Shakespeare’s Spy by Gary Blackwood

March 20th, 2008 at 8:29am |

The Shakespeare Stealer Series: Book 3

Audience: 10 and up

Rating: B

Synopsis:

The final book in the Shakespeare Stealer series doesn’t disappoint. Like the first two books, it’s a good blend of history and imagination. In Shakespeare’s Spy, times are intense at the Globe Theater; the queen is ill and rumored to be dying, out of respect, all theaters have been closed. Will the new monarch be a supporter of plays? To make matters worse, someone has been stealing from the company. When Widge gets blamed he must learn to play a new role: spy! Can he figure out who the real thief is?

Chatter:

(Spoiler Alerts! ) La Voisin’s predictions were an interesting way to outline the plot. I kept returning to them and trying to predict how they would come true. We knew that Sam was going to become a traitor, but how? I didn’t really think that he could possibly be the one to betray the theater group, but I didn’t suspect that he would become a Catholic priest either. Isn’t it funny to think of goofy Sam as a priest? But then again, Father Gerard doesn’t exactly fit the mold of a boring priest either!

My one complaint about this book would be there were too many plots! The book is called Shakespeare’s Spy, but Widge was a spy for less than 30 pages. He’s a playwright for longer than that; he’s in love with Judith for longer than that! In fact, the whole spy episode was a rather dull blink-and-you-might-miss-it part of the book.

I was much more interested in Julia’s return. It sounds like her time abroad was not as easy as her first letters had made it sound. I like how in the end the author figured out a way to stay historically accurate but still allowed Julia to follow her passion and perform.