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Caliban's Hour
Are magic and romance really so separate? In this rich fantasy novel, Tad Williams--New York Times bestselling author of To Green Angel Tower--explores the tangled roots of sorcery and passion, and gives us an astonishing answer. Caliban is the Beast who finds in Prospero's daughter, Miranda, the Beauty to whom he tells his incredible story--an extraordinary tale of dark desires and shining wizardry.
194 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1994
17 people are currently reading
891 people want to read
About the author
Tad Williams
351 books7,860 followersTad Williams is a California-based fantasy superstar. His genre-creating (and genre-busting) books have sold tens of millions worldwide, in twenty-five languages. His considerable output of epic fantasy and science fiction book-series, stories of all kinds, urban fantasy novels, comics, scripts, etc., have strongly influenced a generation of writers: the ‘Otherland’ epic relaunches June 2018 as an MMO on steam.com. Tad is currently immersed in the creation of ‘The Last King of Osten Ard’, planned as a trilogy with two intermediary novels. He, his family and his animals live in the Santa Cruz mountains in a suitably strange and beautiful house. @tadwilliams @mrstad
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 74 reviews
December 22, 2020
Astonishingly good!!!
Tad Williams retelling of "The Tempest" by Shakespeare is awesome..
After long decades of suffering and maltreatment the misshapen creature known as Caliban comes face to face with Miranda, the objekt of his hatred!!
A story full of magic and populated with demons and mysterious shapes..
Tad Williams once again demonstrates that he is indeed a connoisseur of the human heart with his many abysm of deceit and greed!!
Highly recommendable reading to all my friends at Goodreads..
The smoothly flowing of the tale and the compulsive power exercise by the writting points to a true master story teller..
Increasing more and more in tension, a gripping story which will stay with the reader for a long time for sure..
Loved it!!!!
Dean;)
Tad Williams retelling of "The Tempest" by Shakespeare is awesome..
After long decades of suffering and maltreatment the misshapen creature known as Caliban comes face to face with Miranda, the objekt of his hatred!!
A story full of magic and populated with demons and mysterious shapes..
Tad Williams once again demonstrates that he is indeed a connoisseur of the human heart with his many abysm of deceit and greed!!
Highly recommendable reading to all my friends at Goodreads..
The smoothly flowing of the tale and the compulsive power exercise by the writting points to a true master story teller..
Increasing more and more in tension, a gripping story which will stay with the reader for a long time for sure..
Loved it!!!!
Dean;)
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 21, 2015
Mixed feelings about this one. A lot of what it has to say about colonisation is very true (although Caliban as a representative of the "colonised" is in some ways a poor specimen, but maybe that in some ways hits the point home even more). Prospero was ruthless, cruel, too narcissistic in his own privilege to be intentionally evil (leading him to glorify his awful dealings with Caliban as a type of "love" on p164 but still with the epithet "little savage".
So I found Prospero ABSOLUTELY believable as a villain (a ruling class hero who is a villain to everyone and everything else). What was more problematic for me was the gendered and almost sexualised dimensions of some of Caliban's baggage, that in effect Miranda's actual crime toward him was only that she didn't have a passionate and self-sacrificing love toward him. And at that point Caliban loses my sympathy and another reviewer's description as the novel as "whiny" begins to resound. However what Prospero and Ariel did were reprehensible.
I didn't like the ending. I can't say too much without a spoiler. What I will say is the only faintly redeeming feature about it was Renato Ursino, factoring him in makes the ending look like someone choosing agency over victimhood but just barely. As I said I didn't like it.
Possibly worth reading the book and thinking about the issues in it though...
So I found Prospero ABSOLUTELY believable as a villain (a ruling class hero who is a villain to everyone and everything else). What was more problematic for me was the gendered and almost sexualised dimensions of some of Caliban's baggage, that in effect Miranda's actual crime toward him was only that she didn't have a passionate and self-sacrificing love toward him. And at that point Caliban loses my sympathy and another reviewer's description as the novel as "whiny" begins to resound. However what Prospero and Ariel did were reprehensible.
I didn't like the ending. I can't say too much without a spoiler. What I will say is the only faintly redeeming feature about it was Renato Ursino, factoring him in makes the ending look like someone choosing agency over victimhood but just barely. As I said I didn't like it.
Possibly worth reading the book and thinking about the issues in it though...
