Log24

An alternative to The Snow Queen  
as "the cold volume" of Wallace Stevens

On The King in the Window , by Adam Gopnik —

"The book is dedicated to Adam Gopnik's son,
Luke Auden, and his late, great godfathers,
Kirk Varnedoe and Richard Avedon.

'A fantasy that is as ambitious in theme,
sophisticated in setting, and cosmic in scope
as the works of Madeline L'Engle.

The unlikely eponymous hero is Oliver Parker,
an 11-year-old American boy living in Paris
with his mother and journalist father.
After he finds a prize in his slice of cake on
The Night of Epiphany and dons the customary
gilt-paper crown, the boy is plunged into
a battle over nothing less than control of the universe.

His enemy is the dreaded Master of Mirrors,
who rose to power during the reign of Louis XIV,
when Parisians developed technology for making
sheet glass. This faceless, evil being,
capable of capturing souls
through mirrors and enslaving them
in an alternate world that lies beyond all mirrors,
now seeks to dominate the entire universe by
mounting a quantum computer on the Eiffel Tower.

Oliver's mission is to defeat the Master of Mirrors
and save his father's stolen soul.' "

— Description at https://biblio.co.nz/. . . .