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smcleish's review
4.0
Originally published on my blog here in January 2002.
Furst returns once more to Paris at about the beginning of the war, his principal character being a Hungarian nobleman, on the fringes of his country's diplomatic legation to France and the person who carries out the complex political schemes of his Machiavellian uncle as Hitler begins to menace first Austria then Czechoslovakia, threatening much disruption throughout central Europe.
As events move towards the actual outbreak of war, these actions become more desperate and dangerous, and in the end Kingdom of Shadows relies more on action than it does on the background which is so important a feature of Furst's other novels. The most notable feature of the picture of Paris presented in this particular novel is its emphasis on the cosmopolitan nature of the city; virtually no character has a purely French background. The emotional tenor of the novel is provided by the reader's awarenes of what is about to happen - war in a few weeks, Paris occupied in months, no more a safe haven. All the desperate efforts of the central characters are to be for nothing.
Kingdom of Shadows is not quite as good as [b:The World at Night|919231|The World at Night (Night Soldiers, #4)|Alan Furst|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1320530898s/919231.jpg|245710], but is one of Furst's best.
Furst returns once more to Paris at about the beginning of the war, his principal character being a Hungarian nobleman, on the fringes of his country's diplomatic legation to France and the person who carries out the complex political schemes of his Machiavellian uncle as Hitler begins to menace first Austria then Czechoslovakia, threatening much disruption throughout central Europe.
As events move towards the actual outbreak of war, these actions become more desperate and dangerous, and in the end Kingdom of Shadows relies more on action than it does on the background which is so important a feature of Furst's other novels. The most notable feature of the picture of Paris presented in this particular novel is its emphasis on the cosmopolitan nature of the city; virtually no character has a purely French background. The emotional tenor of the novel is provided by the reader's awarenes of what is about to happen - war in a few weeks, Paris occupied in months, no more a safe haven. All the desperate efforts of the central characters are to be for nothing.
Kingdom of Shadows is not quite as good as [b:The World at Night|919231|The World at Night (Night Soldiers, #4)|Alan Furst|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1320530898s/919231.jpg|245710], but is one of Furst's best.
darwin8u's review
3.0
There were moments I absolutely loved this book, but then it would unravel and drop. The whole fabric of the novel was just a tad too rough. The narrative was beautiful, like all Furst novels, but it didn't have much forward momentum. Other than the jumpy, rough plot -- I loved it. You can practically fall asleep in the whole dark, smokey, Hungarian/French flavor. Furst is amazing at describing the grease between the gears of history.
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