World Famous Comics: Ink and Steel: A Novel of the Promethean Age (The Stratford Man)
Ink and Steel: A Novel of the Promethean Age (The Stratford Man)
By: Elizabeth Bear Publisher: Roc Trade Average Rating: Binding: Paperback Label: Roc Trade Number of Items: 1 Number of Pages: 448 Publication Date: July 01, 2008
Product Description: On the heels of Hell and Earth…
Kit Marley, playwright and spy in the service of Queen Elizabeth, has been murdered. His true gift to Her Majesty was his way with words, crafting plays infused with a subtle magic that maintained her rule. He performed this task on behalf of the Prometheus Club, a secret society of nobles engaged in battle against sorcerers determined to destroy England. Assuming Marley’s role is William Shakespeare— but he is unable to create the magic needed to hold the Queen’s enemies at bay.
Resurrected by enchantment in Faerie, Marley is England’s only hope. But before he can assist Will in the art of magic, he must uncover the traitor among the Prometheans responsible for his death…
The Marriage of True Minds The Elizabethan period is a popular setting for many historicals--whether alternate history/fantasy or not, but few can carry it off and make it seems as right and real as Bear, particularly choosing as her heroes two such prominent figures as Marlowe (or Marley, here), and Shakespeare.
That Marley is indeed working for Francis Walsingham and the Queen is a given, and it is natural that he doesn't actually die in that small room in Deptford (wild speculation has continued over the hundreds of years since, after all). That he's spirited off by fairies to the Court of Queen Mab (or Mebd, here), just fits right in. It seems there has been an ongoing war fought by poets, a magic and power in words that helps keep Elizabeth on the throne and which is mirrored in Faerie as well. Of course there is a power in the plays! How else are Shakespeare--and so many others--explained?
Shakespeare is, of course, recruited after Marley is taken out of the picture. He must deal with conspiracies and danger as well as write... and worry about his separation from his wife and family up at Stratford. And Marley needs to negotiate the even more arcane plots and intrigues of the faerie court, and continue to think about those he left behind.
There is a deep magic at work here, in this book, in the recreating of this time and place that resonates so strongly even centuries later. And the alien magic of the faerie, so rich and strange, is also captured so well that there is no question of disbelief. I was instantly caught up, in this amazing period of time, with these larger-than-life people (where even the bit players are important), during events both momentous and mundane.
This is one of the best books out of literally hundreds that I've read over the past few years. A convincing Shakespeare and Marley and the addition of intrigue, adventure, magic and Faerie is just a combination I can't resist. I'm ordering the sequel--and I would buy these books in hardcover if I could.
I could not finish this one To purchase a novel and then feel uncompelled to read past 61 pages is pretty sad. But the narrative never allowed me to actually care for these people.
It is a shame really, because it seems the author poured her soul into the research. And she even built a pseudolanguage based on the reality of the times, but that just added to the plot becomming weighed down by description. I mean, how many times can you describe the glasses being used to drink wine? After a while, it gets old.
Unfortunately the plot plods along like a dray horse pulling a barge along one of England's many canals. But were I forced to complete the reading of this one, I'd feel like that horse. Unfortunately, I can't really recommend it.
One of the best books I've read this year! lizabeth Bear's duology featuring an alternative version of the Shakespeare and Marlowe we know from history definitely one the best books I've read this year.
Imagine Will Shakespeare and Kit Marlowe in an Elizabethan setting paired with fairies and then add to that the appearance of Morgan Le Fey and her son as well as recurring references to both Shakespeare's and Marlowe's plays. Honestly this made me do two things: a) want to re-read my favorite Shakespeare works (mostly the tragedies) and b) switch classes for the coming semester from British Modern Literature to Renaissance. That really doesn't happen all too often, but those books totally motivated me to study the Elizabethan era closer.
In her extended author's note at the end of Hell and Earth, Elizabeth Bear calls this duology a 'disservice to history', but honestly I couldn't imagine re-vamping Shakespeare and Marlowe in any better way. She works with some popular theories concerning the two poets' lives and portrays her characters in a way that make them very realistic and complex. She states that the Marlowe-Shakespeare relationship she creates in The Stratford Man is almost entirely fictional, but then again it really does make you wonder "What if?" and I think that's been the intention of the book.
