I was almost immediately reminded of [b:The 39 Steps|153492|The 39 Steps (Richard Hannay, #1)|John Buchan|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1327974679s/153492.jpg|2422487] when I started this book. Both open with a 1st Person account of the protagonist lacking occupation and being idle just before the action begins and both betray unpleasant attitudes, too. Buchan's Hannay is much worse in this regard than Hope's Rudolf: Hannay is racist, sexist, Imperialist, arrogant and frankly unlikeable. Rudolf, however, makes one fairly mild sexist remark. There are differences, though: Hannay is bored of being idle whereas Rudolf would happily be idle for the rest of his life... None of this really matters beyond chapter one of either book, though. It's interesting to compare with Thomas Hardy. He was contemporary with both Hope and Buchan - but look at the views espoused about women, class, education and social mobility there! Perhaps the lesson is that 'frillers are not the place to look for advanced social attitudes. Because this is most definitely a Victorian 'friller!

Get through the first couple of chapters full of expository set-up and this fairly zips along and is far too short to get bogged down in. Adventure, romance, fictional European Kingdom, sword fights, tragedy...it's all here.

Great fun. I would gladly pick up the sequel...