This is a rather complicated book, perhaps meant for a gifted reader, a bright child. Like a short story, no detail is extraneous, every character, every incident, every concept all ties together, so the reader is exhausted trying to remember it all. And the author is a wordsmith--there are small puns, jokes, alliteration. It was interesting to me how may words there were that began with "W"--not always alliterative: wraith, window, white, wig, wonderful, witty, woman, watch, wine, waiter, welcome, worrier. And some Ms: mirrors, meddle, master. And then there is the concept of reflection: mirrors, windows, water, many shiny surfaces such as a silver spoon (oops, now I'm alliterating). And the concept of opposites: what is hot in one world is icy cold in another.

This is a fantasy. A lonely American boy living in Paris with his parents becomes involved in a complicated world where he is the King in the Window and must save all the lost souls. Like any good fantasy there is lots of suspense and predicaments and a big battle. There are surprising allies as well as surprising villains and lots of opportunity for imaginative problem solving.

My biggest problem with this book is it was about twice too long and took forever to read. Thinking from a 5th or 6th grader's point of view, this is a book I might start because it seems so promising, but then the readers I know would get bogged down in the long exposition and the lengthy descriptions--and then give up. When it takes too long to read, the details of the beginning (which count toward understanding the end) are forgotten and so, if the reader sticks with it, the ending is not as rich and satisfying as it could be when how you got there is only partially recalled.

I admire Adam Gropnik as a writer. Accomplished as he is, I think he has a lot to learn about being a children's author. Writing for children is vastly different than writing for adults.

first adventure on Europe's royalty through time I truly enjoyed

Of all of the children's books I read this summer, this was probably the best. I loved the plot and the sudden, occasional, really insightful thoughts. And the writing style was really nice, though the random (though few) inconsistencies bugged me a bit. And it's just so original. I don't think I've read such an original fantasy novel in years. My only problems: Oliver's lucky guesses as the solution to problems (Deus-ex-machina-esque, although this was more at the beginning) and the easy way Mrs. Pearson and Charlie just completely believe his story. What almost bothered me was that there seemed to me to be very little development to the characters, except for Oliver. The other characters were well-developed and under-developed at the same time, especially Neige. It was weird. In any other book, I would've called her two-dimensional, but it was more like the author's lack of description described her well enough that she didn't really have to be further developed. We already knew her really well because everybody knows a sort of Neige. Hopefully that made sense. Anyway, gorgeous book. I really really loved this, even if it was a kid's book.

Good book. Always was suspicous about Gil Hornshaw. It's weird that he turned into the faceless face of The One with none. The wraiths were really brave. Funny how Oliver turned from a puny little sneak to a heroic King in the Window. Funny also how his mother was a little running dim-wit. Numskull. All those kinds of things. We have a little kitten names Oliver...about 7 months old. Bad. He'd sooner be the Master of Mirrors than the hero of a book!!

;)

This book was way too long for me, an adult, I can't imagine the target audience will make it! It's a fun, whimsical book that has actually inspired some curiosity about the history of glass and mirrors. Some things were far too detailed and tedious. Could have been about half as long and just as entertaining.

To be honest, I found this book difficult to get into. However, as the story progressed, I enjoyed the dialogue and action, as well as the well-developed characters. The message of the book was very meaningful. I loved Gopnik's definitions of such literary terms as irony and metaphor, and such abstract terms as soul and thought.

Humorous, suspenseful, and thought-provoking, his book made me both laugh and gasp, especially as it spiraled to a thrilling and very eventful conclusion.

One of those books that's about children but appeal as much or more to adults. It had some concepts that were a bit hard to wrap your head around, like the 'multiverse' and non-reversing mirrors, but that actually made it more fun to read. I liked it a lot!

Amazing children's book about a boy in France with a parallel universe in mirrors. Loved it.

I'm having a hard time getting through this book. It's one of those books that take an extremely long time to get started. I've found that I don't have a hard time putting it down, thus I've read other books in between and it's taking me a long time to get through this one.

For a children's fantasy book, it was good for adults also. Four stars, not five because I'm not a Francophile! A refreshing take on fantasy, no vampires, ha!

This was a fanciful tale of a boy who accidentally becomes the "King in the Window" and must lead an army of philosophical (think Racine, Moliere, etc) window wraiths against the evil mirror soul-suckers and his arc-nemesis, the Master of Mirrors.

It was a nice little coming-of-age story that got a bit complicated in it's dealings with mirrors and duality and the multiverse, but I enjoyed how Oliver had to grow up and think and learn to be a good King and defeat the evil Master. The long standing play with irony and metaphor was fun to see pop up ever now and then. And Oliver's friend Charlie provided a good amount of comic relief.

The story has the spirit of the Chronicles of Narnia, without the length and not quite as deep. Philosophical, but not spiritual. I enjoyed reading it.

This book wasn't for me--the writing seemed pulled in a lot of directions, the character's thoughts never seemed authentic, and the layout of the mystery slowed any momentum down. On the flip side, it was an interesting perspective of an American boy being raised in France and just from reading the first court scene, I got some JEOPARDY! clues right--which means I learned something! I think the idea is cool, but the execution (haha) was clunky.