King of Shadows is a short to medium length time travel novel written by Susan Cooper, the highly acclaimed children's fantasy writer and author of the Newbery Award winning fantasy sequence The Dark is Rising. The work reflects Susan Cooper's interest in the theater. While in London as part of an all-boy acting company preparing to perform in a replica of the famous Globe Theater, Nat Field suddenly finds himself transported back to 1599 and performing in the original theater under the tutelage of Shakespeare himself. Nat undergoes a growing up experience that helps him overcome the trauma of an earlier family tragedy. The novel is written in the first person, and the writing style is remarkably clear, coherent, and vibrant in the way it captures the tough-minded, colloquial effects of Nat's thinking.
