This was a fun book with a lot going on. Main character Will starts off as a stage actor playing female roles until the murder of his friend, Christopher Marlowe, throws him into the world of spy craft and intrigue. Will teams up with James, a member of the nobility currently in disgrace with the Queen, to solve the mystery of Marlowe's death while both get involved in much larger issues. Honestly my favorite thing about this book was how Elizabeth I was portrayed. A lot of historical fiction tends to make her one of the good guys and a nice person, whereas here, the main characters have a good reason to dislike and distrust her, and she constantly proves their right in their poor opinion of her. The plot itself was easy to follow and rather fun, though it did feel like every third of the book was a different genre. Overall it works, but the shifts the plot takes were sometimes weird. I do think, for me at least, the use of period language was weird and off-putting. That being said, it was not over done and at the end of things, it's something I could ignore in favor of getting into the plot. I do think the twist of who was after the Queen came out of nowhere a bit, and ended up being a misuse of some of the stuff that had already been set up, but overall the ending was satisfying. I did like the romance with Will and James, but it wasn't the focus of the story until near the end.

This was not for me. I found the story very confusing and hard to get into. I just did not enjoy my experience with this one.

I really liked By Any Other Name as it was a quick and fun read!
I especially loved the writing, so I'm definitely excited to see what the author will write next.

I really liked the characters.
Will and James were great, and their romance was great!
I also liked the side characters, especially Maggie and Inigo.
This book had many twists and turns, especially towards the end that I really enjoyed.

I also really loved the ending and thought it was perfect for the story!
I highly recommend this book, especially if you are interested in an action filled historical fiction book with a great queer romance!
Also, can't forget that cover! It's stunning!

Thank you so much for giving me the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

THOUGHTS

I loved so much of this book, and yet something about it didn't quite click for me. I think it was a wrong-place, wrong-time problem, honestly, because there's so much here to get excited about!


PROS
Reevaluating History: What I absolutely love about this book is that it is, without a doubt, Elizabethan in nature but at the same time, it is presenting a different kind of historical fiction. Because it's not just about the Tudors. And it's not just about Shakespeare. In fact, neither the Tudors nor Shakespeare are cast in a particularly favorable light. The queen is harsh and cruel. Shakespeare is annoyingly self-important. Christopher Marlowe plays a more important role than Shakespeare, and so do the darker, dirtier parts of London's southern shore. And I love that.

London: This book is, in many ways, a love letter to Southwark. Either Erin Cotter wrote this book while strolling through this historic part of London or she researched it so, so well. Anyone familiar with this stretch of the Thames will recognize the landmarks and the whole feeling of being there and being then.

Well-Written: Erin Cotter is a master at crafting a sentence. This book is full of voice but also full of great descriptions, epic scenarios, and plot tension. This book, on a technical level, is very well crafted. Everything works in balance, and that makes for an incredible reading experience.


CONS
Window Dressing: An important aspect of historical fiction is, of course, that it is written in the contemporary age. It is, by necessity, looking back, but that can mean an author has to balance an important line between historical accuracy and modern relevance. This book does a good job for the most part, but a few things stuck out to me as a little bit... artificial. The over-reliance on the exclamation "zounds!" for example felt a little too try-hard. And some of the particularly modern, anti-colonial sentiments characters expressed felt less than authentic.

Fickle Friends: I had a really hard time connecting with the secondary characters in this book, mostly because they're not developed at all. Oh, I knew what they were supposed to be, but only because I was told as much. Will's best friends abandon him fairly frequently, and while Will might not be the best of friends in return, they are definitely worse. But I don't think they were meant to be, and therein lies the problem.

Identity Crisis: On some levels, it felt like this book didn't quite know what it wanted to be. Was it a Shakespearean tale, entrenched in the theatre scene just outside of London? Is it a tale of espionage and poison, regicide and experimental "medicine"? Is it a historical romance? It's a little bit of everything, and that was kind of a problem because I couldn't figure out what or who I was rooting for. What did I want to happen next? I couldn't say because I just wasn't sure where this book was going at all.


Rating

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
7/10
Fans of Vanessa Len's Only a Monster will love this slightly more down-to-earth dive into the historic streets of London. Anyone who loves Christopher Marlowe's Dr. Faustus will adore diving into Marlowe's England.

This book was such a great adventure! It takes the true mystery surrounding the death of playwright, Christopher Marlowe, as its starting point and takes the reader on a wild action-filled ride. I loved the attention to detail in describing the historical period in all its filth and cruelty. Although there is a love story at its heart, this book is much more than a romance. The large cast of characters were interesting and complex, and the plot was fast-paced and exciting. I would highly recommend this to everyone. I think adults would enjoy this as much as youth, and maybe more, if they have an interest in Elizabethan/Shakespearean England. I loved that Shakespeare himself was a minor character! This book is a winner!

Sincere thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC!

I found this book to be really engaging and I loved the premise. I'm a sucker for anything queer this story was right up my alley. I am looking forward to reading other books by the author.

4.5 stars

It’s London 1593, and Will Hughes is a regular actor on Shakespeare’s stage. But in his personal life, he’s also pretending to be someone else: hiding the fact that he’s the son of traitors to the crown. All he wants to do is lay low and earn enough to escape back to his family.

But when his mentor, Christopher Marlowe, is murdered in front of him, his plans change. As the truth about Marlowe comes out (and the fact that he was a spy for the queen), Will gets wrapped up in solving his murder. As well as wrapped up in Lord Bloomsbury, the handsome man helping him solve Marlowe’s murder.

Thanks to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for an advanced copy of By Any Other Name by Erin Cotter to review! Apparently, I was on a bit of a historical fiction kick, which is fine by me. This is another YA set in a time period that doesn’t happen often in YA. I’m loving the fact that publishers are branching out from just WWII historical fiction!

Hands down, the romance in this was the best part. Yes, it’s a bit of a mystery, a bit of a spy thriller, but the chemistry between Will and Bloomsbury is absolutely the best part of this book for me. You have two people who desperately want to be together, despite the fact that it’s basically against the law. It’s a bit of a “will they figure out a way to be together?” kind of story. I admit I’m a bit of a sucker for that.

It’s fun to see some of the historical figures that Cotter includes throughout, especially seeing Shakespeare pop as a character (who teens will definitely know the most). The book itself is a little on the long side, as I kept thinking it was done at the end but then it kept going. But it wraps itself up nicely at the end (maybe a bit too nicely for the time period, though).

If you like historical adventure with a heavy dose of queer romance, this is definitely the book for you!