The Last Bard – Maz Evans

Published By: Chicken House
Pages: 320
Released On: 11/09/2025
Reading Age: 9-11

Will Davenant has known more tragedy than laughter. But in an unexpected twist, he inherits his grandfather’s copy of The Complete Works of Shakespeare – and makes a surprising discovery.

As the last living relative of William Shakespeare himself, Will can summon the Bard’s heroes from the pages . . . and now he has some extraordinary new friends to help turn things in his life around.

*****

Thanks to Chicken House for the advanced copy of this title in return for an honest review.

I love Maz Evans and I love Shakespeare, so what more can you ask for!

Oh this was beautifully addictive right from the off. It’s so much fun and is so creative.

What I enjoyed is that most child readers will just take it for what it is, they’re unlikely to be clued up on the works of Shakespeare, but as an adult reader, I was able to appreciate all the Shakespearean touches Maz has added.

It’s got so much heart to it. It’s about family, love, estrangement and reunions, friendship, forgiveness, grief, longing, regret, community, doing what’s right, being a part of something, helping others, peace, joy, and hope.

It’s got a bit of everything. It’s definitely my favourite kids books of hers so far. And I think probably the most suited to an adult reader too. There’s so much for all ages to get stuck into.

It’s a great mix of fun and mayhem, magic and emotion – oh so much feeling! You’ll be laughing and crying on the same page.

There’s so many characters in this, most of them goodies but there are some you could call baddies, and they’re all so well written, so layered, and so familiar. There are some that are more main characters than others obviously, but there never felt like there was a hierarchy, each character played their own part in this wonderful story.

There isn’t really scope for a sequel or a series, and so it’s unlikely to be anything other than a single book, but I’d like to revisit Will and Ani in future, see how they’re getting on and how their experiences in this book affected them. I’m also quite interested to see how Maz would have worked this story into an adult book, how that would compare?