When I read the description of this book, I was very excited to have the opportunity to read it—a steampunk retelling of Shakespeare's The Tempest, sign me up! I have always loved the idea and aesthetic of steampunk and the potential implications it has for our current experience of modernity—the idea that we are reflecting backward while still holding onto concepts of technology that we as a collective have deemed "useful." And while I like reflecting on this, I have largely been disappointed in a genre that has not used its aesthetic as commentary and instead delivered tech and style at the expense of storytelling.

Alas, I was disappointed with this book. I think that taking on a retelling is a deceptively monumental task. How do you explore an existing work and add to it? How can you make it your own? How do you explore character and plot when those things are laid out for you? How closely do you follow those elements of the original work? What I found with On the Isle of Sound and Wonder was that it was a quasi-European setting and a relatively formulaic story. Unfortunately, this book did nothing to expound upon The Tempest—in fact, eliminating the ambiguity (who are the villains?) that makes The Tempest interesting—and it frequently made me uncomfortable with the handling of sexual assault.

Now, William Shakespeare directly attributes Caliban's slavery to his attempted rape of Miranda, so in this way, On the Isle of Sound and Wonder stays true to form. I also think that his monstrosity might touch upon the racial issue as well (since neither of those things exists in a vacuum). However, I didn't feel that the writing expounded upon this in a meaningful way, and so inadvertently reflected a framing of which I am not particularly fond.

This story does give Mira (Miranda) more agency and strength. Corvina (Sycorax) has a much more expansive and well-rounded backstory. But all of this was lost in a muddle of storytelling that I found to be confusing and, at times, tedious. The way the narrative unfolds is often disjointed. I found that the other characters were flat and not expanded upon enough; brevity that is perhaps a necessity in a play but possibly does not serve a novel well. I would look forward to the parts that included Miranda and Corvina because these are the sections that shined. It seems to me that the author wanted to focus on these characters, but in following the format of The Tempest, got too bogged down with the other details to be able to do just that.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with an eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

DNF'd at 30%. I started this book a month ago. I really tried to get into it, I really tried to push through, but 30% in a month is rough. I'm bored and I don't want to read it and I feel like I'm going to put myself in another slump if I try to finish it. Sorry to this man 😭

A fairytale style story about a girl stuck on an island with her father, who is inclined to bouts of dark magic, and the shipwrecked people trying to survive there with (or is it despite?) them.

This story kept me interested throughout and coming back to find out what was going to happen or to discover the character’s pasts in flashback chapters.
Set in a steampunk world infused with real magic our characters are well defined in their intentions and motivations, so choices made seemed believable.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for approving this eARC!

Er...I mean, I think I should've known I wasn't going to love this book since I didn't like The Tempest. While this is a retelling, so the author took some creative liberty, it still read like The Tempest to me and overall I found myself kind of bored while reading. I think if someone is not familiar with the work this book is based off of, they will truly adore it, but for someone who is familiar with it, they'll probably find it predictable and boring, like me.
This isn't a bad book! This book just wasn't for me. I do think the author did a great job recreating the world and characters, but I just saw too many similarities to the original to really fall into it.

I just really felt in the mood for an island fantasy and this one did not disappoint, though it wasn't really because of the atmosphere..
Ever read a short book and thought: "well, these characters are so interesting to me, it sucks that this book is so short". Well.
I'm not sure why, maybe they aren't that peculiar at all.. but I really vibed with them. I wish I could get to know them more!
There's two men who realize they love each other and I think they actually have chemistry.

For the sole reason of me not having read The Tempest yet, I can't say anything about how this retelling handled the story. This is a steampunk novel, as I have learned it in the reviews, but honestly, it doesn't make much of a difference to me.

I short, I genuinely liked reading this book, it was easy to get through, and I might reread it sometime.

Thank you, Netgalley and Shadesilk Press for providing me with an ARC of On The Isle Of Sound And Wonder in exchange for an honest review.

I have read The Tempest, the abridged version of it in high school. I remember enjoying it at the time, but never picked up the entire play. I saw this title on Netgalley and when I read the synopsis I was really interested to know how a retelling will work for the play.

I really liked the story and how the author approached it. I wanted to see more of the world she built and how crazy the innovations and inventions were for the year the author set the story in. I liked the manipulative and cunning Aurael was. He is definitely up to no good. Mira was wild, efficient and confident and I loved her strength and courage. The monster was definitely the guy you will feel sorry for. He happens to get the brunt of all blame regardless of who has done the mistake. Dante is an interesting character. I wanted to see more of him as well. I wanted to know if he had the darkness in him from the very beginning or is it something he came by later on in his life. The witch, the Faerie King, Queen all had less time in the book. I would love to see more of their characters as well. I think the book is a great start for a new series, even though it is not a part of the series. It would be interesting to see more of these characters and more of their world being expanded on. I adored Gonzo and loved Karaburan and how naive and innocent he was. I don't remember all the details of The Tempest by Shakespeare, so I can't say how the retelling is in comparison to the original. However, I loved this book. I do have some questions and some doubts when it comes to certain events. I gave this book 4.5 stars. This was an enjoyable and engaging read. I definitely recommend checking it out.

