Great Review of "Cossacks" at Atlasphere

Cossacks In Paris has received a very intelligent review at The Atlasphere by Michael Moeller. Atlasphere review Here's an excerpt:

[T]he plot structure feels like a series of chess moves. Can Breutier convince Alexander that Agripin has betrayed the Coalition’s cause? Will Agripin’s espionage affect the outcome of the war, and thus allow him to acquire Kaarina as a trophy? Will Agripin fall for the ploy when Kaarina’s twin sister, Kaisa, stands in for her?

As each of these moves reconfigures the prospect of certain outcomes, one realizes that the war is a backdrop — almost as if a distraction — to the central conflict of Breutier retaining his queen, not acquiring Agripin’s. With each move and fleeting advantage before the opponent makes his next move, the reader is left gritting his teeth for a resolution, yet paradoxically wanting the drama to continue.

The struggle of Breutier and Kaarina to be together against the milieu of war machinations and a barbarous foe is portrayed best by Metternich’s following statement after observing the animosity between Breutier and Agripin:

"Those rulers [Napoleon and Alexander] are merely fighting over a continent. The two young men over a woman. I daresay the latter will always be more passionately pursued than the former, much as it defies logic."

It may defy logic for somebody like Metternich, who is embroiled in political deceptions and a cunning pursuit of power, but it does not defy logic for those who seek the goal of a fulfilling romance. … [T]he reader finds himself tightly gripping the pages as the union of Breutier and Kaarina is constantly undermined by the political calculations of rulers, the switching allegiances during the uncertainty of war, and a Cossack intent on winning the prize, even though the prize has no desire to be his bloodlust trophy.

So intense is the rivalry between the two that Agripin actually saves Breutier’s life during one of the battles — all so Agripin can preserve his desire to kill Breutier with his bare hands, as he tells Breutier. … During the succession of battles and chess moves leading up to the synchronized climax of a fight over a woman intersecting with a war for that era’s center of civilization — Paris — a question seems to continually beat at the back of the reader’s mind: Will a man’s passionate pursuit of a woman prove more powerful than a ruler’s quest for an empire?

Perren’s economical style keeps the pages turning and the reader craving a resolution.