My full review is on my blog: https://hergraceslibrary.com/2017/01/22/miranda-and-caliban/

Miranda and Caliban by Jacqueline Carey (Amazon | B&N | Kobo) takes a look at the ancient tale of class struggle from Shakespeare’s Tempest. Prospero’s brother had placed him and his infant daughter, Miranda, on a ship, intending for them to die at sea. Instead, they find an island home where Prospero becomes a powerful sorcerer, making slaves of those spirits and humans who dwell there. One such soul is Caliban, considered feral by his master but who comes to life under the gentle guidance of Miranda. The two lonely teens find friendship and solace together – and soon that blossoms into love.

He kisses me and kisses me, and I kiss him and kiss him in turn, both of us trading kisses back and forth like presents we demand and exchange in a game of rewards in which every player wins.

Prospero has plans for Miranda, though, and none of them involve her falling for someone so far below her station. A dark tale of powerful magic and the beauty of love, this story highlights the wondrous friendship forged in our dark times and the lengths we go to protect those we love.

There were points where I recognised characters names although I didn't originally realise it was a retelling. It was a nice surprise to find that I had engaged with Shakespeare's characters without knowing. Carey brings to life this moorish palace that Miranda has grown to believe is her home. At first thoughts, I was seeing a girl with a caring, albeit slightly lacking father but the Prospero became a cunning antagonist as the book drew on.

The tale of Miranda finding her first and only friend in Caliban is heart warming. Which only increases the heart ache when they are not destined to be together. Some have said you need to know The Tempest before reading, but I feel Miranda and Caliban can stand on it's own.

3.5 as a good Tempest re-tell, with all the magic and tragedy. I needed a slightly longer ending to feel satisfied.

Pages Read: 80/352

Because: Oh boy so even the original story of Miranda and Caliban from The Tempest... is a problematic one. I was willing to see how Carey would adapt it and change it... but her execution of that is not for me. The writing here is admittedly lovely, but it's a distant loveliness. The story is set in the childhood of the famous characters, but I didn't engage with the story or the characters. Knowing what I know about their history, I didn't feel the need to read further.

https://lynns-books.com/2017/03/02/miranda-and-caliban-by-jacqueline-carey/
I must say from the outset that Miranda and Caliban is a story that I was very much looking forward to. I think Jacqueline Carey is a wonderful author who can weave a beautiful tale with characters that are well developed and worlds that are rich with detail and Miranda and Caliban was another fine example of her ability.

To be honest I haven’t read The Tempest, in fact I’ve read very few of Shakespeare’s works so if you’re the same, and feel a bit daunted by this book because it’s based on one of his plays then don’t be. Carey’s writing style is really beautiful and very easy to read and although this does contain the characters from the Tempest, plus being something of a retelling, its actually more a prequel in which we witness Miranda and Caliban as they develop a tentative friendship that develops into something more. It’s also told in the author’s own modern style and isn’t an attempt to micic the prose of Shakespeare.

In the original play Prospero was the Duke of Milan. He was however betrayed by his brother who took the Dukedom for himself and cast his brother and baby niece out to sea in a dilapidated boat with few provisions. Fortunately the two of them managed to cross the seas and land on a remote island that was at the time inhabited by only one other person – Caliban. This book starts a few years after Prospero and Miranda took up residence on the island when Miranda is a child of six. Her only friends are the chickens and goats and to say that she is lonely is something of an understatement. Caliban survives using his own wiles. He runs wild on the island but, like Miranda, he’s lonely and desperate for human interaction. So he watches Prospero and Miranda from afar, sometimes leaving little gifts that he finds on his travels. Prospero, is a man of magic. He spends hours in his study pouring over his books and brewing up all sorts of concoctions and one day he takes it upon himself to take Caliban under his wing, by which I mean capture and enslave him, of course with the notion of teaching and civilising him! As you may imagine Caliban doesn’t take too kindly to having his freedom removed but he is torn between wanting his liberty and wanting to befriend Miranda. And, as it turns out Prospero had other plans in mind when he took Caliban into his home and they weren’t all quite as benevolent as he tried to make out.

