I am not sure what to think of this one, on one hand I enjoyed it somewhat, on the other hand the jumping back and forth kind of annoyed me and distracted me. Plus the ending felt rushed and almost anticlimactic? I`m not even sure….it just felt so…random and almost out of place. I am aware that this is a retelling and I haven`t read the Tempest, who knows maybe it is supposed to be like that.
3.5 – 3.75 Stars.

This is a debut novel
I enjoyed the characters in this book. Each character had a valuable role to play.
The writing is good and well paced.
This is an action packed entertaining read

It was an easy, entertaining read. It didn't blow my mind away but I still enjoyed it! I do recommend it

I love Shakespeare retellings. However, I don’t think this novel does The Tempest justice. I found it very hard to follow the novel, and I did not like the multiple narrators. This novel just wasn’t my cup of tea. I’ll be looking for better retellings of The Tempest.

A really fun story that was endlessly entertaining. I absolutely fell in love with the characters and world that the author built thanks to the immersive writing, and definitely struggled to put it down. Also top notch representation.

Re-tellings of Shakespeare seem very in vogue at the moment, which is perfect t when you have a unit on that such thing on the school curriculum! The Tempest has never been a favourite of mine, but this version made me see it through new eyes, reigniting the magic of Caliban, Ariel and all on this stormy journey. Superb.

Thank you to Netgalley! I thought this book was okay. Im not a fan of multiple POVs which can get overwhelming for me. However, the steampunk vibes and general story were enjoyable enough!

This is a novel which contains magic and mischief— and both cover the scale from innocent to evil.

I found myself a bit overwhelmed by the characters at first, but once I found my stride with the book, I really began to enjoy it.

There is a definite “storytelling” vibe to this book. If there’s not already an audiobook version, I hope that one is considered. I think hearing the story out loud would really capture the “tale” essence on another level.

CW: Sexual Assault

i really liked this retelling of the Tempest, it kept the spirit of the original and made it something unique. The characters were great and I really enjoyed reading it.

Rep: LGBTQIA+

TW: mention of rape

My Review: An Impressive Retelling

The Pros: What worked for me

Compared to the original story, there is a ton of depth and character development here! Every character had a backstory and it made this play truly come alive.
Really great worldbuilding! The author goes beyond the original play and adds so many intricate details and layers, which made this very enjoyable.
Mira (Miranda) has such a strong personality – she takes center stage in this retelling. She was intelligent, strong, and fiery! I loved any chance to read from her perspective. There is so much more to her in this novel than in the play.

The Cons: What I didn’t like

I wasn’t always a fan of the writing style. It took me a while to get into the story, and there was a lot of jumping between timelines that made it difficult to keep track of things.
The ending was a bit too convenient for me. Every other part of the story had tension, an internal struggle, and a satisfactory decision. But the ending was just too easy after everything.
The steampunk was unnecessary. It barely had anything to do with the story and its random inclusion was jarring.

This was a really good balance between maintaining the originality of the plot of The Tempest while adding depth to it. I enjoyed having deeper characterization, and a fully-developed world. Safe to say, I will never think about this Shakespeare play in the same way!

A re-imagining of The Tempest that takes the classic play and puts on some goggles and hops aboard an airship taking the story to new steampunk heights.

Personally, I found this book to be very confusing. The characters weren't very well fleshed out and the plot jumped back and forth between multiple POVs, which is something I usually enjoy, but in this case it made the story feel disjointed and very unclear.

This was an interesting re-telling of Shakespeare's The Tempest and in the novel format, there was a lot more space to develop the well-known characters along with an original back story for how the father and daughter ended up on the Island.
The characterisations were good, Mira as the main character has more nuance and her traumatic experiences added depth to her behaviour as well as her relationship with her father and her struggles with forgiveness and the violence she experiences.
That Prince Ferran wasn't your typical Prince Charming but a young man grappling with the pressures of his position along with his conflicting ambitions also added a new dimension to him being a multi-layered character.
I think the most interesting characters and aspects of the plot related to the "witch" Corvina and her son Karraburan. A novel just from their perspective and about them would be great as well.
There were some confusing aspects to the plot such as the birth and paternity of Karraburan as well as the interweaving of technology and magic that could have been refined more.
Overall a good absorbing read which captured my attention until the end.

