Prince of Shadows by Rachel Caine is a retelling of Romeo and Juliet from the point of view of Benvolio Montague. I chose this book because I was intrigued by the way in which the author would tell the well-known love tragedy. Also, I like reading love stories and revisiting famous stories. Therefore, I chose to read The Prince of Shadows. Instead of telling the story of Romeo and Juliet from a third person or Romeo's point of view, as most audiences would expect, it was told from the almost forgotten point of view of the older cousin. Benvolio Montague was the eldest, extra son of the Montague family; he was the sensitive and responsible one, in contrast to Romeo's youth and stupidity. However, at night, he takes on the alter ego of the Prince of Shadows, the master thief of Verona who steals, not for wealth, but for the humiliation of his victims. The book opens with the Prince of Shadows stealing from the Capulet palace. and take Tybalt Capulet's rapier to humiliate the House of Capulet. However, as he walked through Rosaline's rooms, he made a grave mistake: Rosaline Capulet was still awake and reading. Fortunately for Benvolio, Rosaline did not alarm the family, but let him escape from the balcony. Two months later, The Iron Lady, Benvolio and Romeo's grandmother, tasked Benvolio with keeping Romeo from stepping out of line. This was a task easier said than done, as Romeo had been in love with Rosaline and refused to see reason. He even wrote her love letters, which Benvolio had to retrieve. It was during this particular visit that Rosaline learned that Benvolio was the Prince of Shadows, and they began to fall in love. Mercutio Ordelaffi, Romeo and Benvolio's best friend, had a... middle of paper... .Capulet – “I went forward, the sword rang on the blade of the new adversary with a sound like the bell of the devil's church”. All these similes and metaphors made the descriptions more interesting and easier to imagine. On a scale of 0 to 10, I rate this book a 9. It was a breathtaking and emotional story of love, revenge and hate. Rachel Caine kept me on my toes, surprising me with twists even though I knew the story of Romeo and Juliet well. I especially liked that this book wasn't just about love; there was magic, witches and curses, grudges and fighting. On the other hand, the first half of the book is slow paced and requires patience to move forward. Rachel Caine revealed a different perspective to Romeo and Juliet: the romantic tragedy was also an irresponsible, spontaneous and dangerous love. The Prince of Shadows definitely stole my heart and kept it.