As an avid reader of historical fiction, my personal favorite is Dorothy Dunnett, I love picking up a new writer's book--getting in on the "ground floor" of a good series feels like a coup. With that in mind, I feel lucky to have found The Master of Verona. This is the first novel by David Blixt, according to his jacket-profile a Shakespearean actor, and seems to be the first in a series. The setting is 14th century Verona (a welcome respite from Tudor England, the current popular hf setting), the characters a mixture of actual historical figures and characters from Romeo & Juliet (there are a lot of fun little cameos by the characters of Shakespeare's other Italian comedies: Kate and Petruchio, Shylock, and, I'm not positive, but I think we met Benedick from Much Ado).

We follow mainly the story of young Pietro Alaghieri, son of the poet Dante, as he befriends the scions of the Montecchi and Capuletti families (bad stuff happens there, of course); falls into the thrall of the powerful and charismatic Capitano of Verona, Cangrande della Scala and his equally appealing sister, Katerina; and tries to find his own place in the world away from the shadow of his famous father.

There are five or so important plotlines surrounding these characters (and an entertaining side cast of villains, henchmen, servants, clergy, and jesters) that all come together in the course of the book and in the physical presence of a bastard baby named Cesco. There are terrific battle scenes (something I often gloss over in hf, but here they are absolutely cinematic in their delivery), wonderful examples of pageantry and period detail, and, most important in my mind, a really great story.

I started this book as a time-filler on my commute, but I found myself reading late into the night, every night for a few days, until I just pulled an all-nighter to finish. And I don't regret any loss of sleep. This book was a blast and I can hardly wait for the next one.