Thank you for the opportunity to read this. I will be posting a full review to Goodreads, Amazon, and Instagram.

I was never really able to get into this book.
I liked the writing style, but I just wasn't for me, which sometimes happens.
Maybe I'll give it a chance another day, but for now, it just wasn't something I enjoyed.

Thank you again to Netgalley and the author for sending a review copy my way.
This book was a nice little fantasy romp. Definitely better than I expected. The beginning scene really drew me in and got me invested in both the characters on this island and what kind of magic they possess. I wasnt a huge fan of the steampunk element but it wasnt overbearing enough to turn me off to the book. Mira was a beautifully written main character and really drove the story forward. I didnt enjoy the father's characterization as much. He sort of felt almost like a Disney villain, but he still wasnt awful. 3.5/5

4*
Pros: Beautiful narrative style, much like the old tales and classic novels. An enticing and fascinating retelling of The Tempest. Multiple points of view, that did not disconnect the reader from the story. Fun and interesting characters. LGBT representation. Mentions rape and surviving sexual assault.
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Cons: Lack of emotional depth. Unsatisfying ending.

I just couldn’t get in to this book, I am sorry but it never picked up off the ground for me. The characters and narrative fell flat.

I really enjoyed this book! I have never read The Tempest before so I wasn't sure what the story was about so I looked up a quick synopsis of Shakespeare's original. When I read Grauer's steampunk retelling I noticed that she kept the names of the characters similar to the ones in Shakespeare's original (Mira vs. Miranda). In the beginning I was a bit confused by all the characters so it would have been helpful to have a list. However, as the story progressed I got to know all the characters and care for each of their stories. Grauer did a great job with building her character's emotions and personalities. The addition of steampunk was really creative and I enjoyed it. I found that the plot stayed similarly true to Shakespeare's original and Grauer did a great job of incorporating elements of his play in her story. I could not stop reading this book and I highly recommend it!

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.

"Shakespeare’s classic, The Tempest, bedecked in the trappings of Steampunk."

For the first few chapters, I thought I was really going to enjoy this one. However, from that point, the only two emotions I felt while reading were confusion and discomfort. The plot feels rushed, yet nothing seems to happen. The characters all felt extremely empty, and, oftentimes, came off as caricatures of a stereotype. The setting is confusing, and the steampunk elements are all-but nonexistent. And while I believe the author's intentions must have been in the right place, the rep for mental illness and the female body were, in my opinion, both distasteful and potentially harmful.

The story had potential, and perhaps I would have felt differently about it had I known more about the original story but overall, it wasn't for me.

As well written as it is, it seems I'm not at all a fan of retellings, and this is the only reason I'm giving it 3 ⭐.

"This is no ordinary storm."

Lost meets Shakespeare in On the Isle of Sound and Wonder and I greatly enjoyed it! I loved the author's take on Mira and Prince Ferran’s relationship and how she was treated as her own being, with an intricate backstory, skills and personality and I loved how unexpectedly creepy the story would get from time to time, those backstories gave me chills more often than not. I would have appreciated if the "villains" in this book had been given much more space and depth, their outlook was so captivating and interesting (embarassed to say I crushed on Aureal just a tiny little bit 👌) and I would have loved to explore them some more. Nonentheless, I really enjoyed reading this and it made me want to re-read its original!

*I received this book from NetGalley in exchange of an honest review.*

Interesting, well-written but at times hard to keep up with the storyline as it seemed a bit disoriented and jumbled in places. For me there was too much back and forth between the characters and took away from the story quite a bit. It was so back and forth that if it was less between character pov it would create less jumble.

While this book wasn't a huge hit for me I did love the story, Mira and the twists. It is a good book once you get into it and I think I will read it again in the future.

I found it difficult to become fully immersed in this story, starting and stopping a few times. I am glad I persevered though as I did enjoy the story. Thanks to the publisher and netgalley for an advanced egalley.

#OntheIsleofSoundandWonder #NetGalley
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the E-arc copy of On the Isle of Sound and Wonder by Alyson Grauer.

It seems gutsy to tackle a Shakespeare story, but this author achieved success. Another book w lots of existing reviews by smart people. So my conclusion = Recommended for fantasy fans. Looking forward to the next one.

Thank you very much for the review copy!!