My Rating: 4.5 Stars
On the Isle of Sound and Wonder by Alyson Grauer
Published by Shadesilk Press
Genre: YA, Fantasy
Pages: 227
Format: kindle Also by this author: Short Stories
Back Cover Blurb:
Wild Mira knows the island better than anyone, and she knows the patterns of the sea and sky. She knows, too, that the storm that brings a shipwreck to her island's shores is not natural, but is summoned by her father's dark, strange powers. On the return voyage from his sister’s wedding to a foreign noble, Prince Ferran’s airship crashes during a storm. Ferran’s father, uncle, and the rest of the royal party are all separated in the aftermath, scattered across a seemingly uninhabited island. What they don’t know is the storm was manufactured with magic - and the man who summoned it has been waiting to exact his revenge on them all for a long time. On the Isle of Sound and Wonder is a driving, fantastical, lyrical retelling of William Shakespeare’s The Tempest set in a world just adjacent of our own.
My Review:
On the Isle of Sound and Wonder is a clever retelling of The Tempest. It follows all the original characters (with modified names) as they navigate the Island and each other.
The wonderful thing about this book is that it’s easy to enjoy regardless of the reader’s experience of Shakespeare. For someone who knows the original text very well, this novel is different enough that it’s still entertaining. For people who haven’t read or don’t remember the original, it’s highly enjoyable as its own story.
I will be honest here, I’m one of those people who don’t really remember much about the original version of the tempest. It’s been a long time since I’ve read it or seen it. I did remember it vaguely but not in details so I can't really speak for someone who knows the original so well. But even if I had remembered the story better, I believe. it's just different enough that it would’ve kept me on my toes any ways.
As it stands, I think it’s saying something for this book that it’s still so good on it’s own. It really drew me in. I was so completely engrossed that I just couldn't stop reading. Even though I already kinda knew what happened, I was constantly curious to see how Alison Grauer was going to put her own spin on it. And she always surprised me.
The plot is entertaining but it's the characters that really drive it. They are well written and believable for a modern day audience. Mira, who can probably be considered the protagonist (I say probably because there are lots of characters being followed around) is a wonderfully compelling mix of innocence and determination. Aurael is delightfully wicked, Karaburan is pitiful and sad. I could go on and on about every single one of them but I think you get it.
The only thing that bothered me is the barely modified city names. I found it so incredibly distracting and less clever than it intended to be. My view is that the Grauer should have either kept the original names or changed them completely.
This was only a minor annoyance though, and I did get mostly used to it. It gave me momentary frustration but it didn’t overshadow my enjoyment of the book.
Overall On the Isle of Sound and Wonder is a highly engrossing, highly enjoyable, and well written book that I would recommend to anyone interested in Shakespeare and/or anyone who enjoy fantasy books.
I received this book free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review
