The Last Days of New Paris

How it reads

The Last Days of New Paris is fantasy (alternate-history fantasy, specifically), and its dominant mood is dark. It goes to difficult places and doesn't look away. It moves fast: plot-driven and hard to put down, the kind of book that carries you along even when you're tired.

It's set in an international setting, in the historical past, told in the third person, staying close to one character. Its central concerns are war, art and creativity and power and politics. In weight it sits in the middle: substantial without being heavy going.

It stands alone, so there's nothing else you need to read first or after. The ending is bittersweet: it resolves, but at a price. It's a short book. It's moderately known: read by plenty of people, but not a household name.