Something is rotten in the state of Denmark. It’s magic, corrupting Kronborg and those within it from the inside out. Ophelia and her family before her have set upon the task of removing it, but with Hamlet sent away to Wittenberg after a tryst with a stable boy, both of them are about to discover more about the Corruption that threatens their nation. A dual narrative split between Hamlet and Ophelia, this book breathed new life into the play that has irreversibly changed the way I’ll read it. Yves expertly adds new dimensions to characters who are largely absent from the original and deepens existing relationships to draw out every inch of tragic potential. A favourite example was the long history between Hamlet and Fortinbras and the intimacy this gave their interactions, which only adds another layer of tragedy. Unapologetically queer and unpredictably twisty, this is a Shakespeare retelling for the ages.

This is a solid retelling with some cool magic and diversity. I didn't feel invested in the characters but I would recommend for anyone that likes YA and Hamlet.

This is a queer hamlet retelling. I love Shakespeare retelling and this one is filled with magical elements. There are elements of inner struggle with Hamlet and his sexuality, the duality of characters and their imperfections speaks to the authors ability to cultivate a beautiful, queer retelling. The representation was phenomenal. Overall, this story is everything it promises. LGBTQ, fantasy elements, romance, healing, and sacrifice.

Retellings/reimagining can be tricky. It's hard to balance using the source material against doing something different with it. This one succeeds in that. It has a new perspective on Hamlet (magic), but it still feels grounded in the play.

Hamlet as someone longing for something he can't name and discovering magic and Ophelia as a witch working tirelessly to combat the corruption threatening to overrun Helsinor and Denmark were fun to read about. The way the mystery with magic and corruption played out was well done. It seems like this was setting the stage for the events of the play, so I'm hopeful for a second book that covers Hamlets internal conflict and his conflict with Claudius.

Retellings are a difficult genre. Shakespeare retellings are especially tricky, considering how massively popular Shakespeare is as an author. Allusions to his work are everywhere: The Lion King; Mean Girls; etc. I went into this with exceptionally high hopes: Shakespeare? Check. Queer? Check. Historically grounded fantasy? Check, check, check. 

There was so much promise here! I’m heartbroken that, at least for me, it didn’t quite live  up to its potential.

Oh, there’s so much here that I wanted to love. Grounding the events of Hamlet in the politics of early modern Europe is a fascinating choice. The religious and cultural conflicts of sixteenth century Europe are so complex and interesting, and utilizing Wittenberg University as the site of so much tension is, frankly, really fucking cool. The changes made to characters’ backstories are also incredibly interesting, and, while it’s hard to pick a favorite, Jewish/Italian Horatio absolutely captured my heart. Hamlet refers to Horatio as “more of an Antique Roman than a Dane” in Hamlet, and this change casts that line in an entirely new light. Horatio is “Roman” in Dolan’s text, but because he’s Jewish as well, this line carries a new, barbed energy. That is, in my opinion, what the best retellings do - more than making changes for the sake of making changes, there’s something intentional and clever going on here that adds to the text.

(I wish we’d seen more of Horatio, and I wish I, a humble Hamlet/Horatio girlie, had more to feast on than the crumbs we get, but in the end, that’s not something I can really fault the book for. “Queer Hamlet” doesn’t always mean Hamlet/Horatio, and I can’t really get mad at the author for failing to deliver on something that wasn’t advertised.)

However. However. 

As someone who is, as I’ve said, a Shakespeare devotee, there was a lot here that just didn’t work for me. The book is unclear on what it wants to be. Is this a grounded historical fantasy that quotes from Shakespeare and grounds itself firmly in sixteenth-century Europe? Or is this a speculative fantasy with a more anachronistic style of writing? Is this Babel or My Lady Jane? I don’t have a problem with either of these approaches, but the constant switching back and forth between the two gave me whiplash. 

