Description:

From the “talented” (Entertainment Weekly) award-winning author of Whiskey and Water and Blood and Iron.

Kit Marley and William Shakespeare are playwrights in the service of Queen Elizabeth, employed by the Prometheus Club. Their words, infused with magic, empower Her MajestyÂ’s rule. But some of the Prometheans, comprised of EnglandÂ’s most influential men and mages, conspire to usurp the Queen.

Able to walk in both worlds, Kit seeks allies to aid him in his mission to protect Elizabeth—only to encounter enemies, mortal and monster, who will stop at nothing to usher in a new age. But despite the might of his adversaries, Kit possesses more power than even he can possibly imagine.

From Publishers Weekly

Completing the story of Will Shakespeare and Kit Marley (Christopher Marlowe) begun in 2008's Ink and Steel, Campbell-winner Bear proves again that she can fill a stage as well as any Elizabethan playwright, entwining tragedies of betrayal and blood-soaked revenge with country pastoral and domestic comedy. Will, released from Hell, returns to a mortal court where black magic threatens Queen Elizabeth, and his poetry becomes her bulwark. Kit, bound to a trapped angel, likewise works to discover who in Faerie caused the murder of Will's son, Hamnet. Navigating the tangled intrigues of backstabbing courtiers and malicious magicians, the poets strive to thwart a plot to reshape the world through the power of story. Released on the heels of Ink and Steel, this complex and character-driven tale is best read with the other Promethean Age novels close at hand, not least because it lacks the all-important dramatis personae. (Aug.)
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From Booklist

Starred Review The last two acts (the first three are in Ink and Steel, 2008) of Bear’s dramatic two-decker novel set in Elizabethan times deal with the Prometheus Club’s (England’s most influential men) efforts to prop up England as the aged queen fails. Mab, queen of the parallel world of Faerie, is suffering, too, due to her connections with Elizabeth, but then, the entire faerie court is at odds because their lives are entangled in Mab’s braids. Some Prometheans, including Baines and Poley, are less concerned with Elizabeth than with controlling England once James Stuart is on the throne. Kit Marlowe, dead in Elizabeth’s world and trapped between hell and earth after his bargain with Lucifer, still struggles to understand what Baines did to him when he was declared dead. Will Shakespeare, of course, continues to write in Elizabeth’s service. On Elizabeth’s death, epic struggle ensues in England and Faerie. Even hell plays politics, most subtly, while everyone from the Tower of London’s ravens to a poor sap named Fawkes are dragged into the battle for England; Kit discovers the terrible truth; and Will’s group continues trying to translate the Bible. Bear’s research and attention to detail make her fantastic approximation of the Tudor-Stuart transition shine. --Regina Schroeder