Historical Fiction Project
A Prince Without a Kingdom
Book Review
In the Historical fiction novel A Prince without a Kingdom by Timothee Fombelle, Around 20 years old Vango must run from rooftop to rooftop to flee from many different people like Boris Petrovitch Antonov and Voloy Viktor. Vango grew up in Sicily and his parents were murdered by Giovanni Cafarello. He traveled the world on the Graf zeppelin. The novel was overall long and slow but had some interesting parts.
Early in the novel, Vango was traveling the world alongside the captain of the Graf zeppelin Doktor Hugo Eckener. One day he missed getting back on the graf zeppelin and they left without him. He was in a cornfield when gunshots can be heard and he got into trouble with the wrong people. Later, he had seen his lost friend Padre Zefiro at the Hindenburg’s first landing in North America. He chased him and found out that he was hunting down an arms dealer named Voloy Viktor that disguises himself as Madame Victoria. Vango was out to look for his identity to find who he was but in the process was caught in a bad place.
The author rarely talk about the setting other than mentioning the great wars or saying where Vango is. At the beginning of each chapter that changes time or place it says where they are and when. The novel did have its moments like when. Vango followed what he thought was a lawyer for Viktor, but was not and was found out and Vango was shot at. This showed that there were many smaller conflicts in the novel. The biggest thing that bothered me was that the book was too lengthy it most likely could be shortened and be just as good. One part spent a couple chapters spying on Voloy Viktor and getting to know his schedule. I would think it could be shortened to below 300 pages.
The central them of The Prince without a Kingdom is that you should not run from your problems and face them directly. I would rate the novel 3 out of 5 stars because it was confusing and long but had a couple exciting moments. I would recommend this novel to people who enjoy this time era and people who enjoy action.
Historical Accuracy of Novel
The Novel was based on historical places and events. The only non-historical characters are the ones that have to do with the main story. The entire book was based in very historically accurate places. The author did not bog down the story with historical facts it was more of that the story was happening during this time like the Graf zeppelin or the Hindenburg. The main inaccuracy was that certain fictional characters were not based on someone in history ore were not aboard the Hindenburg.
Short Informative Piece About the Graf Zeppelin
So Vango spends the year of 1929 as a crew member of the Graf Zeppelin airship by the side of Commander Hugo Eckener.
The Graf Zeppelin is also the LZ-127. It did a round world flight in August 1929. The flight went from Lakehurst – Friedrichshafen Friedrichshafen – Tokyo Tokyo – Los Angeles Los Angeles – Lakehurst Lakehurst – Friedrichshafen. The flight was a total of 41,268. The Commander was Dr. Hugo Eckener and the captains Ernst A. Lehmann Hans Cur Flemming, and Hans von Schiller. Heinrich Kubis the first flight attendant was the flight attendant for the Graf Zeppelin.
Short Narrative of Vango
Dear Diary,
Today was a fast and exciting day. I chased after Voloy Viktor and came to a stop at a Café. But he found out that I was there and he took to shots at me. I am guessing he was trying to just injure me so I could not get away but he missed both the shots. So I sprinted up the stairs and climbed up to the roof and waited until Voloy’s guards left. After I found a place to sleep and that is where I am now.