February 20, 2015
I've been calling Caliban's Hour a Shakespeare fan-fic, and every virtual page just cemented this for me. It's both a sequel to The Tempest and the story from Caliban's point of view. It's both knowledgeable of the play and completely dismissive of it ... and anyone who's read any of my blog knows how "dismissive of Shakespeare" is going to sit with me.
Basically, the tale takes place some twenty years after The Tempest, and a shadow has come to Verona seeking Miranda - seeking revenge. It's not spoilerific to say that once he discovers where she is, he spends the rest of the story looming over her in her bed forcing her to listen as he tells her his version of everything that happened.
Everything.
The audiobook is read by Ron Perlman. I adore Ron Perlman. And Ron Perlman's voice is one huge reason I adore Ron Perlman. His performance in this was beautiful. In places, this was not fun, and the only saving grace was that voice.
One problem I had with the book was the vocabulary placed in Caliban's mouth. I kept thinking "Really? Caliban using a word like 'inchoate'?" Now, four-plus hours of listening to guttural monosyllables would be unpleasant, even in Ron Perlman's voice but my opinion is that if you're going to base your work on someone else's you need to have some respect for the original. Otherwise, why bother? I contented myself while listening to (most of) it by telling myself that no character in Shakespeare is monosyllabic; Prospero did in fact teach Caliban, so Caliban could legitimately be well-spoken. Except if Caliban has been alone on the island for twenty years, no one to talk to, no books, nothing, I would think some of the vocabulary might atrophy. But then I finally went to take a look at the play.
Caliban speaks 1348 words in the play, totalling 5631 characters (that may actually include some punctuation; oops). That's an average of (assuming I did cull all the punctuation) 4.177 letters per word. I sorted them and eliminated duplicates and counted them again, and that gave me 541 unique words, totalling 2781 characters: about 5 letters each. (He says "I" and "me" more than any other words, which brings down his overall average.) He never uses vocabulary like "inchoate", he never waxes rhapsodic as the novella's does. He does use some polysyllabic words, but they are mostly names and words that he heard from Prospero: "nonpareil". I don't buy this Caliban's eloquence.
The other aggravation, the pace, is a more serious quibble. When I step back from it, I realize that it's a good story, and the writing is, on the whole, excellent; it's a solid, knowledgeable re-imagining of Caliban's origins and inner life. My frustration with the book is that I can't shake the feeling that this could easily have been a short story My issue is the storytelling conceit that Caliban is standing over Miranda spewing out all this tale, a tale which takes something like four hours on the cassettes but which would take a person telling the story ex tempore a good bit longer, I'd expect. And I just can't buy a setting like this, of a man stooped over a woman's bed for hours at a time, threatening her with death, but in the meantime ... just talking. Without the framing story (and the occasional "You see, Miranda"), told as a straightforward tale of The Tempest From Caliban's Angle, I think this would be much stronger. Or perhaps if it started just the same in a prologue, then as he stands over Miranda and declares his intentions switched to straight storytelling, beginning, middle, and end… Caliban's intent is revenge upon Miranda, of course – but it's not a quick revenge. First he is going to tell her things she needs to know. Starting with the moment she and her father set foot upon the island. No, starting with his earliest memories. No, starting with his birth. No ... starting with before his birth. When he finally comes to the point of killing her at the end, I was replying to Mr. Perlman along the lines of "Oh, thank God, yes, please".
The repetitiveness of this is just a little exasperating. It kept reminding me of a complaint I once heard about Shakespeare (and which I've never found true in the plays) - it goes on and on for three pages (or the audio equivalent) and the upshot of those three pages is: it's raining. This goes in a spiral that circles tighter and tighter till there's nowhere to go - then breaks open the spiral, only to start a new one. I wonder if this would be as aggravating in print; probably.
I find it so surprising that the novella directly contradicts the play in many places. Caliban bitterly attributes the deaths of all the sailors on the ship to Prospero – when, in the play, no one died. No one.
PROSPERO
But are they, Ariel, safe?
ARIEL
Not a hair perish'd;
On their sustaining garments not a blemish,
But fresher than before: and, as thou badest me,
In troops I have dispersed them 'bout the isle.
Caliban, of course, limns himself as the long-suffering hard-put-upon tragic hero of the piece. He never did nothin'. Rape Miranda? Why, he never. It was all her fault, the minx. Plot with Trinculo and Stephano to kill Prospero and give Miranda to Stephano as a gift? Not he.
Not long ago I enjoyed the Chop Bard examination of The Tempest. This outraged me, by times. Either Shakespeare or Williams's Caliban is a big lying liar, and my money is on Caliban.