I haven’t read the Tempest in a long while, but I found as I was reading this book there were many elements of the story that closely followed Shakespeare’s version.

Though the names were ever-so-slightly changed, the general plot was very similar. Having said that, this book could stand up on its own and be a very good read even if you’ve never been exposed to the original.

I loved this much more (sorry Shakespeare). The way Mira was written was such a stark contrast to Miranda. She is a character in her own right and there is only ever a a suggestion of a romance which allows her to have actual character development. The use of magic was much more integral to the plot, the battle for power being seen as an internal struggle as well as one between the king’s court.

The characters trapped on the island were more realistically described. For example Miranda wasn’t described as basically a princess after spending all those years on the island, she was described as having matted hair and skin weathered by the sun. It made the characters more believable.

I really hated Auriel, though I think that was the point. I didn’t like him much in the original, but I definitely agree with how the author portrays him from reading it. I’m glad in the end it worked out as it did, the theme of revenge in the original has everyone as being forgiven, but in this version revenge is punished.

I liked the twist that the author brought to the original and how she gave everything her own spin. We barely heard from the King, but had much more insight into some of the other characters. The “monster” was written so well and I loved the storyline he was given. I felt like we were given the opportunity to know the characters as if they were actual people instead of ideals.

I really liked the idea of the tempest being inside Mira, and the flashbacks to the characters motivations. I saw that some people found that confusing but I think it slotted in with the storyline and enabled us as the reader to find out more about the characters a little more organically. We weren’t told everything upfront, we learned as we went along and it forced me to question what judgements I had made before being given the new information.

The ending was not entirely what I expected but not in a bad way. It felt like it wasn’t rushed to a conclusion - this is the case with the original so it was something I was wary about.

Overall, I really enjoyed reading this and seeing what the author had in store for her characters. It’s definitely a fun read if you’ve read the Tempest, but is a good novel on its own merits.

Steampunk meets Shakespeare in this exciting retelling of "The Tempest." I love steampunk, I love Shakespeare, I will admit, I was a little hesitant about how they would blend. Grauer does an admirable job, her take was refreshing and I loved what she did with these classic and well-known characters. I do wonder if someone without a rough idea of what "The Tempest" is would follow along easily as there are moments that seem to rely on that knowledge without explaining things full. That said, this story is enthralling, the cover is amazing, and I really can't wait to see what Grauer does next.

I received a copy of this novel via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. The cover is what grabbed me first, and then the note that it was a retelling of the Tempest. I haven't read the Tempest in over a decade but remember liking in high school, so I felt as if I was reading On The Isle of Sound and Wonder with very fresh eyes. It was a slow start—it took me almost a month to read the book so I was not thrilled with the pacing. However, the storyline seemed intriguing for the most part and I did return to finish the novel during down times and between other books.

There were some questions raised by myself as the reader during the novel, which is why I gave it a 3-star rating. The first was that Mira's character, our heroine, is not completely consistent. She has spent her childhood reading and learning from the books that her father brought with them on the Island. However, there were some phrases, and concepts that she was not familiar with that I thought was a bit odd. Particularly, since she specifically notes that the books were primarily histories. (Especially, the dresses women are still currently wearing.)

However, I liked the magical elements that Grauer utilized during the novel. I found Mira's character to be interesting and I enjoyed her parts; and I enjoyed Corvina's story immensely. I felt the romance portion could have taken a bigger role; it fell a bit flat. Particularly the romance between Bastanio and Torisone, it felt forced and very short. We didn't really get to see their characters as clearly. I felt we could have spent more time getting to know the characters.