I’m also not quite sold on the magic system used in this book. The concept of “Corruption” as a literal manifestation of “something rotten in the state of Denmark” is a really interesting idea, but I’m just not sure what it added beyond that. More than that, some of the magic was, for lack of a better word, downright goofy. When it worked, it worked well - Rosencrantz, for example, was an especially compelling character. The choices Donlon makes with him are incredibly interesting, and I’m intrigued to see what they do with him in the sequel. When it didn’t work… oof. Again, the word I’m using is goofy, and that’s not really the tone you want to capture when you’re writing a Hamlet prequel.

I have a few other minor quibbles. Calling Hamlet “Prince Hal” is a choice when there’s another, much more famous “Prince Hal” from Shakespeare’s canon; I’m not sure whether this was an intentional reference, but it bugged me. There’s a few lines from The Tempest sprinkled in here for no apparent reason, and, I’ll admit, that’s an incredibly minor nitpick, but as someone who owns two complete editions of Shakespeare (one for the aesthetic, one annotated), I’ll be picky about Shakespeare, dammit.

In the end, I liked this book fine. In hindsight, some of my disappointment comes from the fact that this is a prequel; I expected the characters to have their canon personalities, when the events of Hamlet haven’t happened to them yet. That’s on me. Will I pick up the sequel? Maybe. I’m interested to see what Donlon does next with these characters and this premise, and the writing style was sharp enough to keep me interested. Ultimately, I feel this was a case of misplaced expectations: when I read “queer Hamlet retelling with magic,” I expect great things. But not everyone achieves greatness. Sometimes, all we end up with is “just okay.”

(Review will be posted 04/10)

this was a very sweet retelling of hamlet, although i did feel a little detached from it — perhaps due to the fact that it’s a ya and i don’t really mesh with that genre anymore. it was still entertaining enough, though!

There were some details adapted from the original play in a way that I appreciated. However, I struggled to stay engaged with the book overall. Sometimes things would happen and I wouldn't be sure why they were happening, or what they had to do with other parts of the story, even though I was pretty sure I was supposed to. The magic was explained well enough, I suppose, but it didn't make sense to me on a conceptual level - ie, how would it work beyond how it engaged with the main characters? If I followed it out logically, there were a lot of things that wouldn't make sense in my opinion. And even within how it engaged with the main characters, I'm still not sure why certain things happened. This is fine, normally, but I was also unsure if I was supposed to know in most of those instances, and felt like I was. Horatio flipping sides at the end didn't make sense to me either. Most of Ophelia's plot felt like repetition of the same thing and kind of filler-y, until Hamlet got back and things could move forward.

I did like Ophelia and Hamlet's friendship, That and Ophelia and Laertes's relationship were the ones that I was most invested in. The dynamics between Fortinbras and Hamlet and Ophelia and her father were also well written, and I did think whatever dynamic Rosencrantz and Guildenstern had both with each other and with other characters besides Hamlet were intriguing.

However, I did not personally click with the writing style, so that may have made it harder to connect with what was going on in the book and with the characters.

Thank you NetGalley for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.


I really enjoyed this. It's a wonderful and quirky retelling, the banter between the characters was great and I'm looking forward to more from this author.

This is one of my favorite Hamlet retellings of all time. Ophelia and Hamlet's relationship has my entire heart, and the magic system is so cool.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with a free eARC in exchange for an honest review!

An entertaining retelling with a fascinating magic system and wonderfully written characters, this book will be on my mind for a long time. Can't wait to read more from this author!

Maybe my new favorite version of Hamlet– not misogynistic, queer, and a wet cat of a teenage boy. Every single character was written so well– they all had their own selfish motivations for what they did, but none of them were inexplicably evil (except Claudius but that is integral to the original play). Rosencrantz has got to be my favorite, but I am also biased towards transgender people with a rather loose moral code that involves magic.. I also really loved how Hamlet and Ophelia were treated as platonic soulmates, but it did not demean the connection that the two of them shared because it was not sexual or romantic– and aroace Ophelia has my entire heart.
The book was also the perfect setup for an absolutely heart-wrenching tragedy, we know how it is going to end but we do not want it to.

