My Experience with Queen Mab by Kate Danley

What if the events of the classic Shakespeare play Romeo and Juliet was due to the manipulation of gods and demigods, playing the houses like puppets for their own amusement? That’s the core idea of Kate Danley's Queen Mab, and it’s a premise that I couldn’t help but explore.

Danley’s retelling follows Queen Mab, a demigod who rules the world of dreams. A cold-hearted god, she wagers with Faunus—protector of House Montague—that it will be her house, the Capulets who will prevail. But things get complicated when Mab falls in love with Mercutio.

Romeo and Juliet was the first Shakespeare play I ever read. I remember tearing through it in middle school because I’d purchased a side-by-side original and modern translation. At the time, the language was too far removed from what I was used to, but the translation helped me appreciate the play’s brilliance. A few years later, my high school (I was fortunate enough to attend a fine arts school) did a production of it, giving me the chance to experience the material in the way it was intended to be consumed. This novel was an encounter of the 3rd kind for me. It took all of my experiences with the story and reimagined it with deft creativity.

This story is definitely easier to appreciate if you’re familiar with the source material. And while the play’s language can be difficult to parse, Danley’s narrative is easy to read while maintaining the feel of Shakespearean dialogue, creating prose that is a delight to read.

If you know this classic story and want to read a masterful retelling, give this one a try.