New & Current Releases
Archives: A-Z By Title
Archives: A-Z By Author
Advanced Search

All-Time High Scores
Best Of 2006
Best Of 2005
Best Of 2004
How Metascores Are Calculated
Discuss Books In Our Forums

Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed books.

Tamburlaine Must Die
by Louise Welsh


8.0

based on 12 reviews
read critic reviews
how did we calculate this?

based on 1 vote
read user comments
rate this book

Compare prices at pricegrabber.com

Buy it at powells.com

Buy it at amazon.com

Buy it at amazon.co.uk

Official Publisher Site

Set in Elizabethan London, the author's second novel fictionalizes the final mysterious days of the life of playwright Christopher Marlowe, shortly before his murder.

Canongate, 160 pages
02/09/2005
$18.95

ISBN: 1841956252

Fiction
General Literature & Fiction
Historical Fiction

All reviews are classified as one of five grades: Outstanding (4 points), Favorable (3), Mixed (2), Unfavorable (1) and Terrible (0). To calculate the Metascore, we divide total points achieved by the total points possible (i.e., 4 x the number of reviews), with the resulting percentage (multiplied by 100) being the Metascore. Learn more...

Daily Telegraph Julia Flynn

Utterly engrossing.... Elizabethan England has never seemed more beguilingly immediate.

Boston Globe Anna Mundow

This tightly compressed suspense novel, dominated by the mysterious Marlowe, provides only hints, not answers.

Boston Globe Amanda Heller

[A] literate melodrama.

Daily Telegraph David Isaacson

This bold, imaginative, vibrant novella resonates on several levels.

Los Angeles Times Susan Salter Reynolds

Her fictional explanation of Marlowe's mysterious death makes this book a phantasmagoric Elizabethan thriller. [6 Feb 2005, p.R11]

Publishers Weekly

A hard, sharp little rapier of a thriller/mystery that packs a punishing schedule of sex, violence, wheeling and double-dealing into its brief length. [17 Jan 2005, p.35]

The Independent Aleks Sierz

All this is perfectly enjoyable, and Welsh is particularly good at conveying the feel of an Elizabethan London spooked by plague and plots.

The Nation Daniel Swift

Every line of Tamburlaine Must Die is informed by a thorough grasp of not only the day-to-day of Marlowe's life but also a sympathetic willingness to imagine the in-between.

The Globe And Mail [Toronto]

To this reader, at least, the basic premise of Welsh's fiction -- that the playwright himself composed this text, which ends at sunrise on the morning of his death with "A Curse on Man and God" as an angry last testament -- is unconvincing. [19 Mar 2005, p.D13]

The New York Times Book Review Charles Taylor

The most pleasurable thing here is Welsh's depiction of Marlowe.... Still, "Tamburlaine Must Die" is a disappointment, especially compared with "The Cutting Room."

Kirkus Reviews

The thin plot will disappoint readers looking for the generic pleasures of the historical mystery. [1 Dec 2004, p.1115]

Library Journal Joseph M. Eagan

Unfortunately, the narrative fails to convey adequately the sense of trepidation and urgency that one would expect from such a desperate man, while the language seldom reflects the literary talent of its alleged author. [1 Dec 2004, p.106]

The average user rating for this book is 8.0 (out of 10) based on 1 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

marina o gave it an8:
The book reveals a lot of details from Marlowe's life which are very convincing and vivid. It explains Marlowe's character through his actions.

Discuss this book in our forums

Return to top of page

Tamburlaine Must Die by Louise Welsh

Tamburlaine Must Die
by Louise Welsh