Now, although I haven’t read the tempest I did go and check out the plot after reading this – I just couldn’t resist – and it seems for the large part Carey has followed in Shakespeare’s story – what she brings to this story that is different is the overall feeling of the book and the nature of the characters that is focused on quite strongly here – well, unsurprising really as Carey excels in characterisation.

In terms of the characters. I enjoyed Miranda’s chapters – they were informative in terms of getting a feel for the place and the daily routines and also when read against Caliban’s sections helped to portray how the two of them frequently misunderstood each other’s motivations – particularly as they both started to reach a certain age and lets just say chemistry worked its magic! Miranda is a little bit of a conundrum – I wanted her to stand up to her father but then I also understood why she didn’t. Caliban, you couldn’t help feeling a little bit sorry for – I mean, he was doing perfectly well, if a bit lonely, by himself and to strip him of his freedom and treat him as little more than a slave certainly seems cruel – particularly when we learn that Prospero had a method in the madness. Caliban is torn – he desperately wants to run away but he also has formed such a strong attachment to Miranda that he can’t bear to do so – and equally, as with Miranda there are deterrents that prevent him from leaving. Then we have Prospero. He’s quite the villain of the piece really not to mention something of an abusive tyrant! Given the treachery that he suffered at the hands of his brother it would have been easy to think he would have something in him to like or to sympathise with but instead he becomes a cruel parody of a man, consumed with revenge and with very little left over in his emotional repertoire for anything else. Prospero uses his magic to control both Miranda and Caliban and keep them in line – basically, he could kill them at a whim and the threat is very real. On top of that he similarly controls a spirit called Aries who is tied to Prospero until his dreams of revenge come to fruition. Aries is a wicked little character – he plays Caliban and Miranda off against each other and frequently puts Caliban into Prospero’s bad books.

This is a book that really lives up to it’s original name of The Tempest. The Island itself lends itself perfectly. Remote, isolated, sometimes violently stormy, you can practically feel the wind whipping and the sea lashing! Then the characters, brooding and dark, tempestuous and sometimes just plain ill tempered (in Prospero’s case) and finally the overall feel of the book which starts almost as a simple tale and works itself up into a story with a sinister note of foreboding. Even if you know the story you can’t help but be totally fascinated by the inner machinations of Prospero – just exactly what is he up to! Do we even want to know. You feel scared for Miranda and Caliban – you simply can’t help it.

And, underneath it all lies the bitter sweet love of these two young characters. Thrown together as they have been it seems inevitable – but oh what an ending. I could weep! Ah, therein lies the beauty of Ms Carey’s work – to make you feel so emotional. She worked her magic again.

If you like a stormy tale of love and dreams this could be the one for you. Excellent writing and a compelling tale indeed.

So, I read Miranda and Caliban because I love Shakespeare and had never gotten around to reading any of Jacqueline Carey’s other work. I also read two other Tempest-based stories last year (Margaret Atwood’s Hag-Seed and Foz Meadows’ Coral Bones—both excellent) and thought it would be interesting to compare this one to the others. For what it’s worth, Miranda and Caliban is beautifully written, well-structured and readable, but the question I kept coming back to the longer I read it was “Is it necessary?” Sadly, I don’t think it is. I don’t regret having read it, but I also wouldn’t say that it deepened my understanding of The Tempest, Shakespeare or their themes, and what insight it gave me into the author’s understanding of these things didn’t impress.

Miranda and Caliban tells the story of about ten of the twelve years that Prospero and Miranda spent on the island prior to the start of the play, beginning with six-year-old Miranda and story of the “taming” of the wild boy Caliban, who comes to be Prospero’s servant and Miranda’s friend. Over the years of the novel, the narrative is split between Miranda and Caliban’s points of view as they are both educated and come of age on the island, detailing their friendship and their respective relationships with both Prospero and Ariel. Rather than digging deeply for a fresh take on this material, however, Carey chooses to depict it as largely standard fare coming of age tragedy, and the tone of that tragedy infects the entire book with a bittersweetness that quickly turns cloying.

Though I went into the book knowing the ending, I was disappointed that there were so few surprises in store over the course of four hundred pages. There’s not a single event in Miranda and Caliban that couldn’t have easily been extrapolated from the play, and everything that happens is so absolutely banal that it’s barely enough to hold one’s attention. I kept expecting a twist or turn that would challenge my expectations or offer some new thought on the play, but Miranda and Caliban is literally exactly what it claims to be. I suppose that’s fine, but the tragic nature of the story also prevents it from being bland, relaxing comfort food, which sends me right back to the question of the necessity of this book.

