Future Treasures: Miranda and Caliban by Jacqueline Carey
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Jacqueline Carey is the author of some 16 fantasy novels, including the bestselling historical fantasies in the Kushiel’s Legacy series, the post-apocalyptic superhero Santa Olivia novels, and the Agent of Hel contemporary fantasy series. Her latest is a retelling of Shakespeare’s The Tempest, exploring the same themes of twisted love and unchecked power while delivering a fresh take on two of the most famous characters in English literature.
A lovely girl grows up in isolation where her father, a powerful magus, has spirited them to in order to keep them safe.
We all know the tale of Prospero’s quest for revenge, but what of Miranda? Or Caliban, the so-called savage Prospero chained to his will?
In this incredible retelling of the fantastical tale, Jacqueline Carey shows readers the other side of the coin ― the dutiful and tenderhearted Miranda, who loves her father but is terribly lonely. And Caliban, the strange and feral boy Prospero has bewitched to serve him. The two find solace and companionship in each other as Prospero weaves his magic and dreams of revenge.
Always under Prospero’s jealous eye, Miranda and Caliban battle the dark, unknowable forces that bind them to the island even as the pangs of adolescence create a new awareness of each other and their doomed relationship.
Our previous coverage of Jacqueline Carey includes:
Santa Olivia
Religion Done Right
Gods and Monsters: the Moirin Trilogy by Vito Excalibur
Miranda and Caliban will be published by Tor on February 14, 2017. It is 350 pages, priced at $25.99 in hardcover and $12.99 for the digital edition. The cover is by Tran Nguyen. Read the first three chapters at Tor.com.
Explore all our recent coverage of the best upcoming fantasy here.
I hope that anyone approaching this book will have read Shakespeare’s Tempest a couple of times first. It sounds like the book debases the original to the level of a typical YA novel.
I do wonder how the writer deals with Caliban’s attempted rape of Miranda…
Noticing the tattoo (?) on the face on the cover looks very much like the logo for the Portland Trail Blazers…
@Thomas Parker
That was my first thought too!
It’s clearly easy to see Caliban as a symbol of victims of colonization and other European bugaboos. So he’s clearly sympathetic in that sense and so I can see an author wanting to emphasize him as a victim. But his attempted rape of Miranda makes him very unsympathetic. My guess is that the author will kindly ignore that facet of the story or claim that his affection was taken by Prospero as an attempted rape.