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Title: Kingdom of Shadows by ALAN FURST ISBN: 0-375-75826-7 Publisher: Random House Trade Paperbacks Pub. Date: 09 October, 2001 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $11.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.93 (43 reviews)
Rating: 3
Summary: Kingdom of Shadows is Somewhat Murky
Comment: As much as I wanted to like this book, I know it is one that I will forget quickly. The author's idea was good: a Hungarian male named Morath living in Paris in 1938 becomes drawn into secretive schemes to support the Eastern European countries against Hitler. He makes skirmishes into Nazi occupied territory, risking his life to rescue people trapped behind the lines. This book could have been good if it had been fleshed out with more detail, more explanations of events and relationships among characters, and with more complete transitions between events. It always seemed to have holes in the storyline, so just when I thought I was beginning to understand what was going on, I'd get lost again. I had to make a lot of assumptions about why the characters were doing the things they did, and what happened between events to make sense out of the sequence. To help me understand, I stopped about a third of the way through to do some research on the actual history that occurred in this region on the brink of World War II. It did help, but the sketchiness of the story kept me from getting fully involved in the plot or the characters, and kept me from forming good mental images. It's the ability of a story to create pictures in your mind that makes it memorable. The book is rather short - 239 pages, and certainly could have been plumped up to make a more complete and satisfying story.
Rating: 5
Summary: Byzantine Beginnings to WWII - Superb Historical Spy Novel
Comment: This is my second reading. I returned to Kingdom of Shadows after reading Robert D. Kaplan's influential Balkan Ghosts, A Journey Through History. I read Balkan Ghosts, partly due to my fascination with the historical and geographical details in the novels of Alan Furst.
Nicholas Morath is half-owner of the Agence Courtmain, a small and reasonably prosperous advertising agency, an unexpected gift from his Uncle Janos Polanyi, Count Polanyi, a Hungarian diplomat in Paris. Nicholas admires his aging uncle and willingly assists him in various efforts. We readers, along with Nicholas himself, only poorly understand the full purpose of these ventures into central Europe. Hitler's aggressive behavior threatens Hungary, still recovering from its defeat in World War I. Through convoluted plots Count Polanyi quietly battles others willing to align Hungary with Hitler to regain territory lost after World War I.
Alan Furst redefines the historical spy novel, superbly melding history and geography into a riveting novel. The best analogy may be a comparison with classic black and white film noir, an atmosphere of darkness and despair. Nicholas struggles to carry out his missions, but each action only advances Hungary closer to an inevitable catastrophe.
Reading an Alan Furst novel is a delight. He provides a fascinating story of espionage embedded in a realistic historical, cultural, and geographical matrix. I have now read three books by Furst. They are all excellent. Kingdom of Shadows is my favorite.
Rating: 4
Summary: Good WWII thriller, but not Furst's best
Comment: Nicholas Morath, a Hungarian national living in Paris just a couple of years before the start of World War II. As the nephew of a Hungarian count, Morath finds himself mired in the intrigue and futile battles to prevent Hungary from aligning with the Axis.
I've now read four Furst novels, including Kingdom of Shadows. I have to say, this was my least favorite. While it is still great, there was a certain complexity missing here. Morath is a good man, who's only discernable flaw is that he smokes too much. He's a victim of history, not a maker of history, which is true of all of Furst's heroes, but he's not terribly complex. Unlike some of the protagonists of Furst's novels, Morath know from the get go what is right. He doesn't grow much, and that detracts from the novel.
However, Furst is still excellent in his descriptions. The action does move reasonably well, and the settings are vividly evoked. It's also a testament to Furst's talent that he can make known historical events (e.g. Austria's annexation or Stalin's overtures to Hitler) and make them feel "enormous" and surprising.
Overall, good enough, but not my favorite Furst book.
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Title: The Polish Officer: A Novel by Alan Furst ISBN: 0375758275 Publisher: Random House Trade Pub. Date: 09 October, 2001 List Price(USD): $12.95 |
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Title: Red Gold : A Novel by ALAN FURST ISBN: 0375758593 Publisher: Random House Trade Paperbacks Pub. Date: 08 January, 2002 List Price(USD): $11.95 |
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Title: Night Soldiers : A Novel by ALAN FURST ISBN: 0375760008 Publisher: Random House Trade Paperbacks Pub. Date: 09 July, 2002 List Price(USD): $12.95 |
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Title: The World at Night : A Novel by ALAN FURST ISBN: 0375758585 Publisher: Random House Trade Paperbacks Pub. Date: 08 January, 2002 List Price(USD): $11.95 |
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Title: Blood of Victory: A Novel by Alan Furst ISBN: 0812968727 Publisher: Random House Trade Pub. Date: 13 May, 2003 List Price(USD): $12.95 |
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