The story was fine until the time travel started.
Since this is the biggest part of the story I found it really difficult.
The Character seemed to accept this was normal and just fitted into the time with no problems.
I really struggled with this.
Not for me, although I did finish it.

I found this book somewhat enjoyable, though I'm not much of a fan of time travel. I liked the characters and the way it allows a younger audience to enjoy such a wonderful Shakespearian story. Macbeth happens to be one of my favorites!

Thanks to NetGalley for granting me access to this series. As an English teacher I’m always on the lookout for books that will ease students into things they find daunting, such as Shakespeare.
This series interested me as I was curious to see how the author used the source material to frame each book. This first in the series is linked to Macbeth, but it certainly wouldn’t offer much insight to someone who hadn’t read/studied the original play.
Sam, our main character here, gets sent to boarding school and he ends up in a curious dreamland that seems to transport him to medieval Scotland. While there he befriends a young girl who then turns up in his own world.
This would probably interest readers who like historical novels or fantasy tales, but it seems rather misleading to focus too much on the Macbeth link.

My thanks to NetGalley and Lodestone Books for a review copy of this book.

While not a re-telling, this book is a story that takes us between the modern world and the Scotland of Macbeth. This is the first of a trilogy titled ‘Shakespeare’s Moon’. Sam is a young boy studying in St Francis de Sale, a boarding school in England, as his father is away for work (archaeologist) and mother is ill. But St Francis is not an ordinary school and Sam finds when he falls asleep on certain occasions, he finds himself in very vivid dreams, dreams that are unfolding in old Scotland, where there has just been a war and Sam is in Macbeth’s castle, where the devious plot to kill the King is being hatched. But in this world, Sam is not himself but an entirely different character, a soldier. Here he meets the pretty Leana who has a mysterious past herself, and before long they find that Leana too, can at times come into Sam’s world and have a real existence there. Caught amidst war and treachery in Macbeth’s world and something unseemly in Sam’s school, they must avert the dangers there and defeat those who might even threaten their very lives.

This was a book was such an interesting premise, time travel and Shakespeare, both of which are the reason why I wanted to read this one in the first place, and I was so sure I would really enjoy it. In many ways, it does deliver on both these elements, these is time travel, we find ourselves in Macbeth’s world, where war and danger are ever present, and the witches’ presence is also often felt. In Sam’s world, the modern world too, things are not as innocuous as they initially seem, and magic and the supernatural pervade this world, though more mundane activities like lessons and detention take place alongside. But while these elements are there and the author has woven them together in an interesting way as well, I really didn’t find myself absorbed by this book. The pacing isn’t particularly fast, though there are some exciting moments including on how it would end, but this (the pacing) didn’t bother me. I quite liked the last two chapters—the way they were done and the promise of further adventure that comes through. And I think I also understood the title of the series as I read the book. But I felt it lacked explanation on a lot of points, like what the connect was really between the two worlds, how Leana was part of the modern world when she didn’t seem to have gone back as Sam did, her mysterious past, why she remains the same in both places while Sam changes, why were there these supernatural events taking place in this world (with what object), and such (though some might just emerge as the series continues). And while the book certainly did take us back to Macbeth’s world, I felt there just wasn’t enough of it—from the description, I expected to be more deeply into that story, rather than just going in and out of it at different points, and to be more involved with the main characters. Again, while I didn’t have any specific grouse with any of the characters, at the end of the day, I didn’t find myself getting really interested in them. So this was just an ok read for me, just about two and a half stars.

The book was interesting and well written. The characters were well written too. I'd read again at some point. So good.

The synopsis said that the main characters "become wrapped up in events in Macbeth" but that's not even 25% of the book, and also why I decided to read it. While this is a little dissapointing, since I was expecting the main characters to actually have more to do with Macbeth, I tried to make sense of the rest of the story.

Maybe this book is just not for me, but I didn't enjoy the writing style, the jumps in time, the way certain things were presented. One of my biggest issues where the accents in the "past" part of the book. English is not my first language, and I believe I understand it pretty well; however whenever anyone with an accent talk I had to reread at least twice, and sometimes even saying it aloud, to make sense of it. Usually, I'm ok with it if it's for a short period of time, but it was way too much in this book. It might not seem like a big deal to you, but it is so frustrating to me when I can't understand what it's happening because of how things are written.

Also, the formatting on my ebook copy fell completely apart for some time and it was way too hard to understand what was going on (again).

I can tell the next book is based on Romeo and Juliet, which is the only Shakespeare play that I absolutely hate, so I won't be reading that.

This could be the book for someone, but it's definitely not for me.

I would recommend this title to young children (4th-8th grade) who are interested in Shakespeare but find his work intimidating. The book has good pacing, interesting setting, believable and likable characters.

This is about Sam who time travels to medieval Scotland and meets a girl named Leana. Leana also travels to the current time to Sam's boarding school. These two become caught up in the events in Macbeth, the Shakespearean play.

My first question while reading this book was why was it called Invisible Hand. Unfortunately, I did not find the answer. Up to now, I am still figuring out if I have missed the part where it was explained in the story. I really want to know why this story was titled as such. It has always been important to me to know how the title was fitted to the story. In a way, it somehow gives me a peek into the mind of the author.

