Strange Devices of the Sun and Moon

I enjoyed this quite a bit. This is a fairly rare avis--historical fantasy, set during the Elizabethian Age. There are characters here that really existed, such as Queen Elizabeth I of England, her spymaster Sir Francis Walsingham, and above all, some of the key playrights, poets and pamphleteers, principally Robert Greene, Thomas Kyd, and above all Shakespeare's greatest rival for title of greatest Elizabethian playright, Christopher Marlowe and his friend and fellow writer Thomas Nashe. (Not Shakespeare himself though--this is set between 1590 and 1593 before he made his mark.)

The central character is a fictional one though. The widow Alice Wood owns a bookstall and as the sole woman among the "stationers" licensed to sell printed show more material is in a precarious position in a very patriarchal and misogynist age that sees their female queen as very much the exception in acceptable female authority. Her life and those of poet and intelligence agent Christopher Marlowe are complicated when Alice's missing son Arthur is found telling people he's a king. As it turns out he is--King of the Faeries. He's a changeling. So mix Elizabethian politics, espionage, literati, witchcraft, alchemy, the plague--what you have is an intriguing brew. The pages sped by quickly. If I don't rate this higher, it's simply that I don't think this is the kind of story I'd revisit or is a must-read in the genre. But it's genuinely entertaining and worth a read if this subgenre or period appeals to you. show less

I got this book due to reading some glowing review of it somewhere or other. I don't remember where. The cover blurb is by Neil Gaiman, which is somewhat promising...
When I first got it in the mail, the first thing that struck me was the awfulness of the cover. I don't think I have ever seen a stupider-looking rendition of dragons. I am pleased to report that the dragons (which do appear, albeit very briefly) in the book do not actually resemble the cover art in the slightest.
However, I didn't love this book either. It's a good idea - the Faerie court appears in 16th-century England, bent on retrieving a changeling who is actually the heir to Faerie - and mix up a female bookseller, her associates, and assorted playwrights and such in show more their doings. I liked the protagonist, Alice Wood, a middle aged widow with an odd mix of naivete and personal strength...
but overall, I felt like the characterization wasn't strong enough, the plot was kind of here and there, and the point-of-view changed focus without warning too much. I wasn't really feeling people's motivations, or the tension, as I should have. show less

It really didn't sit well with me, I kept wanting more and prefer other people's Elizabethan fantasies. The characters are good (the usual stock elizabethan) but it all seem to fall flat.