Basically, the tale takes place some twenty years after The Tempest, and a shadow has come to Verona seeking Miranda - seeking revenge. It's not spoilerific to say that once he discovers where she is, he spends the rest of the story looming over her in her bed forcing her to listen as he tells her his version of everything that happened.
Everything.
The audiobook is read by Ron Perlman. I adore Ron Perlman. And Ron Perlman's voice is one huge reason I adore Ron Perlman. His performance in this was beautiful. In places, this was not fun, and the only saving grace was that voice.
One problem I had with the book was the vocabulary placed in Caliban's mouth. I kept thinking "Really? Caliban using a word like 'inchoate'?" Now, four-plus hours of listening to guttural monosyllables would be unpleasant, even in Ron Perlman's voice but my opinion is that if you're going to base your work on someone else's you need to have some respect for the original. Otherwise, why bother? I contented myself while listening to (most of) it by telling myself that no character in Shakespeare is monosyllabic; Prospero did in fact teach Caliban, so Caliban could legitimately be well-spoken. Except if Caliban has been alone on the island for twenty years, no one to talk to, no books, nothing, I would think some of the vocabulary might atrophy. But then I finally went to take a look at the play.
Caliban speaks 1348 words in the play, totalling 5631 characters (that may actually include some punctuation; oops). That's an average of (assuming I did cull all the punctuation) 4.177 letters per word. I sorted them and eliminated duplicates and counted them again, and that gave me 541 unique words, totalling 2781 characters: about 5 letters each. (He says "I" and "me" more than any other words, which brings down his overall average.) He never uses vocabulary like "inchoate", he never waxes rhapsodic as the novella's does. He does use some polysyllabic words, but they are mostly names and words that he heard from Prospero: "nonpareil". I don't buy this Caliban's eloquence.
The other aggravation, the pace, is a more serious quibble. When I step back from it, I realize that it's a good story, and the writing is, on the whole, excellent; it's a solid, knowledgeable re-imagining of Caliban's origins and inner life. My frustration with the book is that I can't shake the feeling that this could easily have been a short story My issue is the storytelling conceit that Caliban is standing over Miranda spewing out all this tale, a tale which takes something like four hours on the cassettes but which would take a person telling the story ex tempore a good bit longer, I'd expect. And I just can't buy a setting like this, of a man stooped over a woman's bed for hours at a time, threatening her with death, but in the meantime ... just talking. Without the framing story (and the occasional "You see, Miranda"), told as a straightforward tale of The Tempest From Caliban's Angle, I think this would be much stronger. Or perhaps if it started just the same in a prologue, then as he stands over Miranda and declares his intentions switched to straight storytelling, beginning, middle, and end… Caliban's intent is revenge upon Miranda, of course – but it's not a quick revenge. First he is going to tell her things she needs to know. Starting with the moment she and her father set foot upon the island. No, starting with his earliest memories. No, starting with his birth. No ... starting with before his birth. When he finally comes to the point of killing her at the end, I was replying to Mr. Perlman along the lines of "Oh, thank God, yes, please".
The repetitiveness of this is just a little exasperating. It kept reminding me of a complaint I once heard about Shakespeare (and which I've never found true in the plays) - it goes on and on for three pages (or the audio equivalent) and the upshot of those three pages is: it's raining. This goes in a spiral that circles tighter and tighter till there's nowhere to go - then breaks open the spiral, only to start a new one. I wonder if this would be as aggravating in print; probably.
I find it so surprising that the novella directly contradicts the play in many places. Caliban bitterly attributes the deaths of all the sailors on the ship to Prospero – when, in the play, no one died. No one.
PROSPERO
But are they, Ariel, safe?
ARIEL
Not a hair perish'd;
On their sustaining garments not a blemish,
But fresher than before: and, as thou badest me,
In troops I have dispersed them 'bout the isle.
Caliban, of course, limns himself as the long-suffering hard-put-upon tragic hero of the piece. He never did nothin'. Rape Miranda? Why, he never. It was all her fault, the minx. Plot with Trinculo and Stephano to kill Prospero and give Miranda to Stephano as a gift? Not he.
Not long ago I enjoyed the Chop Bard examination of The Tempest. This outraged me, by times. Either Shakespeare or Williams's Caliban is a big lying liar, and my money is on Caliban.
December 17, 2020
At 200 pages this is REALLY short for a Tad Williams book. In actuality it's a retelling of Shakespeare's 'The Tempest' but seen from Caliban's point of view. Quite a few twists from the original plot and the ending is also quite different.
