Romeo and Juliet is the greatest love story ever told. And every story has a beginning.
A sweeping novel of Renaissance Italy, The Master of Verona follows Pietro Alaghieri, eldest son of the poet Dante, as he’s caught up by the charisma and genius of Verona’s ruler, Cangrande della Scala. Pietro risks battles, duels, and murder to impress his new lord. At the heart of the story is an infernal … the story is an infernal plot against Cangrande’s bastard heir, and the rivalry of two friends over the affections of a girl — a rivalry will sever a friendship, divide a city, and spark a feud that will someday produce the star-cross’d lovers.
Based on the plays of William Shakespeare, the poetry of Dante, and the history of Italy, The Master of Verona is a novel of brutal warfare, lost friendship, and dire conspiracy, combining to create an epic journey into the birth of the Renaissance that recalls the best of Bernard Cornwell and Dorothy Dunnett.
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For anyone who has not yet read one or more of David’s novels, you are about to hit the literary lottery. Yes, he is that good. In his hands, history comes to bright, blazing life.
David Blixt bursts onto the historical fiction scene with this masterful tale of adventure, love, and intrigue — this is high adventure at its best, an epic novel filled with the breathtaking feats and evanescent beauty of the early Renaissance.
Shakespearean actor David Blixt traces the genesis of the famous feud between the Montagues and Capulets in this sharp, arresting novel that is completely impossible to put down.
THE MASTER OF VERONA is good historical fiction. It’s long, educational, but with some imagination thrown in.
interesting twist on Romeo & Juliet
A mix of characters from history and Shakespeare. Very inventive.
I was slow getting into this one but by the end I couldn’t put it down until 2:30 in the morning.
The story is centered in City States of Italy in 1600’s, the competition between them leads to wars , intrigue, murder, kidnapping and rise of a unlikely son of one of the world’s greatest poets to Knighthood and adventures well worth reading about.
This isn’t my typical book, but it was a rare book that had me thinking about the characters and settings days after I finished it. I will read more in the series.
The author does a tremendous job of putting us in 14th century Italy with detail and description, but not dragging the story down.
When I first started this, I thought “not my thing, really,” but I kept with it. Could not put it down once I got into it! Exiting, nail-biting read!
The Master of Verona draws in a disparate audience comprised of history buffs, literary types, and fans of the immortal bard as it traces the origins of the great feud which lies at the heart of “Romeo and Juliet.” As one of the former, I found the history behind the narrative to be captivating since it dealt with the feuding between the city …
Honestly, when I started reading this book, I thought it would take forever. There were SO many characters, all with long Italian names. It wasn’t until I started getting familiar with some of them that it started becoming easier to read. There were a lot of surprises. By the time I was 3/4 of the way through, I couldn’t wait to see how it ended. …
Love the interweaving of Shakespearean themes!
Unfortunately, couldn’t get into the book. Quit after a few chapters.
Dante’s Italy and the internecine, blood-feuding struggle of the dominant families of the northern city states. This story of corruption and the quest for power is as compelling as Mario Puzo’s Godfather and as thrilling as any of Rafael Sabatini’s historical adventures.
I loved this book, second in the Star Cross’d series. I am now ready to read the 4th in the series. This is wonderful and very interesting historical fiction at its best!! 13th century Italy.
Very well written! One of those books that one cannot stop reading and does not want to see end.
This is a fun book and for awhile I felt that I would give it five stars, but as it went on it seemed like it was trying to cover too much. It seemed sort of scattered, like hitting a target with a shotgun rather than a bullet or arrow (if that makes any sense). I still liked it, but not as much as I did at first. I was always involved in the …
Too slow. It was a good book to put me to sleep.
Well written fan fiction, but halfway through I read something to the effect of “no one knows for certain…” regarding the whole point of the book. I didn’t find it compelling enough to finish.