Even the revelation of Miranda as an artist with a kind of magic of her own that complements her father’s doesn’t do much to elevate the novel. While Miranda is bright and clever and kind, she remains, ultimately, a passive character in a story that is happening around and to her. She’s never able to use her magic to help herself, her brief romance with Caliban is too inevitable-seeming to evoke much passionate feeling, and in the end she seems resigned to being a pawn of her father’s with no particular ambitions or goals of her own. Caliban, for his part, is much the same as depicted in the play, if perhaps somewhat more sympathetic with a fuller knowledge of his childhood. However, he too is at the mercy of Prospero and, later, of Ariel, with no opportunity to change his sad fate and no fresh shading added to color our understanding of his actions.

It’s possible that readers unfamiliar with The Tempest may feel differently, coming to this book with fewer expectations and preconceptions about the material, and longtime lovers of Carey’s work may just be happy for a new title by a favorite author, but as a first exposure to Carey’s work I can’t say there’s much here that makes me want to come back to it. Pretty prose and a flair for the occasional poetic description isn’t enough to redeem a dull and flawed premise, especially one that has so little of substance to say.

On the other hand, look at that incredible cover with art by Tran Nguyen and designed by Jamie Stafford-Hill. It's gorgeous enough that even if you don't love the book you might want it on your shelf.

This review is based on a copy of the title received for review via NetGalley.

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Review Let me begin with this; I've never read the Tempest. I'm vaguely familiar with the storyline but not to any level of detail. So going into Carey's latest novel I didn't really know what to expect. Miranda and Caliban is a well written, quick paced book. It certainly kept my attention.

What it didn't do is really make me care about any of our characters, especially Miranda. I don't really know why but I just never understood Miranda. Maybe because if it was me I would have been much more defiant than Miranda is towards her father; or maybe because I feel like she is so naive and I can't imagine any one person knowing so little about their own feelings, thoughts and body. This likely makes me a snob, but I just couldn't imagine being her or relating to her in most instances.
Caliban however is a doll and the kind of character you just want to pick up and coddle for the rest of their life. He's both kind, naive, helpful, and loving without even realizing what most of those things are.

There was one thing that really dropped this book to three stars for me however, I cannot figure out the point of Ariel except for two moments in which I feel Ariel is not actually as critical as it seems. One is to report something happening, but let's face it the character that is alerted could certainly have stumbled upon the situation without Ariel leading him to it. The second is to carry out a 'task' that I think another character could have conjured on their own. Therefore it seemed like Ariel was only there to be an annoying, inconsiderate, mean figure that put doubt in everyone's minds. But let's face it eventually all of our characters are likely smart enough to have figured things out on their own. Maybe not as quickly, but I don't believe any one of them needed for Ariel to be present.

I'm going to think about reading Shakespeare's the Tempest now that I have read this as I'm curious to know what Carey took from the play and what she conjured on her own.

Overall this book is certainly worth reading if you like the Tempest or Carey's previous books. It's not near as good as Kushiel's Dart series, Banewreaker or others. That said it certainly lives up to the excellent quality of writing I except from Carey, even if the story didn't do it for me.

This new book by Carey is a prequel/retelling of the famous William Shakespeare's play: The Tempest. The story starts when Miranda is six years old and she lives with her father, Prospero, on the island where they were exiled by Propero's treacherous brother so it starts quite a few years before the actual opening of the play, however it does end pretty much at the same time as The Tempest.

When the book starts, Miranda is a very isolated child, her only companions are her father and several spirits conjured by him. She doesn't know a lot about who she is or the world she lives and her father mostly lets her in the dark. However, she soon realizes that she's not the only child on the island, a wild boy with dark skin that can't speak but who seems to observe her from afar. Prospero wants to capture this child to "civilize" and to control him thanks to his magic abilities and his capture might allow Miranda to finally make herself a friend.