Well worth reading especially if you are familiar with the play and it's derivative works (Forbidden Planet and Wizard of Earthsea for example.)
Well worth reading especially if you are familiar with the play and it's derivative works (Forbidden Planet and Wizard of Earthsea for example.)
December 18, 2008
I good little book for those who think Prospero from the Tempest was a massive tool. Fight the power Caliban, fight the power. It's very rewarding retelling of the Tempest from Caliban's view point; because Caliban was a plot device for Shakespeare I don't think the bard worried about or justified the treatment of Caliban, but he did give Caliban some very good lines: "You taught me language; and my profit on't, I know how to curse."
February 18, 2018
When I finished this book I was a little under the weather and that may have influenced my reaction to the characters but I will say that it is a well thought out book.
The narrative aspect of the story makes me feel like I could sympathize with the villain more than just being a bystander and listening to our little girl hero.
Overall a great read for people who like knowing what the reasons are for the things that happen.
The narrative aspect of the story makes me feel like I could sympathize with the villain more than just being a bystander and listening to our little girl hero.
Overall a great read for people who like knowing what the reasons are for the things that happen.
February 25, 2013
Review of Caliban’s Hour by Tad Williams
Originally published in 1995 (HarperCollins), the 2011 Kindle version of the book (The Beale-Williams Enterprise) is the one I picked up. At under 200 pages, it’s a short novel. But don’t let the size of Shakespearean fantasy fool you. Caliban’s Hour delivers Williams’s signature powerful punch.
You won’t find snappy dialogue in this book. Almost all of it is a monologue spoken by the title character. What you will find is beautiful prose and an enthralling tale. And yes, it’s the same Caliban from Shakespeare’s The Tempest. Williams does a masterful job of bringing readers, especially those who are Shakespeare fans, a believable character telling a believable story about other believable characters. But, the story stands on its own, too, and readers not familiar with or fans of Shakespeare will still find the story engaging.
Williams invokes a setting more emotionally alive than that of The Tempest, and he paces the story in a way that places the pressure of time smack dab in readers’ laps. The premise for the tale is imaginative, and the plot takes readers on an emotional journey that leaves them thinking. Without injecting a spoiler, I’ll just say that I didn’t see the ending coming, and it was a doozy!
Two thumbs up for Caliban’s Hour. I’m ever so happy Williams decided to publish this little masterpiece in digital form.
IMHO: HIGHLY RECOMMENDED. Appropriate for YA+. Could be used in high school courses (English, Drama) as an accompaniment to The Tempest.
Originally published in 1995 (HarperCollins), the 2011 Kindle version of the book (The Beale-Williams Enterprise) is the one I picked up. At under 200 pages, it’s a short novel. But don’t let the size of Shakespearean fantasy fool you. Caliban’s Hour delivers Williams’s signature powerful punch.
You won’t find snappy dialogue in this book. Almost all of it is a monologue spoken by the title character. What you will find is beautiful prose and an enthralling tale. And yes, it’s the same Caliban from Shakespeare’s The Tempest. Williams does a masterful job of bringing readers, especially those who are Shakespeare fans, a believable character telling a believable story about other believable characters. But, the story stands on its own, too, and readers not familiar with or fans of Shakespeare will still find the story engaging.
Williams invokes a setting more emotionally alive than that of The Tempest, and he paces the story in a way that places the pressure of time smack dab in readers’ laps. The premise for the tale is imaginative, and the plot takes readers on an emotional journey that leaves them thinking. Without injecting a spoiler, I’ll just say that I didn’t see the ending coming, and it was a doozy!
Two thumbs up for Caliban’s Hour. I’m ever so happy Williams decided to publish this little masterpiece in digital form.
IMHO: HIGHLY RECOMMENDED. Appropriate for YA+. Could be used in high school courses (English, Drama) as an accompaniment to The Tempest.
January 7, 2018
Probably even 3.5. I ended up liking this a lot more than I expected from the first 30-40 pages. The section before Prospero arrived was tiresome basically. What I enjoyed most was the discussion of language:
"I was doomed to awkward imitation, as even now my heart's agony comes tumbling out in his mother tongue."
"Already I was thoroughly infected with your father's having and keeping and giving. To name something is to begin to possess it. What a wealth of greed there is in your civilised speech!"
I also quite liked Giulietta escaping dastardly marriage!plot at the end although it was all quite neat and achieved quickly, the idea of it still appeals to me. :)
"I was doomed to awkward imitation, as even now my heart's agony comes tumbling out in his mother tongue."
