Zombie Island: A Shakespeare Undead Novel

Handeland’s superior second story of a vampire Shakespeare and his zombie hunter lover (after Shakespeare Undead) opens with Will and Kate shipwrecked on an island full of zombies. They are presided over by power-hungry Prospero, who has enslaved long-suffering fairy Ariel and changed Kate’s husband, the abusive and villainous Reginald, into Caliban. In this skillful and often deeply touching retelling of The Tempest, Handeland ditches sweeping set pieces and nonstop zombie-fighting action in favor of quiet, deeply sensual meditations upon love, adultery, sex, longing, and forgiveness. Her grasp of Elizabethan English is strong, and rarely intruded upon by the anachronism and shoehorned Shakespeare quotes that troubled the first installment. An uncertain and shocking ending will leave readers anxious for book three. Agent: Robin Rue, Writers House. (May)