Genre : Fantasy, Historical Fiction
Publisher : Tor.com
Length : 204 pages
Format : ebook
Rating : 3 stars
Publication Date : March 26th 2019
Publisher’s description
“A haunting story that reimagines the consequences of Shakespeare’s The Tempest.”
After the tempest, after the reunion, after her father drowned his books, Miranda was meant to enter a brave new world. Naples awaited her, and Ferdinand, and a throne. Instead she finds herself in Milan, in her father’s castle, surrounded by hostile servants who treat her like a ghost. Whispers cling to her like spiderwebs, whispers that carry her dead mother’s name. And though he promised to give away his power, Milan is once again contorting around Prospero’s dark arts. With only Dorothea, her sole companion and confidant to aid her, Miranda must cut through the mystery and find the truth about her father, her mother, and herself.
Book Review
Miranda in Milan is a sequel of sort to William Shakespeare’s The Tempest. It follows Miranda after the events of the play, she is now engaged to Ferdinand but her father, Prospero, is keeping her locked up in his castle in Milan. For some unknown reasons, her servants treat her like a ghost or a witch and whisper weird rumors about her late mother. She feels alone and trapped until she meets Dorothea, her new maid. Unlike all the other inhabitants of the castle, she’s not afraid of Miranda and, what start as a friendship quickly become something more.
The Tempest is one of my favorite plays and I love reading retellings or sequels of this story. I really like the setting of The Tempest, it’s very magical and I think authors can be very inspired by the unique atmosphere and characters. My favorite sequel/retelling of The Tempest is Coral Bones by Foz Meadows. It’s very similar to Miranda in Milan as both stories follow Miranda’s new life in Italy. Both stories are sapphic romances and explore how abusive Prospero is to his daughter. However, while I loved Coral Bones, I found Miranda in Milan underwhelming.
To be fair, I probably had set my expectations a bit too high. It wasn’t a bad story by any means but, I found it entirely too predictable and no elements were particularly gripping. The plot was okay, the romance wasn’t bad either but, too quick for my liking and I think the relationships between the characters could have been developed a bit more. It was nice to be back in this world but, if you’re looking for a good sapphic fantasy sequel to The Tempest, just read Coral Bones.
Three stars.
The Curious SFF Reader 
I haven’t read this but several bloggers I know had similar feelings. I think the only Tempest retelling I’ve read is Miranda and Caliban by Jacqueline Carey.
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I also read Miranda and Caliban, I forgot to mention it in my review but it was a very good Tempest retelling! 🙂
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If memory assists me, the reviews I read about this book were at best lukewarm, so I’m not surprised at your reaction for this book, especially since it seems to compare poorly to a similar retelling…
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Yes, I’m definitely not the only reviewer that was underwhelmed by it… It probably would have worked way better if it had been my first retelling of The Tempest and I couldn’t compare it to any other work….
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I’ve heard similar things about this one, I do still want to check it out at some point though. Glad that you liked it even if you didn’t love it. 😀
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If it sounds promising to you, you should definitely give it a try! I hope you’ll enjoy it, it dis have some interesting elements 🙂
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