"Already I was thoroughly infected with your father's having and keeping and giving. To name something is to begin to possess it. What a wealth of greed there is in your civilised speech!"
I also quite liked Giulietta escaping dastardly marriage!plot at the end although it was all quite neat and achieved quickly, the idea of it still appeals to me. :)
April 21, 2010
To this day this book will always be linked to watching Tad Williams life and in action during a reading where he spend minimal time actually reading from one of his Otherland books and instead spend a lot of time just talking, answereing questions and being highly entertaining.
If you ever have the chance to attend one of his readings, do so. He's very funny. ALso very nice and took his time during the book-signing to add personal messages. The reason why I'll never part with this book.
The book itself is okay, could have been better, could have been worse.
If you ever have the chance to attend one of his readings, do so. He's very funny. ALso very nice and took his time during the book-signing to add personal messages. The reason why I'll never part with this book.
The book itself is okay, could have been better, could have been worse.
February 22, 2019
This is one of my all time favorites! I loved the way the story was told! Mr Williams sucks you and doesn't let go until the end! This story stayed with me for a long time. I gave it to my sister and then to my son to read and they both loved it as well. I am not good at writing reviews but I know what I love, and I LOVED this story! I highly recommend it! That's really all I can say.
July 10, 2017
In Tad Williams' beguiling riff on Shakespeare, the much abused, so-called “monster” from The Tempest makes his way back to Naples one fateful night to confront Miranda, daughter of his tormentor and enslaver, Prospero, to tell his side of the story. In one fleet, revisionist tale, Williams creates one of the most soulful of modern Beast-heroes.
August 21, 2020
This work was an interesting interpretation of Shakespeare's The Tempest from Caliban's point of view. Prospero was a well-written and believable villain and it was impossible not to feel sympathy towards Caliban after reading this. His reaction/feelings towards Miranda seemed a little unfounded based off of the reasons given, but overall that didn't detract too much from the work.
July 2, 2012
It's a fascinating concept -- what happened to Caliban after everyone left the island? But it's just too long and whiny for me. Very interesting ending though . . .
August 22, 2017
I really quite enjoyed this story by Tad Williams. The prose style is very good and his descriptions create a vivid and visual picture of the places and scenery that are described within the book.
April 22, 2021
Basically a retelling of The Tempest from Caliban's pov. It feels like a fun exercise in character voice and development (using a well known character and story, even though there are many plot twists from the original play).
In general, Caliban's voice and perception feels consistent and believable for his experiences. As always, the writing itself is clever and has a few sentences/phrases that really make you stop and think. I'm a fan of Williams' writing in general, and while this felt more stylized like a piece of Renaissance lit, I still enjoyed it. The whole story is clearly a metaphor against colonialism. I take some issue with the way the women are presented, but I can see how Williams is trying to give the daughter agency over her life via the ending.
Overall a quick read and interesting enough that I kept reading if not just to see how it would end.
In general, Caliban's voice and perception feels consistent and believable for his experiences. As always, the writing itself is clever and has a few sentences/phrases that really make you stop and think. I'm a fan of Williams' writing in general, and while this felt more stylized like a piece of Renaissance lit, I still enjoyed it. The whole story is clearly a metaphor against colonialism. I take some issue with the way the women are presented, but I can see how Williams is trying to give the daughter agency over her life via the ending.
Overall a quick read and interesting enough that I kept reading if not just to see how it would end.
January 11, 2021
Nice ending, however not completely my cup of tea. Still, a solid book and i'm sure their are many others who may enjoy this one more than I.
May 26, 2015
'Caliban's Hour is pased on 'The Tempest' by William Shakespeare. It is a sequel as well as 'the other side of the story', for 'Caliban's Hour' tells the story of Caliban, the wild creature that only has a side role in Shakespeare's play.
It's twenty years after the magician and rightful Duke of Milan Prospero and his daughter Miranda have returned to Italy from the island they had been living on for a couple of years. Miranda is now queen of Naples and the mother of three children. The creature Caliban has managed to leave the island and has come to Naples to take revenge for the treatment Miranda and her father have given him back then. Prospero has already died a natural death, so Caliban visits Miranda in her bedroom in the castle. He tells her he has come to kill her, but first she has to listen to his story.
And his story is a tragic one - from his birth up until that moment. His mother was a supposed witch. The people from her village had sent her out to the sea, pregnant and with a cut-off tongue, but instead of drowning, she landed on an island. Caliban was born on this island and therefore never had the chance to meet other humans. His mother was his everything, his God; he feared and loved her at the same time. He was still a boy when she died, and he was all alone with his island. He had never learned to speak, as his mother could only produce some grunts with her handicap. Language is a very important theme in the story - things were just things in Caliban's world, he knew what they were for, and it was good that way. He didn't have a name, but he didn't need one to know that he existed. He was there, on his island, and knew how to survive.
Some years after, the banished ruler of Milan Prospero and his little daughter Miranda land on Caliban's island. They had come there after Prospero was overthrown by his brother and exiled from the city. Prospero manages to attract Caliban, who is anxious but also curious, and very eager to connect to other people again; to have a family. It is Prospero who teaches him words. This might be the thing Caliban hates Prospero the most for, since with those words came the lies. The newcomer behaves like he is the ruler of the island now, and Caliban is inferior to him. This is something Caliban can't really understand - wasn't he born on this Island, and hadn't he always lived here on his own? - but he doesn't revolt out of respect for Prospero, and of hope that Prospero will recognize him as a son. Prospero teaches the wild creature a lot about science and culture, and finally gives him a name. He is called Caliban because Prospero had told his daughter the creature is a cannibal, and Miranda could not pronounce it correctly. Caliban strongly hopes and works for their recognition, but it turns out Prospero only wants to use him as a slave. Caliban stays a wild animal and his eyes. The bitter feelings Caliban has are heartbreaking. Caliban loves the beautiful Miranda, but she has learned to see him as an animal, not as a man. Nevertheless, she has always treated him as a friend, but when he touches her once, just because he longed to be close to her, she tells her father. Prospero gets furious and beats Caliban, who didn't even know that he had done something wrong, until he is crippled. Caliban doesn't manage to get away from his master, however, and he would stay their slave until they are finally saved from the Island. When they set sail to Italy again, they leave him behind. And to top all of their actions, they act as if they would do something good to him by doing that.
His peace was never to return. He had learned that there were creatures that were better than him (at least they think so), that he was just an animal with barely a right to exist. How could he ever love himself again? He was abused both physically and mentally, betrayed and left behind.
After finishing his story, Caliban is ready to strangle Miranda, but her daughter, who has overheard everything he had told her mother, jumps in between. She promises to go with him if he would keep her mother alive, for she has heard the story, and believes Caliban is not the monster her mother and grandfather believed him to be. They leave to live on the island again, where some of Caliban's pride can hopefully return to him.
I love the emotional load this story had. Caliban's sad bitterness comes to life so well on the pages. It's an important message Tad Williams is bringing here. It's exactly how the 'wilds' were treated by the European travellers who came to America and felt superior to everyone who was living there. But it most of all is a tragic story of longing for love and recognition and of the disappointment and loneliness that follows.
By the way, the person who called the book 'Die Insel des Magiers' ('The magician's island) In German clearly hasn't got the message.
It's twenty years after the magician and rightful Duke of Milan Prospero and his daughter Miranda have returned to Italy from the island they had been living on for a couple of years. Miranda is now queen of Naples and the mother of three children. The creature Caliban has managed to leave the island and has come to Naples to take revenge for the treatment Miranda and her father have given him back then. Prospero has already died a natural death, so Caliban visits Miranda in her bedroom in the castle. He tells her he has come to kill her, but first she has to listen to his story.
And his story is a tragic one - from his birth up until that moment. His mother was a supposed witch. The people from her village had sent her out to the sea, pregnant and with a cut-off tongue, but instead of drowning, she landed on an island. Caliban was born on this island and therefore never had the chance to meet other humans. His mother was his everything, his God; he feared and loved her at the same time. He was still a boy when she died, and he was all alone with his island. He had never learned to speak, as his mother could only produce some grunts with her handicap. Language is a very important theme in the story - things were just things in Caliban's world, he knew what they were for, and it was good that way. He didn't have a name, but he didn't need one to know that he existed. He was there, on his island, and knew how to survive.
Some years after, the banished ruler of Milan Prospero and his little daughter Miranda land on Caliban's island. They had come there after Prospero was overthrown by his brother and exiled from the city. Prospero manages to attract Caliban, who is anxious but also curious, and very eager to connect to other people again; to have a family. It is Prospero who teaches him words. This might be the thing Caliban hates Prospero the most for, since with those words came the lies. The newcomer behaves like he is the ruler of the island now, and Caliban is inferior to him. This is something Caliban can't really understand - wasn't he born on this Island, and hadn't he always lived here on his own? - but he doesn't revolt out of respect for Prospero, and of hope that Prospero will recognize him as a son. Prospero teaches the wild creature a lot about science and culture, and finally gives him a name. He is called Caliban because Prospero had told his daughter the creature is a cannibal, and Miranda could not pronounce it correctly. Caliban strongly hopes and works for their recognition, but it turns out Prospero only wants to use him as a slave. Caliban stays a wild animal and his eyes. The bitter feelings Caliban has are heartbreaking. Caliban loves the beautiful Miranda, but she has learned to see him as an animal, not as a man. Nevertheless, she has always treated him as a friend, but when he touches her once, just because he longed to be close to her, she tells her father. Prospero gets furious and beats Caliban, who didn't even know that he had done something wrong, until he is crippled. Caliban doesn't manage to get away from his master, however, and he would stay their slave until they are finally saved from the Island. When they set sail to Italy again, they leave him behind. And to top all of their actions, they act as if they would do something good to him by doing that.
His peace was never to return. He had learned that there were creatures that were better than him (at least they think so), that he was just an animal with barely a right to exist. How could he ever love himself again? He was abused both physically and mentally, betrayed and left behind.
After finishing his story, Caliban is ready to strangle Miranda, but her daughter, who has overheard everything he had told her mother, jumps in between. She promises to go with him if he would keep her mother alive, for she has heard the story, and believes Caliban is not the monster her mother and grandfather believed him to be. They leave to live on the island again, where some of Caliban's pride can hopefully return to him.
I love the emotional load this story had. Caliban's sad bitterness comes to life so well on the pages. It's an important message Tad Williams is bringing here. It's exactly how the 'wilds' were treated by the European travellers who came to America and felt superior to everyone who was living there. But it most of all is a tragic story of longing for love and recognition and of the disappointment and loneliness that follows.
By the way, the person who called the book 'Die Insel des Magiers' ('The magician's island) In German clearly hasn't got the message.
February 6, 2025
3.5 stars!
In the same vein of Gardner's Grendel Tad Williams gives a voice to the villain of a well-known tale, in this case the monstrous Caliban of Shakespeare's The Tempest.
While short in length Williams does a good job of depicting the solitary and insular world of Caliban's island home along with the destructive change wrought upon it and his psyche when Prospero and Miranda arrive on the scene. Caliban does seem to be an excellent figure for these types of stories; there is a compelling duality to his character. While he is described as a monster he is also Prospero's slave. Is his brutish nature innate or a response to his treatment? Williams' response is a humanized Caliban. He is vulnerable and curious but capable of piercing rage and frothing passions.
If anything, Caliban's Hour is a story of innocence being violently ripped away, the crippling isolation it produces, and the anger it reaps.
"With your words, your names, your ideas, even your very presence, you took the place I had lived all my life and set it somewhere beyond my reach."
In the same vein of Gardner's Grendel Tad Williams gives a voice to the villain of a well-known tale, in this case the monstrous Caliban of Shakespeare's The Tempest.
While short in length Williams does a good job of depicting the solitary and insular world of Caliban's island home along with the destructive change wrought upon it and his psyche when Prospero and Miranda arrive on the scene. Caliban does seem to be an excellent figure for these types of stories; there is a compelling duality to his character. While he is described as a monster he is also Prospero's slave. Is his brutish nature innate or a response to his treatment? Williams' response is a humanized Caliban. He is vulnerable and curious but capable of piercing rage and frothing passions.
If anything, Caliban's Hour is a story of innocence being violently ripped away, the crippling isolation it produces, and the anger it reaps.
"With your words, your names, your ideas, even your very presence, you took the place I had lived all my life and set it somewhere beyond my reach."
November 25, 2014
I don't usually browse the YA shelves, but the first time I saw this book it caught my eye because of two names I recognized: Caliban and Tad Williams. I was already a fan of Williams' writing, and the idea of some kind of spin-off or re-telling of The Tempest was too much to pass up. After verifying that this is what the book was, I bought it and read it in one sitting.
To describe the framing device of the story would verge on spoilery, so instead I'll just say that it is a re-telling of The Tempest, nestled within a sequel. The book assumes that Shakespeare's play was pretty accurate in describing the characters and events, but all the trappings of the Elizabethan stage are gone. No one speaks in meter and verse. It is what I would call "imaginatively faithful" to the source. It's a rare talent, to be able to tell a familiar story and have it be brand new. Many authors who dabble in this sort of thing (Gregory Maguire, for instance) do it by assuming that the familiar version is just wrong or that the established details of the matter are too trivial to matter if they're changed. And while you can tell a perfectly good story (even a great one) in that way, it's taking the easy route compared to what Williams accomplishes here.
This is not a perfect book by any stretch, but it's a pretty good one, and a respectable accomplishment. A must-read for fans of the source play or of Williams.
To describe the framing device of the story would verge on spoilery, so instead I'll just say that it is a re-telling of The Tempest, nestled within a sequel. The book assumes that Shakespeare's play was pretty accurate in describing the characters and events, but all the trappings of the Elizabethan stage are gone. No one speaks in meter and verse. It is what I would call "imaginatively faithful" to the source. It's a rare talent, to be able to tell a familiar story and have it be brand new. Many authors who dabble in this sort of thing (Gregory Maguire, for instance) do it by assuming that the familiar version is just wrong or that the established details of the matter are too trivial to matter if they're changed. And while you can tell a perfectly good story (even a great one) in that way, it's taking the easy route compared to what Williams accomplishes here.
This is not a perfect book by any stretch, but it's a pretty good one, and a respectable accomplishment. A must-read for fans of the source play or of Williams.
September 13, 2020
Gelezen voor de forumchallenge 2020 op de ff-leesclub.nl, want dit boek valt onder de subgroep: fantasy standalones. Het is een verhaal dat gebaseerd is op 'De storm' van Shakespeare. Caliban heeft na jaren speuren Miranda gevonden, de dochter van Prospero. En hij komt wraak nemen om wat Miranda en haar vader hem heeft aangedaan. Het enige wat zij moet doen is luisteren naar zijn verhaal. Caliban vertelt hoe hij de jaren die ze met zijn drieën op het kleine eiland hebben doorgebracht heeft beleefd en wat Prospero's en haar rol daarin is geweest. Best aardig maar niet opvallend of erg speciaal.
February 6, 2025
I picked Caliban's Hour off a shelf because of the title's connection to Shakespeare. While The Tempest isn't my favorite of Shakespeare's plays, and Caliban isn't the character I would particularly care to center a sequel around, I have liked some of Williams' other books, so I was willing to give it a try.
But this book didn't work for me. Despite Williams' skill with words, he was not able to humanize this particular monster. Sometimes a villain is just a villain. We don't need a tragic backstory hour to justify their awfulness and turn them into the victim of the story. It's okay to rejoice in Miranda's happy ending when you walk away from this particular play.
But this book didn't work for me. Despite Williams' skill with words, he was not able to humanize this particular monster. Sometimes a villain is just a villain. We don't need a tragic backstory hour to justify their awfulness and turn them into the victim of the story. It's okay to rejoice in Miranda's happy ending when you walk away from this particular play.
January 14, 2025
Thoroughly enjoyed this sequel/prequel to Shakespeares "The Tempest". I read The Tempest over 30 years ago so the details were a little foggy but it didn't take away from this short novel. The book is basically a narrative by Caliban himself so there isn't a lot of dialogue but the introspection on the characters early life makes for great reading. I do recommend reading The Tempest first but it's not absolutely necessary.
Next hardcover: "Wizard At Large" by Terry Brooks (1989).
Next hardcover: "Wizard At Large" by Terry Brooks (1989).
October 14, 2022
Wasn't my favorite....I kind of found myself wondering what in the world was the point. Caliban wasn't an angel in The Tempest (wanted to populate his island with Caligans, yuck), and it's not like this book did much to change that except to try to excuse his behavior. But it's still pretty gross, even if he pretended he didn't know what he was doing by almost forcing himself on the girl.
September 16, 2017
interesting concept. one man, talking nearly the entire novel... but it worked. I enjoyed it.
January 1, 2021
Better than its cover would suggest. Caliban's side of the story.
February 25, 2021
Thoroughly enjoyed this book. One I'll keep and read again.
December 9, 2023
Love Tad Williams but this didn't read like Tad Williams so maybe that's why I didn't like it.
May 8, 2024
The aspects of this that interest me the most were much better, more deeply, and much more artfully done in 'Grendel' by John Gardner, of which this feels like a poor imitation.
December 7, 2024
Decent read, but it did not resonated with me. Maybe because im not a fan of Shakespeare's Tempest, maybe this writing style doesnt fit the work. All in all 3/5
January 30, 2025
A book I have read many a time and one that I will probably pick up to read again. It is a short book that is an odd read. This is the first time I’ve thought of Caliban as droning on though, and that makes it lose some sheen. But a solid read with a well written villain
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