The other thing that really intrigued me about those books what its realism and how accurately Bear worked with the historical context such as society and political background. Of course the work is fictional in the end, but she manages to have to write about homosexuality, politics and the entire concept of the Prometheus Club very 'in context', which makes the story rounder and the fantasy elements fit into the concept without jarring.
These two books are definitely not quick reads for entertainment only. It took me about two to three days to get through each, not because of the size, but because of the content that's very heavy on history and politics and last but not least on the language. Bear doesn't use 100% accurate Elizabethan language in her dialogue (no 'here sitteth' etc. no worries), but it's more or less the speech characters would have used at that time.
Ink and Steel and Hell and Earth are chronologically set before the other two Promethean Age books Blood and Iron and Whiskey and Water. I'm just starting Blood and Iron, but had no problems getting into the story and the whole concept of the Prometheus Club, even though the Stratford Man duology came out after the two aforementioned books. It's definitely a good starting point if you haven't read any of Bear's books yet. Definitely go for it :D
P.S.: This so made Kit Marlowe my favorite hystorical fantasy crossover character of all time :D I can't wait to read more!
Really creative and well done I know who the author is from her part in Shadow Unit, the online paranormal/FBI series, which I have reread enough times to slightly worry myself. So I picked up Ink and Steel despite not having been thrilled with the first of the 'modern' books in the series because I was bored, like Shakespeare and wanted to support someone I sort of know (if you count following her blog as know) rather than closing my eyes and pointing at the sci-fi shelf in Barnes and Nobles. I am happy to say I ended up really impressed and happy with the result. It's intricate, creative, a little over the top but not in a bad way, and honestly suspenseful. At a lot of points I had no idea where she was going with the whole thing, and I was equally happy with the ending and anxious to read the next one when I put it down. It's a fun read. Give it a shot.
Stunning While Ink and Steel is part of the Promethean Age series, it's a great place to begin. I found it more accessible than either Blood and Iron or Whiskey and Water, the two earlier books in the series set in modern times.
The Prometheans are magicians, politicians, and spies working to influence the course of England's history. Christopher Marlowe -- aka Kit Marley -- writes magic-infused plays under the direction of Francis Walsingham, Queen Elizabeth's spymaster. However, the Prometheans are splintering into factions, and one of them has decided that Kit is a liability.
Kit's ignominious death leaves the Prometheans without their playwright. The young actor Richard Burbage suggests they recruit Kit's friend and roommate, Will Shakespeare.
Meanwhile, Kit awakens in Faerie under the care of Morgan le Fey and learns that his service is to be transferred from Elizabeth to her sister queen, the Mebd. He will live forever in the Faerie court, able to return to the iron world for only a few days at a time. And return he must, because Will is in way, way over his head. Together, Will and Kit are going to have to navigate the undercurrents of both queens' courts to learn who's working to thwart the Prometheans from within -- who is, in other words, trying to bring down Elizabeth, and by extension the Mebd.
English lit geeks: get thee to the bookstore! You are in for a rare treat. Bear lovingly brings Elizabeth's court to life, weaving fact and fiction into a wide-flung net of Promethean conspiracies: plagues, murders, illicit affairs, secret letters written in lemon juice and passed through Faerie mirrors. The cast includes not just Marlowe and Shakespeare but Jonson, Spenser, Nashe, Dekker, and half a dozen lesser known poets and playwrights; the entire Shakespeare family, Burbage and his players; Walter Raleigh, Robert Devereaux, and Edward de Vere; and Elizabeth herself. As in the lovely film Shakespeare in Love, we get to see these luminaries as real people, tramping through London's mud, suffering from fevers, battling stage fright.
There are so many things here to love. I laughed myself silly over the sly jokes and innuendo in the letters Will and Kit write one another, and the hilariously snarky dialogue between them and their fellow poets. Kit's posthumous misadventures in London are great fun, as are Will's attempts at skullduggery. But the real fun begins when Kit brings Will to Faerie.
Don't forget to pick up Hell and Earth as well, since these two books are really one novel that had to be divided due to its length. Despite that, the story ended far too soon. I wanted to remain in its world even longer, and had to content myself with flipping back to page one and starting again.
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