There were other discrepancies in the overall story; Corvina's pregnancy for one, and unnecessary plot points. It felt almost more like a Midsummer Night's Dream to me, rather than a Tempest retelling. I wish the author had been a bit more creative with the names of the character's as well. They were almost identical to the character names in the original. With the plot alterations made, I would have liked to see a bit of creativity in the names.

The ending was very rushed. It wrapped up quickly, but still left some open-ended questions, particularly about a mechanical friend that we do not see again. Finally, there was a very intriguing boat/plane mechanism and android-esque creatures that I would have loved to learn more about. I think that portion of the story was underdeveloped.

Overall, it was an interesting retelling--my favorite parts were actually Corvina's portions and honestly, I would have loved a book purely on her life. I'd recommend this book to other retellings, like My Plain Jane and Pride, or magic novels like the The Ninth Sorceress.

This story took a while to get into

As this is retelling it is not entirely surprising to find this slightly more difficult to read, yet I did find myself struggling more than usual.

The writing style is relatively easy to follow and the narrative straightforward. The characters are ... intriguing.

This story is an acquired taste and definitely not everyone's cup of tea. But for those who have an appetite for Shakespeare might find it quite enjoyable.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing a copy for review.

The Tempest is one of the few Shakespeare plays I have yet to read. However from what I know of the play, I thought this retelling did a good job of staying true to the story while being its own thing. I think the author did a great job balancing all the characters. There are a lot of characters, but no one was ever really neglected. The only downside to that is that I never really got to connect with any of the characters. I wish there was a bit more about Mira and her powers. I also had a hard time with Dante. He is clearly power hungry, but this whole set up to bring the people who banished him to the island for retribution was hard to fully comprehend. I just never understood why he blamed them in the first place?? Overall this was an enjoyable story, and I enjoyed the characters, but I think maybe this could have a been a bit longer or focused more on certain characters. 3.5/5 stars

Going into On the Isle of Sound and Wonder, I was excited. I love Shakespeare and really enjoyed The Tempest. And I did enjoy parts of this book. However, overall I thought this story fell flat of what I wanted. To me, it was a mix of either too much or not enough steampunk and a story that did not explore much outside of the basics. The steampunk elements seemed to be not prominent enough to be a true steampunk world, and it made it feel more like an afterthought that didn’t fit with the rest of the story.

I had a hard time liking any of the characters. Mira and Ferran had very little chemistry for me, romantic or otherwise. Dante never felt human to me. His backstory did not give him quite enough depth for me to truly care about him. Some of the side characters, while their relationships were a bit more interesting, blended together too much. I had a hard time telling some of them apart. The one character that I loved was Corvina. She was interesting, more nuanced, and more mysterious. I think I would have preferred a book centered more around her than on any of the others. My interest had been waning some and when I got to her backstory in the middle of the book, I was pulled back in. Sadly, we then left her again to return to the others and I was less intrigued.

The one big thing that I did not care for was the treatment of sexual assault. It seemed to be treated in an off handed way that made it less important and more of a side note. I’m not saying I want the book to focus on it, but I don’t think it should come across as trivial either. It really just made me uncomfortable to read about it in this novel.

Overall, this book was fine. It was not everything I wanted and it was not particularly unique or adventurous, but it was an interesting telling of The Tempest and moderately fun for most of it.

Alyson Grauer's On The Isle of Sound and Wonder is a quasi-steampunk Italianate fantastical retelling of Shakespeare's The Tempest, but it is also so much more. On The Isle can stand alone as its own story: it does not rely on the reader knowing the source material for it to work. Mira and Dante have built their own life on a little island, and we get to peer in like a spirit on the breeze. One of my personal favorite parts of retellings is trying to pick up the threads of the source material and see their echoes in the current version. Grauer has not simply plopped The Tempest in afresh setting and called it good: she has woven in recollections to bolster side characters as well: I very much enjoyed the budding relationship between Bastiano and Torsione, and I relished Corvina's backstory. The Isle of Sound and Wonder was an excellent escape from reality for me.