so many openings for challenging Beth’s notions of gender and orientation, it seems a shame to chicken out of the hard parts (excuse the pun).
A number of times Beth finds herself puzzled but not put off by her/Mercutio’s attraction to women, and wonders what this means for her own, hitherto straight, sexuality. She wrestles with jealousy when her best friend, Sita, comes out as lesbian and gets a girlfriend. Unfortunately, these issues were only suggested and not fully played out. Beth becomes temporarily disenchanted with Mercurio’s flirting but she never comes to a resolution about her own orientation. It would have been marvelous to see her explore non-cis-gendered sexuality, to see her insights and empathy play out in her relationships, and to have her accept being different in more ways than being able to travel to the world of Shakespeare’s plays. While The Mercutio Problem is labeled Young Adult, I don’t think these issues are beyond teens; in fact, I see today’s sophisticated teens as hungry for honest, deep explorations of gender and sexuality.
The book’s prose itself was uneven, from awkward sentence structure and jolting shifts of place and thought progression to nicely described settings from the plays, characterizations, and occasionally brilliantly insightful lines. My favorite was spoken by Ms. Portia Desdemona Capulet, the drama teacher: “But remember that loving great people from the past must always be a one-way love.”
All in all, though, this book was an enjoyable read and a delight to anyone familiar with the many worlds of Shakespeare’s plays. I look forward to reading more of Beth’s adventures, especially her journey of gender and sexual self-discovery.
The usual disclaimer: I received a review copy of this book, but no one bribed me to say anything in particular, one way or the other, about it.
July 6, 2019
I received The Mercutio Problem (The Merlin's Shakespeare Series) through a Goodreads Giveaway.
Let me start off by saying I had never read the first book, or even heard of this series before receiving The Mercutio Problem. The concept behind The Merlin's Shakespeare Series was enough to attract my attention, and convince me to enter the Giveaway.
The author chose an interesting concept for a story, and I'm honestly impressed by the amount of Shakespearean knowledge Carol Anne Douglas holds. However, despite this, I didn't love the book.
At no point while reading The Mercutio Problem did I feel connected in any shape or form to the main character of Beth, or any of the characters rather. The author did a fantastic job of explaining the events of the previous book but neglected to build Beth's character throughout The Mercutio Problem. I discovered plenty of useless information about Beth, but nothing about how she actually thinks or feels. Unfortunately, most of the characters came off as forgettable to me.
My biggest complaint, however, was the missed opportunity. The author repeatedly mentioned what new clothing Sati was wearing, and the clothing of those around Beth in the modern world. Yet, the clothing of the play characters Beth visited received hardly any attention, except for Merlin, Mercutio, and herself when dressed as Ben. More detail on the clothing and the world of Shakespeare's plays would have been appreciated.
Overall it was an interesting read despite my complaints. If there had been more character development, and more detail descriptions of the world The Mercutio Problem would have been spectacular. I do believe YA readers could enjoy this book, although older audiences might not be fans. The saving grace of this series was just how knowledgable the author was on Shakespeare, I found that to be absolutely fascinating.
Let me start off by saying I had never read the first book, or even heard of this series before receiving The Mercutio Problem. The concept behind The Merlin's Shakespeare Series was enough to attract my attention, and convince me to enter the Giveaway.
The author chose an interesting concept for a story, and I'm honestly impressed by the amount of Shakespearean knowledge Carol Anne Douglas holds. However, despite this, I didn't love the book.
At no point while reading The Mercutio Problem did I feel connected in any shape or form to the main character of Beth, or any of the characters rather. The author did a fantastic job of explaining the events of the previous book but neglected to build Beth's character throughout The Mercutio Problem. I discovered plenty of useless information about Beth, but nothing about how she actually thinks or feels. Unfortunately, most of the characters came off as forgettable to me.
My biggest complaint, however, was the missed opportunity. The author repeatedly mentioned what new clothing Sati was wearing, and the clothing of those around Beth in the modern world. Yet, the clothing of the play characters Beth visited received hardly any attention, except for Merlin, Mercutio, and herself when dressed as Ben. More detail on the clothing and the world of Shakespeare's plays would have been appreciated.
Overall it was an interesting read despite my complaints. If there had been more character development, and more detail descriptions of the world The Mercutio Problem would have been spectacular. I do believe YA readers could enjoy this book, although older audiences might not be fans. The saving grace of this series was just how knowledgable the author was on Shakespeare, I found that to be absolutely fascinating.
May 21, 2020
Carol Anne Douglas (https://www.carolannedouglas.com) published the novel “The Mercutio Problem” in 2019. This is her fourth novel and the second in her ‘Merlin’s Shakespeare’ series.
I received an ARC of this novel through https://www.netgalley.com in return for a fair and honest review. I categorize this novel as ‘PG’ because it contains Violence and Adult Situations. The story is set in contemporary times and in the realms of Shakespeare’s plays.
The primary character is high school actor Beth Owens. The wizard Merlin again sends her back to the age of Shakespeare. She must struggle with Richard III. He has become a mixture of the character from Shakespeare’s play and Merlin’s arch-enemy Mordred.
Richard is fomenting a revolt of Shakespeare’s characters to get their stories rewritten. He not only is causing problems in the world of Shakespeare but also in the real world. There are some characters who want to keep the stories just as Shakespeare wrote them. They have become Owen’s allies.
The young High School student Owens must lead the opposition.
I found the 6.5+ hours I spent reading this 296-page young adult fantasy were interesting. I read the first novel of this series (Merlin’s Shakespeare) and hoped this one would get better. I’m disappointed to say that it didn’t. The basic plot was good, but it felt weak as implemented. There is a bit of LGBTQIA woven into the plot. The selected cover art is OK. I give this novel a 3 out of 5.
You can access more of my book reviews on my Blog ( https://johnpurvis.wordpress.com/blog/).
I received an ARC of this novel through https://www.netgalley.com in return for a fair and honest review. I categorize this novel as ‘PG’ because it contains Violence and Adult Situations. The story is set in contemporary times and in the realms of Shakespeare’s plays.
The primary character is high school actor Beth Owens. The wizard Merlin again sends her back to the age of Shakespeare. She must struggle with Richard III. He has become a mixture of the character from Shakespeare’s play and Merlin’s arch-enemy Mordred.
Richard is fomenting a revolt of Shakespeare’s characters to get their stories rewritten. He not only is causing problems in the world of Shakespeare but also in the real world. There are some characters who want to keep the stories just as Shakespeare wrote them. They have become Owen’s allies.
The young High School student Owens must lead the opposition.
I found the 6.5+ hours I spent reading this 296-page young adult fantasy were interesting. I read the first novel of this series (Merlin’s Shakespeare) and hoped this one would get better. I’m disappointed to say that it didn’t. The basic plot was good, but it felt weak as implemented. There is a bit of LGBTQIA woven into the plot. The selected cover art is OK. I give this novel a 3 out of 5.
You can access more of my book reviews on my Blog ( https://johnpurvis.wordpress.com/blog/).
January 22, 2020
I truly enjoyed this one better then the first book. While I still think it could have been better, it still left me wanting more. I read it a while back but I did put my initial thoughts in a review posted on my blog here. https://www.storybookem.com/post/book...
Want to read
June 10, 2019This book is just what I need! Shakespeare and YA come together!
September 16, 2019
The premise is interesting, so I was expecting this to be better written.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews