( 5 reviews )
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Posted: May 25 2006
The True Prince is a wonderful book set in London somewhere in the 1600's. It is a mystery, wraped in a play, tied in a cursed web of lies,seen through the eyes of an aprentice of the Lord Chamberlain's Men, and set in the mistery of a young man's life, a man who never had a childhood. That mystery is Kit: Merchendise of his own father at six, actor of so many roles at eight,and, what is he now? Which role did he ever play as himself? Is he all of them? Or is he none?...
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Posted: Oct 20 2005
The book starts off with William Shakespeare's playgroup practicing a new play, "The House of Maximus", which happens to be on e of the worst plays invented. A new player, Davy, arrives with a mysterious Welsh man. When the "Putrid Play", as it was nicknamed, was performed, the audience hated the play more than the players, showing their contempt by throwing their lunch leftovers. The next day, Kit, one of the best boy players in London, was in a court session for fooling around with Peregrine Penny, a corruptor of youth. Kit's bail was payed by a mysterious donor. After the court session, The troup returned to the Theater to find it locked up by Giles Allen, the landlord. So, the troup moved to another theater named the Curtain. Many plays and lawsuits later, to defend the Welsh Boy, as Davy is called, Richard fights Kit in a boxing match. This is where Dacy is somewhat revealed as what he really is, a theif trying to frame Kit. "King Henry IV", a great play, is thought up and soon they are performing it in the Swan, another theater. They perform the play many times until the summer tour, where Kit leaves the company right before the tour. Upon returning, Richard is launched into solving a series of crimes committed by Kit and his theiving friends. Eventually, with the help of the detective's assisstant named Bartholomew Finch and a penny gatherer named Starling Shaw, Richard is led to the Theater once more, where a kidnapping takes place and the mystery is solved. The previous posts did not lie. This is a great book and i recommend it to everyone who likes reading.
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Posted: Jun 9 2005
True Prince, a worthy, but complicated read. Its plot is a complex one, with a sub plot joining the fray every other chapter. So I'll do my best to give you the gist of it. The book is about London's finest acting troop, with none other than William Shakespeare, yes the real one. Their first problem is that their play house is taken away, so they set off to find another one. 50 pages later they accomplish this task, before anyone has a chance to catch their breath from hauling everything from their old theater to the new one; a bitter rivalry is born between Kit and Davy, two aspiring boy actors. Kit being London's finest. The only thing keeping Kit from killing little Davy, is Richard, the books main character. While Richard is protecting Davy, he finds that the troop may be harboring a thief, Kit the main suspect. Apparently Cheaney felt that Shakespeare's cameo appearance needed a follow up, Robin Hood joins the melee of characters.
