The Serpent of Venice

A Novel

De: Christopher Moore

Narrado por: Euan Morton

New York Times bestselling author Christopher Moore channels William Shakespeare and Edgar Allan Poe in The Serpent of Venice, a satiric Venetian gothic that brings back the Pocket of Dog Snogging, the eponymous hero of Fool, along with his sidekick, Drool, and pet monkey, Jeff.

Venice, a long time ago. Three prominent Venetians await their most loathsome and foul dinner guest, the erstwhile envoy of Britain and France, and widower of the murdered Queen Cordelia: the rascal Fool Pocket.

This trio of cunning plotters—the merchant, Antonio; the senator, Montressor Brabantio; and the naval officer, Iago—have lured Pocket to a dark dungeon, promising an evening of spirits and debauchery with a rare Amontillado sherry and Brabantio’s beautiful daughter, Portia.

But their invitation is, of course, bogus. The wine is drugged. The girl isn’t even in the city limits. Desperate to rid themselves once and for all of the man who has consistently foiled their grand quest for power and wealth, they have lured him to his death. (How can such a small man, be such a huge obstacle?). But this Fool is no fool . . . and he’s got more than a few tricks (and hand gestures) up his sleeve.

HEINOUS FKERY MOST FOUL

IF WORDS WERE WEALTH, A KING AMONG KINGS YOU WOULD BE
Is this a good book, you ask? That is AN ILL FORMED QUESTION. Fans of Moore, will probably suspect what a great book this is and they would be right. I am a big fan of the first book, FOOL, but liked this one even better. Reading book one, is not necessary to enjoying this one, but it is a good book, so why not buy both? A book about the past, written in a Shakespearean style, by a modern author. Written with much wit, with much cleverness, funny, sometimes hilarious, with sex and bad language. It's main character speaks several languages including FKING FRENCH. OH, FK STOCKINGS.

THIS IS A PUNCH TO MY HEART
I have trouble reading or listening to Shakespeare, but did not find this book a problem and even loved the language. There are some jumps in time, that got me confused, but not enough to lower the five star rating.

PUT ON FRIENDLY FACES
An audio book takes two people to make it great. It first has to be well written and this certainly was and than it has to have a great narrator and this also does. Comedy is especially hard for some narrators to get right. They almost have to be a comedian themselves to get the timing down right. Morton is a comedian.

ADIEU

Funny, creative, well written, did I mention funny

I'm a big fan of Moore. His newest books have been about a piece of history and/or a story from Shakespeare that he then puts his own nutty twist on. And Moore is nutty. Of that particular genre, this is his best yet.

If you've read "Fool," the main character Pocket is back to lead us through, well kind of, the story of Othello. The story line, the pace of the story, and the action are great. The story is driven by Pocket and it's believable, fun, and left me guessing as to what would happen next.

The best part, as with most Moore books, is the quippy dialog and character development. That's where this book really shines. I laughed out loud several times and just loved Pocket by the end. He's silly, and funny, and naughty but also is developed as a character.

It didn't get five stars because about 2/3 of the way through, the story got a little muddled for me with the large number of characters. I got lost as to where the story was going a little bit.

One, possible suggestion: At the end of the book, the "afterward" or epilogue, Christopher Moore himself comes on and explains where the pieces of the stories were taken from to create his story. He talks about the history and about a couple of works from Shakespeare. If I had my choice, I would have listened to that first. I think I would have enjoyed the story even more. If you'd rather be completely surprised by all facets of the story, then don't listen to it first. But if you'd like to have your bearings, and understand why Othello runs into some of the characters he does, before the book, I'd go to the end and listen to Moore's dialogue. It is really interesting stuff, it was great that he added it.

Morton as a narrator was awesome. The "chorus" voice was a little annoying, but it was supposed to be, so it worked.

Laughing out loud at midnight - its that good.

Narrator was incredible and perfect for the role of Pocket. Joyous tale of a number of Shakespeare's character set in Venice, Genoa, and all things Italy in and around the Crusades. A fantasy romp where the narrator can be heard by the players - very funny parts of the book.

I'm very tired at the moment, but wanted to make sure the world knows that in the scheme of things, this book is a 10 and in my top 5 all time. So enjoyable and funny it was, I'm holding back on the Serpent of Venice's predecessor......

Here's to laughing out loud at midnight!

Not as good as "Fool" - Not enough Drool

Any additional comments?

I love Christopher Moore and "Fool" is one of my all-time favorites. However, this was a bit disappointing as a follow up to "Fool." My biggest complaint is that Drool was largely absent from this story. Christopher Moore is one funny, witty writer and he delivers the chuckles as well as the laugh out loud moments as always. Euan Morton is perfect as Pocket. But, as Christopher Moore sometimes does, he went a little far off the reservation for my taste. Not as good as "Fool" but I do hope that Pocket and company return again.

Applause!

This is a Christopher Moore book and has all the chaos that implies, but I want to give a shout out to Euan Morton for delivering a performance worthy of a voiceover. Not only is the Shakespeare/Quasi-Shakespeare delivered perfectly (a feat in itself) but the different accents and even voice-breaking were superb.

This is a very, very difficult book to read aloud, and Euan did it with flair.

There's not often I tell people to listen to books over reading them, but Fool and Serpent of Venice are on the list.