A Son of the Rock

Roc, 2003, 560p

It’€™s a weakness, I know, but I can’t resist Altered History.

This one is set in a world where the Spanish Armada wasn’t scattered by Protestant winds but instead succeeded in deposing Elizabeth of England who is now languishing in the Tower of London.

Aside: The invasion did not go beyond the Scottish border. How likely that would have been given that at the time the Scots were, to Spanish eyes, even more heretical than the English, is questionable. While it does make the title appropriate as the Romans used the word Britannia to describe the parts of (Great) Britain they held, it is not Turtledove’s focus.

Our main narrator is none other than William Shakespeare – a brave move by Turtledove as any comparisons can only be invidious. Cue, though, lots of Shakespearian allusions said by, or mostly to, the character in the book. The narration is shared with one of the Spanish invaders, Félix Lope De Vega y Carpio – a historical figure, a playwright himself, in Spanish literature second only to Cervantes and of whom, to my shame, I had never previously heard – who in the book thus admires Shakespeare but is also an inveterate ladies’ man. Another agonist is, of course, Christopher Marlowe. Yet more references accrue. There are walk-on parts for Elizabeth, Robert Cecil, William Cecil and Francis Bacon. Throughout, there is ample opportunity to indulge in a series of Elizabethan and Spanish epithets, botchy core, mooncalf, louse of a lazar, callet, trull, cunning woman, maricón, bruja, puta and phrases such as aroint thee, etc.

The plot concerns the secret engagement of Shakespeare by Robert Cecil (Lord Burghley) into writing a play, Boudicca, set in a previous invaded Britannia, the performance of which is intended to ignite a revolt against the Spaniards when the time is ripe. At the same time he is commissioned by the conquerors to write King Philip, a play in praise of the ailing Spanish King.

During all the subsequent strutting and fretting (Turtledove’€™s got me at it now) some of the characters wax a bit too poetical, often long-windedly, which tends to break up what flow there is. An English law enforcer, Constable Strawberry, constantly mangles his words – even more than Mrs Malaprop – as in the character Dogberry from Much Ado About Nothing, an affectation that in Turtledove’s hands I found tiresome.

Things do speed up markedly, though, when the old King dies, the time comes for the play to be put on and the inevitable revolt begins. It may not be a coincidence that there is little opportunity for blank versification in this portion of the novel.

Ruled Britannia is not anything other than a read for entertainment. A passing, or indeed close, acquaintance with Shakespeare, Marlowe and De Vega’€™s works may heighten the experience but, overall, don’€™t look for insight such as you would find in even the most minor of their efforts.

After writing this review I found a rather good summation of the book, its faults and felicities at http://laughingmeme.org/2003/03/26/ruled-britannia/.