Prince of Shadows by Rachel Caine

In the Houses of Montague and Capulet, there is only one goal: power. The boys are born to fight and die for honour and — if they survive — marry for influence and money, not love. The girls are assets, to be spent wisely. Their wishes are of no import. Their fates are written on the day they are born.

Benvolio Montague, cousin to Romeo, knows all this. He expects to die for his cousin, for his house, but a spark of rebellion still lives inside him. At night, he is the Prince of Shadows, the greatest thief in Verona — and he risks all as he steals from House Capulet. In doing so, he sets eyes on convent-bound Rosaline, and a terrible curse begins that will claim the lives of many in Verona...

...And will rewrite all their fates, forever.

Everyone knows the story of Romeo and Juliet so I'm not going to retell it in mini version here. This is set in the same time as Romeo and Juliet but is told from Benvolio Montague's point of view as he lives a secret life while also living up to his grandmother's expectations of him to keep Romeo in line.

I've always loved this Shakespeare tale and I've loved Rachel Caine's writing since I first picked up the Morganville series. She does a great job of embellishing on the characters that Shakespeare first imagined all those years ago and introduces more of Benvolio and Rosaline while, surprisingly, keeps Romeo to a minimum and Juliet even more so.

Unfortunately, I don't think there will be more from Caine in this series unless she plans on following suit with other Shakespeare tales. I don't feel like she can embellish on this one any further as the story was well and truly ended in my opinion. Which is a shame since I did really enjoy this.


Book Depository: Prince of Shadows
Amazon UK: Prince of Shadows