I love Jacqueline Carey, she is one of my favorite fantasy author, I have read two of her trilogies set in the Kushiel universe and I really liked them, they are gorgeously written and fascinating reads. Anyway, let's just say that I was immedietaly inrigued by Miranda & Caliban when I first heard of its existence. I knew that Carey knew how to write but I was curious to see how she would approach a retelling of this famous play.


Miranda and Caliban was definitely a good book and one of its strongest point was, in my opinion, the writing. It is very lyrical and is very reminiscent from Shakespeare's prose. It might be a little "heavy" for some but I did find that it flowed very well and that it worked with the story and the tone of the book.

The characters were also well drawn with really interesting personalities. I liked how Carey portrayed Prosepero, whose love for his daughter wither in comparison of his love for vengeance. Ariel was also a very interesting character, I don't know why but when I read the play (a few days before starting this book), I pictured Ariel as female and it was a bit surprised when I realized that Carey used the pronoms « he ». I guess for me the name Ariel was a female name but anyways, it doesn't matter much because, I think that the character of Ariel can change genders when they want. Miranda and Caliban relationship was also complex and it was fascinating to see how those two characters that were at the same very different and quite similar built their relationship and how their feelings influenced the story.

So, overall, I found Miranda and Caliban to be a strong book, however, as much as I liked the amazing job Carey did using Shakespeare's world, I just wished she had taken more liberties with the plot because I felt like , the fact that she limited herself to telling the story in the same way Shakespaere did, restrained her and I wished she had gone farther in the story.

If you are looking for a tragic romance story and that you are a fan of The Tempest, treat yourself and read this book. If you have not read The Tempest but you are still intrigued by this book, you should also try it, it stands on its own very well and it could be a great introduction to The Tempest.

Recommended.

One of the four plays by Shakespeare often speculated to have been representative of his view that the renaissance was ending and a new era of ignorance beginning, The Tempest has attracted a great deal of speculation and study over the intervening centuries. You would need some serious stones as an author to attempt to put a decent spin on it (Margaret Attwood recently released a brilliant take on it with Hagseed) but the phenomenal Carey has not merely turned up to the party, she has taken over. Less a retelling than a completely new perspective on the play, Miranda and Caliban explodes tired (and somewhat awkward and embarrassing) tropes such as the ‘noble savage’, the ‘two-dimensional villain, who does ill for ill’s sake’ and even the innocent, dutiful daughter. Instead, Carey’s lush, sensory prose combines with Shakespeare’s strange and eerie tale, to bring the dark heart of the story to life. In true star crossed lovers form, Miranda and Caliban, building on a childhood friendship and dependence, gradually realise that they love each other but equally cannot be together – the world is unprepared for such divisions of station and person to be crossed. The voyage from innocence to wisdom is beautifully told and utterly heart-rending. And the supporting cast – fey and tricky Ariel, the hardened, single minded Prospero bent on revenge and an island of sprites bring this twisted love story into vivid relief. A wonderful fantasy slant on one of Shakespeare’s best known plays.

This is a retelling of The Tempest, but I went into it blind because I've never read the original. Not even the CliffsNotes. All I really needed to know was that Jacqueline Carey wrote it and I was sold.
And then there's that cover. *swoons*
Told from alternating POV's, the book follows the lives of Miranda and Caliban from childhood to early adulthood. This is a slower, character-driven story, and I think it needs to be. I don't know how far Carey's story-line ventures from the original, but I have to guess that it's a fair amount. The language is stunning. I loved the build-up between Miranda and Caliban and the mounting tension as Miranda starts to follow her father's orders less and question him more.
Beautifully done. Compelling and bitter-sweet.
Ultimately, I don't think this is the right story for people who need a clear-cut-tied-up-in-ribbons HEA. And don't expect Kushiel's Dart. But it's so well done and I loved it.

★★★✮☆ 3.5 stars

Miranda is a young girl who scarcely remembers living anywhere else but on a deserted island with her father – a strange man who claims to be Christian, and yet keeps household demons, enslaves spirits and sacrifices the occasional goat. Which brings me to the next bit. Apparently, there’s someone else on the island. He has been living there for quite a while. They call him the wild boy, and he does not talk. He offers them a gift, and to his own undoing – because through it, he is enslaved by Prospero, Miranda’s father.

