A Knight of Ghosts and Shadows - Poul Anderson Book Review

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Review Summary

This, the darkest of the Dominic Flandry novels, deals with two of Flandry's relationships: with his illegitimate son, and with the second true love of his life. At the same time, the alien spy Aycharaych, working for/with the Merseian enemies of the Terran Empire, is sowing trouble, trying to use the cycles of human history to his advantage. By the time the book is over, Flandry has foiled his plots, but reached the nadir of his personal life.
Ken Norlie, Resident Scholar

Detailed literary breakdown of A Knight of Ghosts and Shadows

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Ratings are on a 1-10 scale (Low to High)
Plot

Composition of Book
Descript. of chases or violence - 10%
planning/preparing, gather info, debate puzzles/motives - 30%
Feelings, relationships, character bio/development - 40%
Descript. of society, phenomena (tech), places - 20%

Tone of book - depressing/sad
FANTASY or SCIENCE FICTION? - science fiction story
Spying & Investigations Yes
What is main char. doing? - unraveling a conspiracy
Political power play Yes
Political plotlets - preventing/managing clash/war between govts/kingdoms
Is this an adult or child's book? - Adult or Young Adult Book
Family relations Yes
If enemy is a group... - spy group

Main Character
Identity: - Male
Profession/status: - navy soldier
Age: - 20's-30's
Eccentric: Yes - eccentric
How sensitive is this character? - middling sensitive to others' feelings
Sense of humor - Cynical sense of humor
Intelligence - Very much smarter than other characters
Physique - very athletic

Main Adversary
Identity: - Male Alien
Age: - long-lived adults
Profession/status: - spy
Eccentric: Yes - eccentric
How much of work is main antagonist actually present in: - a substantial amount
How sensitive is this character? - middling sensitive to others' feelings
Sense of humor - Mostly serious with occasional humor
Intelligence - Genius (really!)
Physique - average physique

Setting
Planet outside solar system? Yes
Takes place in spaceship? Yes

Style
Person? - mostly 3rd
Accounts of torture and death? - explicit references to deaths
scientific jargon? (SF only) - some scientific explanation
Sex in book? Yes
What kind of sex: - vague references only
How much dialogue? - roughly even amounts of descript and dialog

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Note: the views expressed here are only those of the reviewer(s).

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