The Complete Mirrored Sword by Allan Hands

The Complete Mirrored Sword by Allan Hands.

Thank you Netgalley for a copy for an unbiased review.

I love Shakespeare. I enjoy a lot of dark comedy. So the description on this book was one that made me want to read it.

This is a book of two parts, as it is two books brought together as one volume, so is quite a lot in one go and I know from experience of other larger books, some might well find that intimidating. It would be a shame if this did put potential readers off, and I'd urge them to perhaps consider buying the volumes separately if this was the case.

It's writing style is rather different to most and as such could well be problematic for some to get into. Thankfully it wasn't something I found to be an issue. It isn't like Shakespeare in the use of language but more modern in its approach, which will be a relief for a lot of people. After all, a story set in a time period such as this doesn't need language to reflect it in my opinion, as long as it isn't filled with too many modern idioms. 

Overall I enjoyed the story. It has plenty of dark humour as promised in the synopsis and as stated, reminded me of a comedy in the era of Shakespeare in its execution. There were some real historical events that some of the story was based on, that lent well to the story telling. 

The biggest let down for me was at times it was pretty convoluted, particularly in the 1st part with the number of characters involved, and that definitely affected the pacing and led the story to drag at times.

For that reason I'm giving this 4/5 stars as my rating. 🌟🌟🌟🌟