The next bit deals a lot with questions of freedom. To me, this part of the book felt like it was about Stockholm syndrome – should we be thankful to our gracious captors? Is it alright to bind a human being to your will through power, even if you treat them well?

Even though Prospero sees Caliban as a specimen, as a dirty lowly slave, sub-human at best, Miranda is yet a child and possesses a soft, loving heart. More than that, she is lonely! For she is a girl, growing up alone on an isolated island – it’s a fact her father seems to be too carried away to understand. So it’s no surprise that the two children form a bond, a friendship, which later blossoms into love.

But nobody in this tale has any will of their own, because Prospero is a grand puppet master, holding the strings to everybody’s fate. He will have his way, which will inevitably be tragic for the two young ones.

Things I liked about this book:

★ Prospero is a very good villain. He’s not all bad, he has so many human qualities about him. You can understand where he’s coming from and why he is the way he is. You wonder that maybe deep down there someone he even cares for Miranda. He just can’t help seeing the world the way he does because of how he’s been betrayed.

★ The tragedy in this tale is portrayed very well. Especially the ending – the ending is quite strong. I knew it was never going to end well, but knowing that and still provoking so many feelings? I applaud you, Jaqueline Carey.

★ The prose was good. And, as I’ve read in other reviews already, it seems it was trying to follow the style of Shakespeare himself – that would explain why I felt so utterly transported into the world the characters lived in, especially the time frame.

★ I liked the little world and the way it’s built – spirits, sylphs, gnomes. Stars and planets, celestial beings. Everything was so magical!

Things I disliked about the book:

✮ I know this was a retelling, so the author must have been a little bit limited in the time frames. But how old is Miranda? Can a child of 6 really teach another to talk? Can such a young kid even think the way she does? That really got me. She felt at least 13, good god. Especially contrasting that with Caliban, who at that point was about double her age, but acted and learned as a child younger than her. It just didn’t feel right.

✮ A lot of people have also mentioned this, but I just hated the way Caliban talked. Creepity creep, poppity pop. I know you are making him sound a little bit.. odd, cause he only learned to talk at age 12. But really? If I learned to talk so late and am basing my thoughts on the simplest of words, would I really use creepity creep? Where would I even learn that if no one else in the book says that? Just so unnatural. Apart from being extremely cringeworthy. I don’t think I cared much about words like that before this, but I know I’m going to cringe every time I hear them now.

✮ The book is simply too TMI! I understand most people think it’s YA? Not sure though, because alright – menstruation is okay for YA. But jerking off scenes? Should.. we really..? I mean, ugh. It was too much for me. A lot of that didn’t give anything to the book (in my opinion). But it might just be me, cause I dislike things like this in a book. We can catch on to things without being told. And we’ll elaborate as much as we want to. But being forced into being exposed to it, meh, I just don’t like that.

So… It was an okay book. There are definitely high points, and the story is told well. But these negative points were just too much for me. I have also heard similar TMI facts about other books by this author, so I don’t think I will be reading, say, Kushiel’s Dart.

But! I think there is a high chance you could still enjoy this. If you are not sensitive to graphic parts (there was no sex, in the author’s defense), then you are totally fine and you should enjoy the story.

On an isolated island Miranda grows up in the safety her father Prospero has provided for her. But it is not an easy life. Her father’s obsessive pursuit of magic only serves to isolate Miranda further. Then, after the bewitching of a strange, feral boy, Caliban, Miranda’s life may be about to experience the warmth of emotional closeness she could only dream about. But under her father’s constant attention it is a relationship which can only be doomed.
Miranda and Caliban is a slow burn novel. The writing is carefully considered and increasingly hypnotic the further you get into it. In its own right it is an absorbing read for any young adult reader with a literary frame of mind.
Miranda and Caliban does not provide any surprises as it pulls out all the elements of The Tempest and crafts a narrative of what happened before the play begins. But Shakespeare, with his otherworldly way of phrasing, use of words and dense concepts can be a difficult literary meal to digest for anyone embedded in the culture of the twenty-first century. Miranda and Caliban illuminates and add substance to the back story of the Tempest which should help an audience or reader to appreciate it in a way they might not have before; making it a useful addition to any English class striving to get to grips with the Tempest.
You can easily visualise Miranda's bleak life of self-sufficiency which needs to pay constant attention to the livestock and food sources, as well as the drudge of keeping the household together. Caliban’s lot is not any better. He leads a monochrome life of suffering, as he tries to work out what will please or displease the man who has captured him and is slowly domesticating him, as well as where he stand with Miranda.
But creating such a sense of place with Miranda and Caliban, Jacqueline Carey has thrown a lifeline to students working their way through the relentless stream of Shakespearean iambic pentameter ensuring that the Tempest will come to life before their eyes, so they will begin to sense the strength of emotion within it.
It is an intimate and intense retelling of the Tempest which can be read for enjoyment and one which should prove an invaluable asset to young people struggling to get to grips with the demands of a classic play.

