Lead Review
- Book: Prague Nights
- Location: Prague
- Author: Benjamin Black
This was the #TFBookClub choice for May/early June 2017.
It is a while since I have read any historical fiction, so I was anticipatory about how I would get on with this book. I have been to Prague and seen some of the amazing historical architecture that just reeks history at every step. So I thought it would be fascinating to take a peak back in time at what might have been going on behind those heavy doors and dark windows…
The start was slow, but I quite got into the plodding pace once I had worked out who each character was. I got a little bogged down at times with the variety of people in the story but they each became distinctive as the story progressed.
Giblets, smells, blood, wood smoke … all the features of what I imagine a Renaissance city in Winter to have been like, they all rose from the pages. A city full of alchemists, astrologers and doctors “magická Praha” all under the rule of the unwilling emperor Rudolf. And intrigue at every turn!
The story unfolded with a nice and plausible ending. I liked the mix of fictional and genuine historical characters. Overall I came away feeling, that when I next visit the city, I will have a more genuine sense of the footsteps past, that “Nothing in Prague was simple; nothing was ever as it seemed”.
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