Book/Play Review: Midsummer Night's Dream

Author: William Shakespeare
Title: A Midsummer Night's Dream
Genre: Fantasy, Classic, Play, Drama, Comedy, Romance
Pages: 204
First Published: 1596
Where I Got It: On my shelf (from the Big Bad Willie Shakespeare book)

"Shakespeare's intertwined love polygons begin to get complicated from the start--Demetrius and Lysander both want Hermia but she only has eyes for Lysander. Bad news is, Hermia's father wants Demetrius for a son-in-law. On the outside is Helena, whose unreturned love burns hot for Demetrius. Hermia and Lysander plan to flee from the city under cover of darkness but are pursued by an enraged Demetrius (who is himself pursued by an enraptured Helena). In the forest, unbeknownst to the mortals, Oberon and Titania (King and Queen of the faeries) are having a spat over a servant boy. The plot twists up when Oberon's head mischief-maker, Puck, runs loose with a flower which causes people to fall in love with the first thing they see upon waking. Throw in a group of labourers preparing a play for the Duke's wedding (one of whom is given a donkey's head and Titania for a lover by Puck) and the complications become fantastically funny."

It's been a while since I read some of Billy's works and since it's officially summer this seemed a nice thing to read. ^.^ For this review, I shall divide and conquer:

The Good

• Billy sure does know how to make romance mix well with comedy. I was chuckling like a loon
• The characters were interesting
• Puck was adorable.
• Puck oddly reminded me of another pesty fairy...*points at Adam Black from the Highlander series by Karen Marie Moning*
• The end through me for a loop and tied everything up together nicely.

The Bad and the Ugly

• I thought the play inside the play was annoying. >.>
• Half the characters were annoying and useless (ie the laborers for the Duke's play)
• Some of the dialogue was rather cheesy.
• Not Billy's best work at all.

Conclusion

It was not one of my main man Billy's finest works. It was pretty good and if you call yourself a classic's fan or a Billy fan you really should give this a go. It was rather funny, though rather cheesy in a couple places. Perhaps it would be a LOT better and the play within the play would make more sense and seem less stupid if one would see it performed live. Oh well. Out of five stars I grant this one 3 stars.

Favorite Character(s): Puck and Helena (poor chit....all she wanted was love).

Not-so Favorite Character(s): the laborers (useless folk). 

*CaroleRae*