Jacqueline Carey’s books are hit or miss with me, and this one was definitely a miss. In some ways this reminded me of the things I hated about Kushiel's Dart except this wasn’t as bad. The plots were completely different, but both books had a drab tone and dull, lifeless characters. The pacing was agonizingly slow. It took forever for the story to advance, and the end was anti-climatic. Since I have not read The Tempest, I had no idea how this would end. Knowing this was a retelling of Shakespeare’s work, I had expected the ending to be tragic or slightly more dramatic. The ending wasn’t a happy one, but maybe I wasn’t more affected because I didn’t care enough about the characters to feel their pain.

The book is told in two parts. In the first part Miranda is six and Caliban is several years older. The weird thing about her POV was that her inner thoughts sounded more like a mature adult in her thirties than a young child. It was really hard to believe she was a kid. She and Caliban grew close as children. Flash forward seven or so years to the second part, and their friendship had blossomed into love. The time jump made it feel like I missed out on something essential in the development of their relationship. This was not a romance, but their relationship was central to the plot. It was essential to grasp what they were feeling for the ending to have an impact.

Caliban was my favorite character. He stood up for what he believed in. Miranda was so disgustingly pathetic. Knowing right from wrong rarely caused her to act on it. All her father had to do was chastise her and she quickly cowed. She was practically blind to her father’s cruel and selfish ways, always determined to see the best in him. She seemed quite content to be ignorant. Her father openly admitted to keeping many things from her, and it was rarely questioned. Her father was evil. Absolutely nothing about him was good. The only other character Ariel wasn’t interesting. Knowing something of his background might have helped to make him more appealing.

The world building in regards to the magic needed more attention. Obviously Prospero was capable of magic, but were there limits to his abilities? Where did his power come from? Some stuff didn’t make sense. How come Miranda and Caliban each had a parent capable of powerful magic but neither of them had any? The story made sense, but considering the amount of time spent on a painstakingly slow plot, some of that time could have been invested in character development and further exploration of magic.

This book was so utterly magical. It was beautifully written, every word felt genuine and true to the original Shakespeare play yet still made it new.

I have to say I wasn't Miranda's greatest fun going in. She had so little personality in the player it was impressive how much I grew to like her in this book Carey kept her characterisation true to the original post yet made her far more sympathetic a character. She begins naive as she is nothing but a child, she could be nothing but. And as she grows her fear and trust in her father means she is quite innocent but also ignorant. Ariel hints at her ignorance and it becomes more noticeable as it progresses. She comes to realise this also. She no longer trusts her father absolutely but instead begins to reason and question and I appreciated that character growth.

As for Caligan? I always felt he was hard done by in the play. He was a poor wretch but I couldn't understand why Prospero and Miranda despised him so and why he felt such contempt for them. This book flawlessly shows both his gratitude to them and also his contempt as he becomes chained. I liked that we see him grow and also see his close connection with Miranda . They each grow and influence one another. It was good to read.

In the end this is their book and their relationship and friendship is the focus. I won't spoil things but I did find the entire book heartbreaking. I wanted so many things and you knew it wasn't meant to be. It all came down to the manipulation of Prospero. I wanted to kill that man myself. He was so selfish and manipulative and I truly hated him, much as I did in the play. Todd to see some things don't change.

I'm not sure what I expected when I picked this book up but it wasn't what I got. What I got was far more powerful and stunning to read. It may not have been my favourite book but it will be one which stays with me for a whole as I think on the fate of each of the characters.

