Come Like Shadows

by Welwyn Wilton Katz

Book Overview

Kinny is thrilled when she gets a summer job as an assistant to the director of a play at the Stratford Theatre Festival, but things go wrong almost from the start. The director is strange, the actors... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0670848611
• ISBN13: 9780670848614
• Release Date: September 1993
• Publisher: Viking Children's Books
• Length: 304 Pages
• Weight: 1.10 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 5.7" x 8.8"
• Age Range: 12 years and up
• Grade Range: Grade 7 and higher

Customer Reviews

Come Like Shadows

The book Come Like Shadows is a amazing book full of comparisons. i.e -comparisons of setting -comparisons of characters -comparisons of themes -comparisons of historical info all these r compared with the real life Macbeth except way different and way kewler

A superbly written action/adventure fantasy

Welwyn Katz's Come Like Shadows is the story of sixteen-year-old Kinny O'Neil who things she's landed the job of a lifetime as the assistant to the director of Shakespeare's Macbeth at the famed Stratford Festival. But she finds that the director is acting strangely, the cast members are hostile, and a woman is killed in a freak accident on the very first day of rehearsal. Then there is an the antique mirror she found as a prop and which seems to have some kind of malevolent power when Kinny and her friend Lucas see strange images within its depths. Kinny and Lucas find that they must struggle to protect one another when assailed by unleashed forces that could destroy them all! Come Like Shadows is a superbly written action/adventure fantasy for young readers ages fourteen through young adult.

Shakespearan spinechiller

Welwyn Katz has a good talent for plots of a type that no one would have thought of, such as in modern Arthurian "The Third Magic." Here, attention is swerved toward Macbeth, the evil witches of legend, and a modern-day Shakespearan production.The book opens with Macbeth (the REAL Macbeth) interrupting a sinister ritual performed by the three witches to insure their immortality. As a result, the eldest witch and Macbeth become trapped within a mirror, only to have the hag escape almost a millennium later. Teenage Kinny O'Neil has a summer job at a Canadian Stratford's theater, helping with the production of "Macbeth." But a supposed curse on MacBeth plays (check the Idiot's Guide to Shakespeare--there have been a lot of misfortunes) seems to be coming true via a series of sinister occurrances, that involve the hand mirror. And the witch, who wants to gain a girl's body, is targeting Our Heroine.Kinny and Lucas can see Macbeth in the hand mirror, thus prompting them into investigating the sinister magics of the three witches. The journey to stop the witches from unleashing their evil will take wits and brains - and a voyage to Scotland, the place where it all started...A great chiller, full of atmosphere and creepiness in the forms of the three witches and their sorcery. Katz weaves a spellbinding aura around the book, such as the opening chapter and the scenes where Macbeth can be glimpsed in the mirror -- and the climax, of course. We are also given more grounded visions of places like Stratford (a beautiful place, BTW, book descriptions truly cannot do it justice). He/she also managed to make the backstage events and preparations seem equally intriguing, no mean feat.Kinny is well-written and drawn. She reacts in a manner in keeping with her age and background, but evolves over the course of the book into a more mature and experienced gal. I thought Lucas was a bit weird, but not enough that I didn't like him (although I wish a bit more time had been spent on him)Sadly, no book is perfect. One thing that could -- and should, for it is handled rather clumsily -- have been dropped was the occasional political statement concerning Canada and French Canadians. While it is in keeping with the statement that Macbeth's events are universal, the handling wasn't subtle enough to be likable.Overall, this is a very cool book if you are a fan of fantasy/horror or Shakespeare. Or both.

A Great Twist on Macbeth

I loved this story. It was well written and interesting. Katz's has a great twist on the character of Macbeth. Though I must admit that I find it hard to read/watch/study Shakespeare's play now without thinking of Macbeth as a good guy.The book also appealed to me because it's set in a familiar place, Stratford. But even if you have no idea what country Stratford's in, don't let that keep you from reading the book.