Robin Marx's Writing Repository

This review originally appeared on Goodreads on April 23, 2013.

The Kingdom of Shadows

By K. W. Jeter – Editions Herodiade – June 8, 2011

Review by Robin Marx

I started this book hoping for a decent horror tale, but it turned out to be quite a struggle to get through. Set mainly in Germany during World War II, half of the plot deals with a Nazi doctor's deranged and homicidal investigation into the Lazarene—a Romani-like Christian sect believed to possess the secret to immortality—and (the less interesting) half deals with an actress of Lazarene heritage.

Despite heartbreaking circumstances (forced to act as Joseph Goebbels' mistress, having her child torn away from her), actress Marte is presented as more or less a flat, passive cipher. Concentration camp internee Pavli shows a bit more initiative, but he too is more or less a reactive character until the climax. The plot is as weak as the characters. Events happen and then the book stops. Marte's child is hinted as having some greater importance, but he doesn't really.

Throughout the book Jeter demonstrates technical competence, but I can't remember the last time I read a story this uninteresting and unengaging. It's not poorly written, just tedious and bland. It sparked almost no emotion or surprise in me whatsoever. It was only my dislike of leaving books unfinished that kept me from abandoning it partway. This is the second book I've read by Jeter and assuredly the last.

★★☆☆☆

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