'Caliban's Hour' – Tad Williams (Legend)

In an attempt to prove that I do actually read all those books I buy, from charity shops and the 'used' section of Amazon, here's a post about 'Caliban's Hour', a book that I bought a couple of weeks ago. I used to have a copy but, given the state of my life over the last three(ish) years, it's no surprise that I have absolutely no idea where that copy has gone. All I can hope is that someone, somewhere, is enjoying more than I did when I read it last. That was years ago, in case you were wondering, so it was way past time that I read it again and found out whether it's still the book I remember reading. Which was a bit silly really, people change over time and that means books do as well, especially if you're going back for a re-read. Let me tell you all about how a book I read years ago turned out to be something different when I read it last night...

Caliban is a monster. This much we know from William Shakespeare's play, The Tempest. But what drove him to evil? Was it Prospero? Or his witch-mother Sycorax? Or something unknown and unknowable? Miranda will find out as Caliban has returned to take his revenge, and her life. Before he does this though, Caliban has a tale to tell and Miranda will listen...

I'll be completely honest with you, the last time I read 'Caliban's Hour', I was just coming down from that heady rush of finishing 'Memory, Sorrow and Thorn' (for the first time) and just wanted to read anything else that Tad Williams had written. Not the best time then to read a standalone book that is completely and totally different from a four book epic fantasy tale... I didn't hate 'Caliban's Hour' but it was a struggle to finish it and I never went back, until last night when my opinion of the book changed very much for the better.

Reading 'Caliban's Hour' on its own merits (which yes, I should have done right from the start...) showed me a thoughtful read that doesn't so much retell 'The Tempest' as fill in some of the gaps around the edge of the story. What happened to Caliban to make him who he was in Shakespeare's tale... and was any of it actually his fault? From where I'm sitting now, 'Caliban's Hour' is an examination of the 'nature vs nurture' debate; an examination that is balanced enough to offer plenty of food for thought, in either direction, after you put the book down. I'd say that Caliban always had the capacity for evil but it was the machinations and influence of Prospero, and to a lesser extent Miranda, that really tipped the scales for him. That's just from my reading of the book though. Like I said though, there's enough in the story to make a convincing argument that the son of a witch, and a demon (possibly), was always going to turn out bad...

There is a real tragic air to 'Caliban's Hour' and you can't help but root for the poor guy, whether he's innately evil or not. Life has really voided its bowels on him, and from a great height. There's enough left of him though that revenge is something that he can achieve and that, for me, was what kept the story moving forwards. I really wanted to see him achieve some kind of justice for what had been done to his life and I did; it just wasn't the revenge we were all led to expect would happen. I liked that move of Williams, not only was it a sweet little twist (right at the very end) but it also confirmed, for me, what Caliban had been the whole time. Or at least what Miranda thought of him, which is kind of the same thing (I think).

'Caliban's Hour' is only a hundred and eighty pages long but I think there's more to chew on in that short time than you'd get in books twice the size. I won't be waiting another twenty six years (I just worked it out and it really was that long ago) to read it again. If you can track down a copy (or just buy it on Kindle if you have one) then you really should give it a try.