Once again Moore has assaulted Shakespeare, this time in a mash-up of Merchant of Venice and Othello with a little bit of Poe thrown in. Pocket, the fool from Fool returns as an ambassador to Venice and mourning his beloved and deceased Cordelia, daughter of King Lear. He is befriended by the Doge but manages to get on the bad side of everyone else and ends up imprisoned. When near death he is rescued by what he believes to be a mermaid but is, in fact, the title character, which proceeds to protect him through a number of scrapes. The plot is convoluted and includes Shylock, Jessica, Portia, Othello, Desdemona, and Iago among others. What makes this fun is the bawdy humor and outrageous insults. There are jokes about everyone speaking with English accents even though they are Venetian and characters arguing with the chorus. Listening to the audiobook version added to my enjoyment of this book. Hearing Iago with a thick Scottish accent made me laugh every time I heard it. It's probably best if you read Fool before tackling this book. However, if you are a Shakespeare purist, you should avoid this one.
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