I liked the swirl of historical characters and setting. But I think the multiculti mind of the author allowed for characters that were not enough of their culture or time. I say eh. ( )

Interesting sort of historical fantasy mashup that works. Some social commentary, some spirituality, and some action add up to something worth reading. No big messages are really brought through but that ends up not distracting from the overall enjoyment. ( )

This is the real story of John Dee's trip to Cracow and Prague in the 1580s. Dee and his collaborator Edward Kelley are fleeing a demon whose attention they have attracted in their experiments in angel magic. Initially, they travel with Prince Laski, for whom the angels that only Kelley can see have prophesied that he will be king of Poland. When events do not proceed with the speed that Laski had hope for, and it becomes clear that the demon is still with them, Dee finds it desirable to move his family to Prague, and Kelley again accompanies them. Gradually, Dee realizes that Kelley is more interested in the wealth theoretically available from alchemy (if he can create a philosopher's stone and turn base metal into gold) than in higher knowledge. Even more gradually, he realizes that his wife Jane is right--Kelley is not his friend, and is not to be trusted.

While in Prague, Dee and Kelley are summoned to an audience with Rudolf II, and meets his very first Jew, Rabbi Loew, who has also been summoned for an audience. Dee quickly finds himself in deeper water than he ever imagined, as Rudolf wants both favorable prophecies from the angels, and the wealth that Kelley claims he's on the very point of being able to produce, and further meetings with Loew as well as some of the other seekers of occult knowledge who have gathered in Prague reveal that Dee's demon is merely a symptom of a far greater problem, one that endangers the whole world. There is a door between dimensions, and the door is has swung wide open. If the demons reaching through the door can find one crucial thing and accomplish one crucial task, they can remake this world according to their needs. Dee and Loew, sometimes barely able to communicate across the divide of their beliefs, experience, and prejudices, need to work together to close the door forever.

Most enjoyable. ( )

This was an enjoyable quick read.
I could not put the book down.
This is the second book I've read by Lisa Goldstein and I have to say she may become one of my favorite authors. ( )

Read as part of my reading of novels set in Prague. Whilst not the best written (it is lighter to read than many of the children's and teen fiction novels I have read that are set in Prague) it is the one with the most historical and religious detail which pulled together and gave coherence to the many myths and beliefs surrounding Prague, especially the Jewish Quarter, that I have read about in other novels and the one which gave me the most sense of place. Things like the use of scrying mirrors and other alchemic rites touched on in other novels, here came to life. I don't think it worked terribly well from any other view point though. There were many extraneous characters and it was all a bit simplistic. It was an unusual portrayal of John Dee as essentially a good man, although this is set before he became consultant to Queen Elizabeth, but he was very irritating and a weak character.

In an exhibition I recently came upon a scrying mirror which belonged to John Dee and I was genuinely excited and a little nervous to look into it so Goldstein obviously brought the Jacobean sense of science and magic being combined vividly to life for me. ( )