As Jacqueline Carey is a new author to me, I was pretty well ready for anything with this book. Being familiar with Shakespeare's The Tempest made this such a worthwhile read for me. The deeper exploration of the relationship between Miranda and Caliban seems to flesh out the bard's tale. I will definitely look for more of this talented author's works. Recommended reading.

The nitty-gritty: A lushly written retelling of The Tempest, filled with emotion and complex characters.

Retellings are always tricky, because you’re dealing with the memories and emotions associated with reading the original source material, and they don’t always live up to readers’ expectations. But Jacqueline Carey did a bang-up job on this retelling of Shakespeare’s The Tempest, and I can’t wait for people to read this story. Even if you aren’t an expert on Shakespeare (I’m certainly not!), you’ll appreciate what the author has done: rather than rehash the story you may be familiar with, she’s set hers in the years leading up to the events of The Tempest. Carey’s writing closely mimics the style of Shakespeare, which some readers are going to love and others aren’t, but it was pure magic to me. What a lovely prose writer she is! Although the formal writing caught me off guard in the beginning, once I got into the rhythm of it, I couldn’t imagine this story being told any other way.

Miranda is only six years old when the story begins. She and her father live alone in a crumbling castle on a deserted island, with only animals and elemental spirits to keep them company. Prospero is a magician and has called forth these spirits and bound them with magic to do his bidding. Miranda has flashes of memories of a different life and remembers a grand home and kind women brushing her hair. But her father never confirms or denies these memories, and so Miranda believes them to be a dream. There is one other person on the island, a “wild boy” with dark skin who doesn’t speak. Prospero wishes to capture and civilize the boy, and one day he succeeds in bringing Caliban into their home, where he uses a hair from his head to create an amulet with which he can control him. Miranda sees this as an opportunity to finally have a friend, as she’s been all alone up until now, with only her stern and often cruel father for company.

Little by little, Prospero and Miranda teach Caliban to help them around the castle, hunting for food and performing menial labor. Miranda spends time teaching Caliban to speak, and they begin to communicate and form an innocent friendship. But although Prospero feels like he’s improved the “savage” Caliban’s life, Caliban understands that he is nothing more than a prisoner. One false move and Prospero can inflict great pain on Caliban by using the amulet that he wears around his neck.

Prospero is cunning and has a far-reaching plan, and one day he finally reveals the true reason for bringing Caliban into the picture. He wishes to free a spirit named Ariel who has been trapped inside a tree for many years, and the only way to do that is to discover the name of the demon that Caliban’s mother, a witch named Sycorax, used to magically imprison Ariel. Prospero suspects that Caliban knows the demon’s name, and he’s willing to do anything to get it from him.

But once Ariel is free, Miranda and Caliban soon realize that Prospero needs Ariel in order to exact his revenge. As childhood fades into bitter knowledge of the real world, Caliban begins to wonder if a world exists where he and Miranda can be happy together.

Miranda and Caliban is not a fast-paced, action packed story, so you should know going in that this is mostly an intricate character study. Jacqueline Carey is a genius at complex and layered characterizations and the emotional lives of those characters. The first half introduces the relationships between Miranda, Caliban, Prospero and Ariel—the four main characters—but it isn’t until the second half when the pace picks up and everything the author has set up in the first half comes together. It’s also a story of growth, and one of the joys for me was watching Caliban’s character grow and change as the story progresses. Miranda also goes through a lot, but I have to admit that Caliban was by far my favorite character.

Carey channels Shakespeare in many ways, and one of the best is her ability to get to the heart of the human condition and show some of the many ways people use each other to get what they want. Every character in this story is a victim of something. Prospero has been betrayed by his own brother, denied his rightful place in society and set adrift on a boat with three-year-old Miranda. Miranda is a victim of her father’s nefarious plans and has been kept in dark about everything. Ariel was imprisoned in a tree for many years, and when he’s finally freed he realizes he's actually still enslaved by Prospero. And Caliban is a victim of his parents, and through no fault of his own leads a life that has been decided for him. Each one of these characters rebels against these injustices, some more successfully than others, and much of what I loved about this book was seeing how these carefully devised and subtle acts of defiance resolve themselves.

