Theater of Spies

This book continues the story begun in [b:Black Chamber 36150869 Black Chamber (Tales from the Black Chamber #1) S.M. Stirling https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1514146388l/36150869.SX50.jpg 57756465], so it's another spy thriller set in a substantially altered version of the First World War; both the scenario and the story are well researched but fundamentally implausible. You read it to enjoy the high jinks, and perhaps the background research.On first reading, I found the story grim and dismal, being mostly set in wartime Germany in winter. By my third reading, the ambience bothered me somewhat less.The adventures of the two heroines remain somewhat entertaining, if you don't mind the outbreaks of violence; and it was a good idea to give us some chapters from the point of view of Horst von Dückler, their most prominent adversary.This book is a sequel. If you liked the first book in the series, you'll probably like this one well enough, despite my comments above. However, if you didn't like the first one, there's probably no point in reading any more.There is one detail that puzzles me: Just over halfway through this book, Horst confirms that his missing eye is the result of being shot by Luz with a pistol near the end of the preceding book. What I'd like to know is how you can lose your eye to a bullet (fired at fairly close range) without also losing a large chunk of your brain and therefore dying immediately. Wouldn't the bullet go straight through? I make this a question because I have no expertise in gunshots and their effects.