This is a book about a war in Paris between the Windows and the Mirrors and an average boy who is selected as the king of the Window Wraiths. The story shows real character development in the boy, which is interesting and has some higher principles of ethics and physics were engaging. I read this with my son. It was a very slow start, but we persevered and it paid off. There are some good messages in this book, but it is not preachy. The book shows that they boy can learn to think critically and solve problems. I also like the setting and the freedom that the parents give their son.

Oh man this book took forever to read. I could not get into at all at first. Just hated Ollie. Well for some reason I kept coming back and each time I got a little farther along, then very suddenly, I was done! And what's more I really enjoyed the book. I think a major part of it was I went to Paris for a second time and fell in love with the city. Paris is featured heavily. Anyway, this is good. I recommend it. Don't let Ollie drive you insane.

Good characters, strong prose, and witty dialog. The plot is severely overdone, however, and various magical connections seem much too complicated for most young readers (and even old readers) to follow. But Mr. Gopnik is clearly very talented, and I am looking forward to his next book.

With "a key, a pebble and a paper crown, an ordinary, unremarkable boy—a boy of no particular qualities or note” becomes anointed King of the Window. An American boy named Oliver, living in Paris, suddenly finds himself the center of an ominous battle between good and evil, amidst the spirited sortie for souls of windows and mirrors, and engaged in the mental melée that separates witty and wise metaphor from soulless irony. Can a children's story work where a quantum computer open up a portal to an infinite cosmos of un-reverse reflections; where in-line skaters, window wraiths and shadow armies face off against a Master of Mirrors and soul-stealers; and where a modern boy runs into the unbound souls of Racine, Molière, and Nostradamus via windows? Sure, why not....While this was a fun, fanatical adventure, conceptual complexities were a bit heavy and under-explained for a children's story; some plot points will even make an adult dizzy. Yet I found myself still cheering on Oliver, his American buddy Charlie, the witty Mrs. Pearson and the supercilious, yet sensationally enchanting Neige, while looking forward to the dynamic denouement.

Notable Quotables
'"The soul-stealers come for you through the screen. But the soul-takers are the reputations, the procession of work and worry, the bills you worry over too much each month, the faces you forget to long for, the surrender of another dream to another need. Do that for a lifetime, and the sinews of your soul get so stretched that all the soul-stealers need to do is reach in and pull.'"

"'A triumph of pure reason...Or else a disaster of abstract thought. You can never tell which will be which until you try. And by then it's too late, which is one comfort.'"

"The golden lie was the greatest lie of all–it was the lie you told others about your own courage, in order to make them courageous...Your pretending to be brave when you weren't made other people braver than they really were–and their bravery bounced back on you...and made you brave."

Book club member recommendation, cute fun book, not very surprising, but definitely a good book for preteens that like fantasy novels.

Oliver never imagined that staring into a window while wearing his paper crown would lead him to becoming the King of Windows, chosen to lead an army of wraiths in a battle against the dreaded Master of Mirrors, who seeks complete control - at the cost of innocent souls. Gopnik provides fans of fantasy and science fiction with an interesting premise that, though lost within a multitude of confusing character interactions and lore, does offer intriguing dilemmas and adventure for the most loyal of readers. Can Oliver convince his new allies - and himself - that he is the king they need?

I discovered this book by accident. The Friends of the Ann Arbor Area District Library, as part of their efforts to help fund the library, sell books donated to the library for just a few dollars. I, and many others, regularly check their shelves to see if there are any books I might be interested in. I recognized the author, Adam Gopnik, whose book, From Paris to the Moon, I read many years ago. Even though I barely remember any of the book, I do remember enjoying reading it. I trusted my gut and bought the book. I'm glad I took a chance. It's a great book.

I was a little put off when I saw it was published by a publisher of children's books. Then I realized the Harry Potter books were published by a publisher of children's books. Maybe I should not be concerned by that. I persisted. I'm glad I did.

The main characters are kids, 12-13 year olds. And like the Harry Potter books, they are on a mission to save the world from a force of evil determined to rule the world. Clearly a good vs evil story, not much unusual there. And like the Harry Potter stories, they are in a world where things work differently than normal. Powers exist which they need to understand and figure out how to deal with. Suspension of disbelief is part of what makes this work. This isn't the reality we are familiar with.

