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martyfried's review against another edition
4.0
I found this to be a hard book to read, partly due to the number of characters and partly due to my lack of familiarity with the places along the Danube river.
Some of the characters seemed to have little or nothing to do with the story, although I'm not real sure what the story actually was. All I know is it wasn't what I was expecting, but that's not really a problem.
I think the book is sort of like poetry, where a lot of things are hard to follow, but it leaves impressions along the way. The mood is perhaps more important than a story. Also important is the history, which is exposed by following a lot of people, many of which are not a part of the main story. And to be honest, I'm not totally sure how it ends, or if it matters. But then again, I was never very good at following most poetry.
Some of the characters seemed to have little or nothing to do with the story, although I'm not real sure what the story actually was. All I know is it wasn't what I was expecting, but that's not really a problem.
I think the book is sort of like poetry, where a lot of things are hard to follow, but it leaves impressions along the way. The mood is perhaps more important than a story. Also important is the history, which is exposed by following a lot of people, many of which are not a part of the main story. And to be honest, I'm not totally sure how it ends, or if it matters. But then again, I was never very good at following most poetry.
siobhan_oak's review against another edition
this lacked the suspense and intrigue of his other works. i slogged on for quite some time and kept finding i was drifting off. if you want to read everything by him, go ahead, but i feel it does lack his usual charm.
hellofred99's review against another edition
4.0
Like most things in life, this story gets better once the OSS gets involved
schandmantel's review against another edition
emotional
informative
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
skepticalri's review against another edition
5.0
Great variation of the spy novel, taking readers in time from the early days of fascism in Europe through World War II. This is the first in a series, and I've read the 10th and the 1st; I may have to read the ones in between.
bgolsh2's review against another edition
3.0
Written in a pretty straightforward way, and I was hopeful for this book to be great; unfortunately its just too long and became a bit tedious for me.
plantbirdwoman's review against another edition
4.0
"In Bulgaria, in 1934, on a muddy street in the river town of Vidin, Khristo Stoianev saw his brother kicked to death by fascist militia." So begins Alan Furst's 1988 novel, Night Soldiers. It was the defining moment of Khristo's life and all the events of the next 450+ pages and 11 years proceed from that moment.
The 19-year-old Khristo is recruited by a Russian for the U.S.S.R.'s intelligence service N.K.V.D. He becomes a trained intelligence operative and in the process bonds with a few of his fellow trainees. This bonding will become a very important factor in Khristo's story later on.
He is sent to Spain, where he is ordered to kill his anti-Franco comrades because they are anarchists, not Communists. He runs away from his Soviet handlers, to France, where he is caught up in the German invasion. He experiences a brief interlude of love with a woman named Aleksandra, but then she is made to disappear by the long arm of the N.K.V.D. Khristo moves on again to Eastern Europe where he serves Western spymasters, even as World War II begins to wind down.
This is a complicated story with a plot which twists back upon itself at regular intervals. Characters appear and, before we really get to know them, they disappear. The edginess, the uncertainty of whom to trust, the constant threat of sudden death all seem very authentic to the atmosphere of the times. At least as much as someone almost 80 years removed from those events can judge authenticity.
The story is absorbing and it builds, episode by episode, until the best which comes last when Khristo makes his way back up the Danube into lands now coming under Soviet control in order to rescue a buddy from his training days, one of those he had bonded with ten years before.
Furst brushes the dust off the past and makes it crackle with life once again. He weaves many actual historical events and details into his stories and makes it all appear seamlessly incorporated. Hard to say where reality ends and fiction begins here. His heroes are always humanistic and represent the civilized viewpoint. Their overwhelming trait is always their simple decency and their opposition to brutes, whether they be Fascist or Communist. That heroic profile fits Khristo Stoianev like a glove.
The 19-year-old Khristo is recruited by a Russian for the U.S.S.R.'s intelligence service N.K.V.D. He becomes a trained intelligence operative and in the process bonds with a few of his fellow trainees. This bonding will become a very important factor in Khristo's story later on.
He is sent to Spain, where he is ordered to kill his anti-Franco comrades because they are anarchists, not Communists. He runs away from his Soviet handlers, to France, where he is caught up in the German invasion. He experiences a brief interlude of love with a woman named Aleksandra, but then she is made to disappear by the long arm of the N.K.V.D. Khristo moves on again to Eastern Europe where he serves Western spymasters, even as World War II begins to wind down.
This is a complicated story with a plot which twists back upon itself at regular intervals. Characters appear and, before we really get to know them, they disappear. The edginess, the uncertainty of whom to trust, the constant threat of sudden death all seem very authentic to the atmosphere of the times. At least as much as someone almost 80 years removed from those events can judge authenticity.
The story is absorbing and it builds, episode by episode, until the best which comes last when Khristo makes his way back up the Danube into lands now coming under Soviet control in order to rescue a buddy from his training days, one of those he had bonded with ten years before.
Furst brushes the dust off the past and makes it crackle with life once again. He weaves many actual historical events and details into his stories and makes it all appear seamlessly incorporated. Hard to say where reality ends and fiction begins here. His heroes are always humanistic and represent the civilized viewpoint. Their overwhelming trait is always their simple decency and their opposition to brutes, whether they be Fascist or Communist. That heroic profile fits Khristo Stoianev like a glove.
libmeh's review against another edition
4.0
I first heard about Furst (get it?) in my reader's advisory class long ago but never read any until recently after I bought one of the titles for my sweetie. She became obsessed with his books and read *all* of them in a row. This is the first Furst and I liked it, even though I'm not really a spy novel person. The history is fascinating, though, and the books are well-written.
theretiredlibrarian's review against another edition
1.0
I know this book is supposed to be one of the best espionage novels of all time, but I don’t understand why. Took me forever to get through it. How this is on Amazon’s list of 100 mysteries and thrillers to read in a lifetime? It’s just endless and boring.