I don’t want to ruin the plot for anyone, but those familiar with The Tempest know just how this story will end. This is a love story between Miranda and Caliban, but it’s by no means a happy one. Caliban in particular suffers for his love, which is one reason I loved him so much. The story alternates between Miranda’s and Caliban’s points of view, and I loved seeing how the two start out as innocents but as the years go by, they learn mistrust and deception from the actions of Prospero and Ariel. Caliban’s chapters are heartbreaking, as he slowly begins to understand the lengths Prospero will go to for revenge.

This is also a coming-of-age story, as Miranda goes from six years old when the story begins to fifteen by the end. Carey pulls no punches when it comes to the big change in Miranda’s life, which Miranda herself calls becoming “a woman grown.” Word of warning if you’re squeamish in any way about a young girl starting her period: this is one of the harshest introductions into puberty that I’ve ever read (and yes, I would say it rivals Stephen King’s Carrie). Prospero hasn’t told poor Miranda anything about what to expect, and without a mother to teach her these things, it comes as a complete shock. Even worse, Prospero has a decidedly creepy interest in Miranda’s menstrual blood (which makes sense when you find out why, but still – ugh.) And with menstruation comes a sexual awakening, and Carey gives us a very honest peek into the mind of a young boy who has just discovered that his body can do, um, certain things.

As for the other characters, every story needs a villain and in this one it’s Prospero. I like to think that he does love Miranda, but despite his facade of being a good father and raising a kind and obedient daughter, lurking just under the surface is a man whose desire for vengeance has made him devious and cruel. And I’m just going to say one more thing about him: NO PROSPERO, NOT THE WHITE CHICKEN BIANCA! (I really did hate him.) Ariel could also be seen as somewhat of a villain, although I have to say I actually liked him. Yes, he lies and pits the characters against each other, but I felt sorry for him because of his past.

Near the end of the story, Carey brings in the main event from The Tempest as the climax of Miranda and Caliban. I thought it was a great way to tie the two together without too much repetition. And yes, the ending was bittersweet, but Carey manages to throw in a somewhat hopeful note. By the last page my love for Caliban had grown so much and I just wanted to give him a big hug.

Big thanks to the publisher for supplying a review copy.

Miranda and Caliban by Jacqueline Carey

Star rating: ★★★★ ☆ 4/5 stars

Format: ebook galley

Summary: In a retelling of the Tempest, Miranda and Caliban grow up together as close friends. Both are lonely and seek company of the other stranded on an isle together ruled by Prospero.

Review: I received a copy for review from netgalley.

I thought this was a really interesting look at Miranda and Caliban and their relationship. I like the direction that Carey took this in, that they are life long friends who cling to each other as their only protection from the tyranny of Prospero. As they grow up they discover they have more romantic feelings towards each other.

I did feel like the language was pretty stilted. Carey tries to emulate to language of the period by re-using the same few words "mayhap", "betimes", and "hither and thither and yon" were the most common ones. I just think it's unnecessary and it makes it difficult to read the book. It's really interesting story and I liked it but the language used made it hard to get through because it's trying to be something it's not. It wasn't written in Shakespeare's time, it was written now and while yes some modern language should be avoided shoving in these words doesn't work. Although, I will say that the older language did work for Ariel when he spoke. If it wasn't for the language I think I would have rated this five stars and I would want to reread it. While I do like this book and story I don't think I could reread it due to the language.

I think it was interesting to see the total control and abuse that Prospero had over the two of them, I think it's a really good interpretation. The end was sad and i wish I could view it hopefully but I don't think a happy ending is likely for the two together.

I wish there weren't so many scenes with Caliban masterbating, I actually don't think it would have bothered me so much if Carey didn't keep calling his penis a "rod". There are so many euphemisms for dicks that drive me nuts and rod is right there up at the top with member. Like can we not?

I did like the book though, I liked the slow build of the romance, I liked how Prospero's abuse against Miranda slowly made her stop questioning to the point where when she meets the prince she hardly says two words to him. I liked how Miranda and Caliban were constantly looking out for one another, that Miranda used her last bargaining chip to make sure that he wasn't punished.

Recommendation: Language issues aside, this is a really good retelling (or maybe companion piece is a better thing to call it) of The Tempest. I love that it gives Caliban and Miranda even more depth. I think if you like Shakespeare then I would pick this book up.