Hag-Seed portrays itself as a retelling of Shakespeare’s ‘The Tempest’, though I would debate this. It is more a play within a book, that play just happening to be the Tempest. Otherwise, the characters can somewhat be associated with those of Shakespeare’s play, the protagonist Felix seemingly supposed to represent Prospero, whereas this isn’t a glaringly obvious comparison, especially with other characters in Atwood’s retelling. This, however, did not take away from the enjoyment of the book. Standing alone, it is an unconventional tale of revenge, with exploration of themes of loss, grief, mental state and redemption. My gripe with the book would be the extent to which the prisoners whom act in Felix’s Tempest are stock characters and conform to stereotypes, though this can be overlooked.