This book is grounded in another way. Paris. There are numerous references to well-known landmarks, Versailles, The Eiffel Tower, The Louvre, The Seine, Luxembourg Gardens, The Paris metro, Gare du Nord, Notre Dame, The Mona Lisa and many more. There are also references to lesser known landmarks which made me wish I knew Paris better. In addition there are well known historical figures such as Moliere, Racine, Richelieu, and Nostradamus who appear as characters, and symbols such as fleur-de-lis. Everything is distinctly French.

In some sense this book is an updated version of Lewis Carroll's Alice Through the Looking Glass. the main character, Oliver, seeks the help of a famous literary critic, Mrs. Pearson, He eventually realizes that she is actually Alice's granddaughter. The connections gets more and more concreate. There's conflict between windows and mirrors. To get to world were most of these characters exist Oliver needs, like Alice, to go through the Looking Glass. Most mirrors reverse the image, but going though it you get to a world where everything is reversed, hard is soft, and time travel is just a matter to thinking yourself to another time, but moving is hard. But there are very rare true mirrors which do not reverse images. Those are on Oliver's list of need to find items. Oliver also needs to solve Nostradamus' riddles. There's even a quantum computer which is about to be demonstrated but it is fueled by souls that have been ripped from people when they admired themselves in mirrors, somewhat like Soylent Green. Yikes.

Bottom line lots of things to figure out. If this intrigues you I highly recommend the book.

Good god this book

I have a lot more to say than I care to type, but I've never read such a pretentious book supposedly aimed at kids. The constant defining and redefining of French terms and replacing English words with their French equivalents was incredibly pointless. Look, I know that this book takes place in France, but that can be conveyed by names and locations, not being a dictionary. It's like that kid that comes back from studying abroad and who's like "Oh, sorry, the French just sort of slips out, haha, did I tell you I've been to France?"

There were many parts in this book where they paint Oliver as a complete idiot, taking everything completely literally (he looks around to greet someone when his friend say "we've got company"), and several completely meaningless exchanges that were inserted to seemingly only pad out the length of the book (here's looking at you, section that tries to explain quantum physics in two separate ways). There is also an entire chapter devoted to exposition dumping over dinner and I almost fell asleep during it.

Also, the fact that Mrs. Pearson is Alice Liddel's (of Alice in Wonderland fame) great granddaughter is the absolutely bonkers, but not in a good way. The parallels she draws between the characters in the mirror world and those in Through the Looking Glass were so absurd. So now I guess there's one more piece of media in the Alice in Wonderland Extended Universe™.

I'm giving this two stars due to being a very interesting premise (beings living in reflections is a neat concept), but good lord, this book was incrediblely frustrating to read.

Stuffed to bursting with wonderful details. Adam Gopnik's only children's book (so far) is an interesting departure from his essays and a solid adventure on its own merit.

The King in the Window is a wonderful story that takes place in France and it paints the picture of a world where all of the things in Lewis Carroll's Alice books had actually happened in the real world, only in a much more terrifying manner. The story says that in order to keep the two girls who had seen these things from being frightened out of their wits, Carroll told them sillier versions of what had happened, and those are the stories we know today. But now these things are happening again, and one young boy must stop them. I love the Alice books, so this was a fascinating premise and a very enjoyable read.

If there was ever a children's book that could be described as pretentious, this might be it. I also did not finish this book. I could no longer put myself through the next, "Oh, wow, this is ridiculous," moment. It has a very exciting, imaginative premise, and it caught my attention immediately in the book-store. After taking it home, I was disappointed. While the writing was pretty good (great details, lots of historical facts, fun, great characters--uh, mostly), and the plot was interesting (although slow moving and not particularly fluid), I could not enjoy it at all by the time I reached a certain point. If the author would have just stuck to a story instead of interjecting and explaining things, as if the reader was living under a rock or had the IQ of a five year old, it might have been a bit more bearable. I gave up on it and haven't picked it up since. Maybe some day.

After I have read this book, I cannot fully believe how it can't be more popular, or shelved in the bookstore alongside other famous fantasy series. This has got to be one of the most interesting fantasy-slash-scifi stories there is. Mind teasing, and filled with adventure, this book will not fail to tickle your imagination.