Imagination and emotions are what keeps you intrigued and maintains your motivation to finish an entire book. It is important that a book should exhume your imaginations and emotions. Without it, the book is plain and bland. There is no color, no vibe and most certainly no hope to continue finishing the book. Gary Blackwood’s The Shakespeare Stealer is a prime example of this.

Widge, an teen orphan from the country outside of Elizabethan London, becomes an apprentice to a plagiarist with an odd skill to continue his phony career. Being given from his orphanage to the plagiarist and so-called scientist, Dr. Bright, he is taught a unique skill: a new form of shorthand writing with symbols that only Widge and Dr.Bright can interpret. Teaching Widge this will simply make matters easier when it comes to emulating people’s work.

Acknowledging Widge’s skills, a cloaked man, by the name of Falconer, comes to claim Widge in exchange for a lump sum of gold. This silent and violent figure has no interests for Widge, but instead the man behind the buy: Simon Bass. Soon from being delivered, Widge is already being tasked by his master for a treacherous quest that only his shorthand writing can achieve: mirroring and plundering William Shakespeare’s infamous Hamlet. Will he succeed in retrieving Hamlet?

Being Blackwood’s most notable book, The Shakespeare Stealer is a historical drama book with a decent amount of old school vocabulary. However, the plot is flat and uneven. Dwelling into the first several chapters can already give you a conclusion and accurate prediction of the ending. It contains a cliché storyline with small amounts of literature. Rather a book for teens, adolescent juveniles would certainly love this book for its easy vocabulary.

 Blackwood’s gradual character development was an absolute weakness. Other than being a teen orphan, Gary lacks his main character and co-character development. The confusion of recognizing between the upcoming characters set a real dilemma. In addition to that, not having firm character description is preposterous . Interests deteriorated and motivations to read this book declined.

With many confusion and dilemmas in this book, I’d rather choose to read Charles Dickens’s A Tale Of Two Cities. The books are similar with their character confusement and slow plot, but A Tale of Two Cities has a rather better setting description also taking place several centuries ago. The amount of literature in Dickens’s book is bizarre and uncomparable to Blackwood’s book. The intensity and drama captures your interests; suddenly you live within the book itself.

All in all, if you’re optimistic about things and especially love history, The Shakespeare Stealer has its perks at holding its historical theme. If you love Shakespeare and his dramatic genre, this book can meet your expectations.