All Night Awake

Shakespearean Fantasies #2

by Sarah A. Hoyt

The fairie known as Lady Silver-who gave the creative spark to Shakespeare and Marlowe-is in London, tracking a deadly supernatural beast that is drawn to Marlowe. She must stop it before it destroys both their world and hers.

Genres: Fantasy, Shakespeare, Historical Fiction, Fiction

368 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 2002

About the author

Sarah A. Hoyt was born (and raised) in Portugal and now lives in Colorado with her husband, two sons, and a variable number of cats, depending on how many show up to beg on the door step.

In between lays the sort of resume that used to be de-rigueur for writers. She has never actually wrestled alligators, but she did at one point very briefly tie bows on bags of potpourri for a living. She has also washed dishes and ironed clothes for a living. Worst of all she was, for a long time, a multilingual scientific translator.

At some point, though, she got tired of making an honest living and started writing. She has over 30 published novels, in science fiction, fantasy, mystery, historical mystery, historical fantasy and historical biography. Her short stories have been published in Analog, Asimov's, Amazing Stories, Weird Tales, and a number of anthologies from DAW and Baen. Her space-opera novel Darkship Thieves was the 2011 Prometheus Award Winner, and the third novel in the series, A Few Good Men, was a finalist for the honor. She also won the Dragon Award for Uncharted (with Kevin J. Anderson.)

a.k.a. Sarah D'Almeida
a.k.a. Elise Hyatt
a.k.a. Sarah Marqués

Reviews

[Kimberly · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this book first about four or five years ago, just as with the first book in the series Ill Met by Moonlight . As I recall, I didn't like this one as much as the first book and, upon rereading it, I still don't, but for an entirely different reason. It's not that I think All Night Awake isn't as well written, because it is, and the clever references to Shakespeare's works are still there. I like the addition of Kit Marlowe, whom I found to be a sympathetic character despite his flaws, especially because his past relations with both Quicksilver and his female persona Lady Silver raised some interesting questions about gender and the flexibility of sexual attraction (anyone know about good books about Elizabethan sexuality? I'd love to read more!). But All Night Awake is much darker than its predecessor, darker and more violent, and in the last quarter of the book this darkness came to a head in a way I found quite disturbing. I still like the premise of these books, and I've already started the third one; I'm just hoping it won't leave me as bothered.

[Stephen · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book. At it's heart it's a story about how people fight to protect themselves and what they love. Shakespeare, Marlowe, the fairies of Arden, and the Elizabethan settings are just the icing on the cake. Ms. Hoyt understands what makes humans tick better than most authors, and every character rang true. In most books I care about the characters because I admire them or want to be like them. In this book I love the characters because I know them, or (for better or for worse) I am them. I highly recommend this book, not just to fantasy lovers but to all students of humanity.

[Jerry · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was, like the first book, Ill Met by Moonlight, a lot of fun, and the author shows an ease at dealing with human frailty that most authors struggle with. She especially does not fall prey to the “if I just don’t let them talk about this thing that they would obviously talk about, I can keep them in the dark.” And she does this without excessive exposition; and I suspect that would be easy to fall into in a novel about a fantasy William Shakespeare.

For the most part, she also manages to weave Shakespeare’s own writing and even dialogue into the story in a way that only has me realizing “that was a quote!” after the fact. It could have been annoying, but instead it was smoothly done, light-hearted and fun.

This was a great sequel.

[rhsudwn_ · Rating 4 out of 5]

To my surprise, this book greatly held my attention, unlike the first book (although, the first book wasn't so bad; just not as appealing of a plot to me?). Actually looking forward to reading the third book!

[Hanna · Rating 2 out of 5]

Read every word, couldn't tell you what the books about

[Paul · Rating 4 out of 5]

Part two of a trilogy, this novel looks at the life of a struggling young poet in Elizabethan England by the name of William Shakespeare.

Will is having a very hard time making it as a poet in London. He is not just a "struggling" poet, he is, literally, a starving poet. Will makes the acquaintance of Christopher Marlowe, the current favorite poet of Elizabeth I. Christopher has attracted the attention of the authorities, a sure route to a short life span. Back in his university days, evidently he was not diligent enough in reporting a classmate who made an unpleasant remark about the monarchy. Therefore, he has to be a sympathizer. Facing lots of torture on the rack, Christopher spins a tale about this huge conspiracy he has uncovered. He has to give the authorities somebody, so he plans on implicating Shakespeare. There is no conspiracy, and even if there was, Shakespeare is the last person who would be involved in it.

Both men received their poetry gifts through exposure to the world of faerie. An elf named Sylvanus has "gone bad" and is heading to London to create havoc. The King of faerie, Quicksilver, has no choice but to go after him. He changes into his alter ego, a beautiful woman named Silver, with whom Shakespeare has already cheated on his wife (she is back home in Stratford). Meantime, back in faerie, it is as if all of the magical energy is disappearing; elves and fairies are dying by the hundreds. Ariel, the Queen of Faerie, has no choice but to go to London and look for her husband. Also, Sylvanus takes over Marlowe’s body; at night, he becomes a sort of humanoid beast who likes to disembowel people. Does Shakespeare stay out of the hands of the authorities? Does faerie get all of its magical energy removed?

This is an interesting speculation about the life of William Shakespeare before he became a Famous Person. Of course, Shakespeare fans will love it, and so will fantasy fans. It’s worth reading.

[Fantasy Literature · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wasn't expecting a sequel to Ill Met by Moonlight. That novel was complete and satisfactory in itself, so the appearance of a sequel came as a pleasant surprise.

Unfortunately, I didn't like All Night Awake quite as much as Ill Met by Moonlight, for several reasons. First, the metaphysics were more confusing than in the first book. Second, the constant use of Shakespearean quotes gets a little heavy-handed from time to time. Third, this book doesn't stand on its own as well as Ill Met by Moonlight; it would make no sense without the first volume and too obviously sets up the third.

That said, All Night Awake is worth reading if you enjoyed Ill Met by Moonlight Read More:
http://www.fantasyliterature.com/revi...

[Nicole · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love clever historical fiction and fantasy, so this series is right up my alley. I think one of the marks of a good historical fic work is that the character inspires you to read the history of the person. The character of Kit Marlowe definitely meets that mark. A worthy follow-up to Ill Met by Moonlight - now on to the third act!

[Molly · Rating 1 out of 5]

I was seriously disappointed by this sequel; I remember enjoying the first one quite a bit, but this one was just not believable (I know, what's to believe about a novel about Shakespeare and fairies? Still, this did not make the cut) I actually stopped reading about a third of the way in.