Read the full review HERE. (It's really long, sorry about that, I guess I had a lot to say)
This book lacks much that the original play had. Relationships, character depth, madness... While written in Ophelia's POV, it's limiting and creates a world where Ophelia needs to be told everything to move the plot (which is changed) along. A lot of the translated scenes are awkward and stiff, and Ophelia's life outside of the castle is pointless and, honestly, not very interesting to read. Drama is created where drama (or more of it) is not needed, and how Ophelia fakes her death is actually pretty boring. For a tragedy, it didn't feel very tragic, and you're left not really caring about the characters or much of anything that happens. ( )

I liked this and as re-imagined re-tellings go, it was pretty good. Hamlet's my favorite Shakespeare so I tend to expect a lot when I actually read a redo. I liked Ophelia's voice and thought it was neat to have an updated setting where everything played out. Media overload, paparazzo, cell phones and the consequences of having a life reduced down to soundbytes, voice mail messages and talk show gossip fodder was well done. I didn't very much like the chapters ending with the police investigation transcript (I didn't think they added a lot to the overall story) but they went by quickly enough. Oddly, I didn't feel terribly connected to Hamlet or his madness here but as Ophelia was the main character, I likely shouldn't have. The twist ending by which she lives and comes back to tell the tale was nice and I found that I even wanted her to go on and have happiness with Sebastian. Denmark seemed like a glittering backdrop but that may just have been the royal court swaying me. I'm glad I read this and it was a quick read so I'd definitely recommend it to fans of the original work who like re-imagined re-tellings. ( )

Characters: The book focuses on Ophelia, her family, and the royal family. Ophelia’s father has worked as the King’s advisor for as long as she can remember so she lives at the castle and is close to the family, especially the prince. The poor girl is thrown into the spotlight just because she is the prince’s longtime girlfriend, but she handles it well (for the most part anyways). She is strong, funny, and clever. Her only fault is that she loved Hamlet too much. I don’t really blame her though because he was sweet, handsome, and funny and everyone else in the kingdom probably wanted to date him too. Unfortunately, he became drunk with revenge after the death of his father and that’s when everything started to go from wrong to worse. I could not stand the queen at all; all she cared about were appearances and nothing else. Claudius, the king’s brother and also his murderer, was awful and evil. Horatio, Hamlet and Ophelia’s best friend, was as loyal as anybody could be and he tried to help his two very best friends until the end.
Plot: I have yet to read the original Hamlet by Shakespeare so I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this modern retelling of the classic, but I actually really enjoyed it. I’m not sure how accurate it is to the original, but it is definitely worth the read. The book is told by Ophelia, who this time does not die. There are 3 parts to each chapter, kind of like a past, present, and future type thing. At the beginning of each chapter Ophelia is being interviewed on a talk show about the events that took place after the king was killed, the middle is the actual story of what happened, and the end is Ophelia being interrogated by the police because they think she was responsible for everything that happened to the royal family after the kings death. I really liked how the chapters were organized and did not find it confusing at all despite everything that was going on. That being said, the action only really starts about half way through the book. There was suspense, mystery, romance, some supernatural, and so much more. It had a sad ending, but that’s the point of a tragedy, right?

Cover: The cover isn’t really anything special. I don’t know…for me it doesn’t really represent what the book is about I guess. It’s kind of plain and boring, just two teenagers making out with a floating throne next to then…
Overall Impression: I wish I had read Shakespeare’s version before this so that I knew what the original story was, but it was still a pretty good book. I think that if anyone’s a little apprehensive about reading the original, this could really help push them to want to. ( )

Review from ARC from publisher (Thank you!)

Couldn't finish. ( )

Contemporary. Modern. Shakespeare. Hamlet re-telling. I thought of all of this before going after Falling For Hamlet, and while I was wary, I just had this intense desire to read it. And in a way, it’s funny because out of all the Shakespeare plays I’ve read through the years, Hamlet is probably on my low scale. I was never a big fan of that one, and honestly couldn’t tell you why. It’s not like it’s too much different from some of the others-- what, with the countless tragedies and betrayals and all -- but I guess it’s the characters.

Anyway, so when I’d first heard about Falling for Hamlet, there was something about it that caught my interest. I had some worries about how this could’ve turned out. Believe me, I’ve read some attempted Shakespeare re-telling before and it was craptastic. I just didn’t think the idea of mixing modern culture in with a Shakespearean story could’ve worked out… but I still wanted to see for myself. I wanted to be proven wrong… And thankfully, I was.

This was so good that I almost gave it five stars. It was just that good. It’s not light and fluffy (as it shouldn’t be since it is Hamlet after all) and sometimes it moves a bit slowly along through the story. However, I must say that Ray did a fantastic job brining it to life into the modern world, as well as the characters practically staying authentic-- except now they use cell phones, drive cars, and watch television. There’s also a simplicity in the storytelling with the interviews and then the flashbacks, but I liked the pacing of how it all went. Hamlet’s madness. Ophelia’s madness. Tension. Tragedy. Bravo, Ray, for making it feel realistic… rather than something unfitting to the current time and plot. When a re-telling makes me want to go back and read the original again, I know that it’s done its job wonderfully .

Fan of HAMLET? Then you might want to pick up FALLING FOR HAMLET for a fun and imaginitive re-telling.

4.5 stars.

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