Smile and Be aVillain is a fabulous Hamlet retelling. Yves Donlon has rewoven the class tale into one that can shine alone, while still honouring the original thoroughly.

Hamlet is probably my favourite Shakespeare; so I was thrilled to receive this novel. Yves' adaptation is authentic to the original story while adding to it in a beautiful way.


Thank you to Netgalley, the Victory Editing NetGalley Co-op in providing me with this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

There is something corrupted in the state of Denmark.
Smile and Be a Villain is a queer dark magical take on the well known classic Hamlet, if mirrors were portals to another world and magic led to corruption. Set before the events of the play Hamlet is sent off to Wittenberg and while he is discovering magic, Ophelia is left alone back home trying to cure the magical corruption as war with Norway brews in the background. This retelling gave a unique take on these well known characters and their relationships.. I particularly enjoyed the layers added by Hamlet’s childhood friendship with Fortinbras and what that meant for them to be princes on opposing sides. Ophelia also got a great additional depth- no longer just a tragedy but now a girl with autonomy. power and magic who has a heavy influence on the story and assists shaping it in her own ways.
While I enjoyed the book as a whole I do think that it was rather slow in the beginning though it definitely picked up its pace further into the plot especially when Claudius was introduced with his clearly nefarious machinations. Part of that comes from this being a “prequel” of sorts and so it was very much setting up the characters and world building for what will becoming later in its sequel. I have high hopes for the following book now that the players are all set. I also unfortunately found some of the characters to be a little flat. I love the additions that were added to them but I would also just like to see them get more actualized.
My final rating would probably be more in the vein of 3.5 starts but I rounded up because the ending was good enough to leave me in need of the sequel to see how it continued to play out.

3.5/5 stars

This was such a clever concept - a perfect blend of dark academia and fantasy, and the perfect read for any Shakespeare fans!

This magical prequel to Hamlet builds cleverly on the features and nuances of Shakespeare's tragedy, explore sexuality, madness, and politics against a backdrop of witchcraft and mystery.

The dual POVs were a nice touch, and although Ophelia was by far the more engaging and sympathetic character, both her and Hamlet's perspectives on events set up a great precursor to the events of tbr original play.

The plot did seem a little too slow-paced on occasion - maybe because of the difficulties switching from a play format to a novel. I really enjoyed how Shakespearean language was woven into the story, and there were some great nods to the play itself, but it would have been nice to see even more of this archaic language, just so I could feel even more immersed in this world!

Overall, this was an engaging and intelligent story, and a nice change of style from my recent reads, and if you're a dark academia lover, you're likely to enjoy it.

Books with similar vibes - If We Were Villains by M L Rio, One For My Enemy by Olivie Blake, and Starling House by Alix E Harrow.

Smile And Be A Villain is a queer fantasy Hamlet prequel/retelling that is equal parts charming and haunting, lovely and depressing at times. As someone who knows very little of the original Hamlet beyond basic plot lines and cultural understandings, I enjoyed this book and never felt that I was missing out on the conversation due to my lack of knowledge. The characters were textured and deep, giving the reader a lot of personality to really dive in to. This book is much more character-driven than plot-driven, which I personally enjoyed quite a bit but I know is not everyone's cup of tea. I do wish certain scenes had been expanded on in the book. It felt too short at times, and I had to infer a lot from what was told rather than what was shown. Overall though I greatly enjoyed this book and thought it was an interesting take on Hamlet.

Yves Donlon's debut is a charming, magical, haunting retelling of Hamlet, set before the events of the play. With queer characters and striking but still accessible prose, Donlon breathes new life into the story, and the addition of fantasy elements helps set SABAV apart from other Shakespearean retellings. I'm excited to see what the author does next.