As mentioned, the two main characters in this tale --Sam and Leana found themselves trapped in the events of the story Macbeth. I actually have not read Macbeth. I guess, it was the reason why I felt like there were events in the story that I could not connect. I felt like the story was fragmented. Maybe, if I read Macbeth and read this story again, I will be able to appreciate and identify the parallel events in this story and in the play. In short, I was a little confused. I was not able to appreciate the whole story at all. I was not able to piece together the flow of the story. Entirely my fault but I also wished that the story would have been easier to follow even if I have not read Macbeth.

What I heartily appreciated about the story though was the part where they had to find an object which was also what the witch in Macbeth was looking for. The same witch is also happens to appear in the boarding school and had installed herself as one of the few people who has authority and access to the whole school and its surroundings. Sam and Leana will have to race against her to get that object to prevent her from causing havoc both in medieval Scotland and in the present time. It was so cool for these two finding clues from the historical events and persons that lead them to the church and the cemetery. I really enjoyed this part.

One other thing I was wondering about was why Sam could travel back in time, to a period when he was not even born. I thing the story hinted of a special ability of Sam that was passed on from his mother's. I am interested to explore more on this unique characteristic of Sam. I also wonder about Leana? Is she like Sam? How can she also travel between periods?

I give this book 3/5 old books. Truthfully, I find the plot amazing. I don't think integrating any Shakespearean play into the story has been done before. It's a fresh idea. This story reminds of Sam Sotto's Love and Gravity. It also has time travel but instead of a historical genius, in here it features a classic play by no other than Mr. William Shakespeare. If time permits, I would like to reread this story. I want to fully grasp it and connect with it. I don't think I was able to appreciate what it was telling me the first time.

I am looking forward to reading the next books. As I understand, it would still be set in the boarding school but it would feature another of Shakespeare's play. Maybe, next time I will get lucky and it would include a play that I have read before like Taming of the Shrew. And I will get to the enjoy the story to my heart's content.

One foot in front of the other and follow your nose.
- James Hartley, The Invisible Hand -


Thank you again, Netgalley for the copy.

I did not finish this book as I did not engage with this story at all.

I was given this ARC by NetGalley in return for an honest review.
A cute story for a more younger audience. I wish I could have read this when I was 16 years old and not already in my thirties. The premise and world building brought Shakespeare’s play <i>Macbeth</i> more to life and the world building was quite nicely done, yet the style was a bit too young for me.
The plot was more elaborate than I initially believed based on the description of the book, which I believed to be Shakespeare’s play retold in a new and creative way. It was a nice little mystery, though.
The main character was well enough developed, but I was rather confused by his romantic interest, whose emotions quite frankly were all over the place. This made for a few eye-roll worthy moments and I enjoyed the sections of the story without her much more than when she was around. I couldn’t quite understand the author’s decision to create such an unstable character.
The writing flowed nicely, although at times the amount of detail describing obvious situations was larger than needed. But, I truly enjoyed the description of the Scottish landscape and it certainly was a treat to an admirer of all things Scotland.
Overall, this story is a good start to a series that intertwines modern day mystery and introducing the writings of Shakespeare in a new and refreshing way that could make them much more interesting to a younger audience. I would recommend this book to anyone of a younger age and who wants a light read.

A great book for teens and young adults to learn more about Shakespeare's work. I liked the take on Macbeth's story and it held my interest to want me keep reading. It took me some time to get into the story but once the it started unfolding it was a great read. The ending definitely made me want see what's next for Sam and Leana.
I chose to read this book and all opinions in this review are my own and completely unbiased. Thank you, NetGalley and John Hunt Publishing Ltd!

Let me start by saying this book was not really written for a 30 something year old woman. It was written for a younger (11 to 14 year old maybe?) probably male audience. It was ok. I read it fairly quickly and the pace was decent though maybe asorld bit fast at times, especially the end. Though it is not a series I may continue, it did intrigue me so it's possible I may read sequels. I would recommend it to younger kids who may be interested but intimidated by Shakespeare as it has an interesting spin on his work, in this case Macbeth. The author is great at details and most will easily see the world he is trying to create

Though it wasn’t very long, I found myself having to take extra time with James Hartley’s new series opener “The Invisible Hand.” With less than 200 pages I expected to be able to flip through it in an evening. If I had, I’m sure I would have been left very confused. Not only is there a flipping between very different settings and times, but there also is a story within a story. The author seems to be going for the Shakespeare iconic play-within-a-play. What originally appears to be dreams soon takes a turn into a sort of body jumping between times or storylines. At times that storyline seems to be a bit haphazard and not everything is wrapped up as nicely as I would prefer. For the first in a series, it did it’s job of drawing you into Hartley’s new world but I’m not sure I personally will be picking up the second one in a hurry. It’s not badly written, I would simply say that needing to read a book through twice in order to understand it, isn't my cup of tea.
*This eBook was provided by NetGalley and Lodestone Books in exchange for honest feedback*