Thanks for the e-arc!

I was super excited going into this book. In doing a lot of scholarly work with Shakespeare and retellings/adaptations/insert your preferred term here, I've come across a lot of books that retell the plays in unique and interesting ways. With this one, I felt a little bit underwhelmed unfortunately. Despite the fast pacing, the first 60ish% of the book dragged for me and I was honestly getting a bit bored. It felt like there were several scenes of dialogue missing (perhaps cut for space/time?) and were instead narrated through in a very tell-y way. This also contributed as to how some of the supporting characters didn't feel as fleshed out as they could have been (especially Rosencrantz and Guildenstern). Some of this could just be Donlon's writing style, and if it is, then maybe it simply just isn't for me. Once I hit the 65% mark, the narrative picked up for me though and that is what carried me through to the end of the book. There were also Shakespeare lines and allusions weaved in but some of these line drops changed the style of language being used and they just ended up feeling out of place (and, this is definitely very picky, I kind of hated how there was a line from The Tempest in here...). Ophelia and Hamlet were the stars of this though, and I'm glad they were given the space to exist both beside and outside of each other, especially Ophelia. The dual split between them worked extremely well and Ophelia's backstory getting fleshed out the way Donlon did was an awesome choice on their part. This prequel retelling definitely has a place in the genre of adaptation, and I'm glad it's being written because the way Donlon is mixing historical fantasy with Hamlet is really intriguing. I'm interested to see what they do in the next book and I'm definitely still going to give it a read to see what they do with the canonical events of Hamlet. So if queer magical Hamlet prequel is your jam, I recommend checking this one out when it comes out next month.

I love love love when a character feels their age in a book I'm reading. And both Hamlet and Ophelia feel their ages in the novel. Something that usually gets ignored is how actual characters act their age. This book doesn't have that problem. In a queer retelling of Hamlet I couldn't really have asked for more. The second half of the novel reads a little bit better than the first but that's fine. It gets better from something that is already extremely good and I love that.

Ophelia discussing what it means to be a woman in a man's world and how the perception of a person changes from a girl to a woman as she ages is magnificent. The fact that it touches on this at all was a grace to the writing and the story in itself. I love Hamlet ( the original ) and reading this brought a fresh love of the story that once again will never die. This retelling belongs on any fans shelf and anyone who enjoys an introspective read about who you are and why.

A great riff on 'Something is rotten in the state of Denmark.'

I love Hamlet, so I was excited to see a reimagining of the story. The characters in this novel feel true to the original, but much more textured (yes, Shakespeare, we get that Hamlet's indecisive - but why? Now, at last, I have the answer!). I also loved the way the events are placed into the wider historical context, with the religious and political upheavals of the time impacting the central story. The sixteenth century was brought alive beautifully.

What I wasn't quite so keen on, unfortunately, were the magical elements. There was a good basic concept there, but it wasn't fully formed and was often confusing, muddying the waters regarding character motivations. I hope there will be more rigorous worldbuilding of the fantasy elements in the next book - which I'm looking forward to already.

The first half was 2 stars, and the second half was 3.5 stars, so I just averaged it out


Dislikes
- Second half feels significantly better-written than the first half tbh. And there’s like no humor in the first half either. Like why? Hamlet is an actually funny narrator in JUST the second half…
- If you’re going to keep the iconic Hamlet line, then you have to make your characters talk like that. The cognitive dissonance drives me nuts whenever they bring the line up
- Why the magic bro
- Ros & Guild had no discernible personality traits until Ros showed him magic. Like literally they were interchangeable until that moment for me

Likes
- The only things I know abt Hamlet is from the Lion King, so considering that I rather like the characters, and felt like they gave off the right vibes. Especially Hamlet; he had good humor
- The whole last chunk, with Hamlet slowly going mad + the battle was really good
- Idk but Horatio grew on me even tho he was barely in the story <3