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Phil Leader (619 KP) rated The Winter Queen (Erast Fandorin #1) in Books

Nov 28, 2019  
The Winter Queen (Erast Fandorin #1)
The Winter Queen (Erast Fandorin #1)
Boris Akunin | 1998 | Crime, Fiction & Poetry, History & Politics, Thriller
7
7.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
Erast Fandorin is a low level civil servant in nineteenth century Russia. An orphan with no real friends or prospects he has been assigned to the police department as a clerk simply because he has to be somewhere. But following a bizarre suicide Fandorin reveals that under his unassuming exterior is a keen mind and he soon uncovers sinister goings on both at home in Russia and abroad in London.

This is the first appearance of Akunin's master detective. Lacking the arrogance of either Holmes or Poirot but easily their equal in terms of deduction and intelligence he makes a good hero. Each of Akunin's novels is designed to represent a different type of novel and this is closest to spy novels with Fandorin spending much of his time going undercover to infiltrate a secret society or staking out and sneaking into houses. There are also plenty of physical scenes for the young hero to endure.

The plot is suitably obscure and opaque with each clue removing another layer and moving both the reader and Fandorin closer to finding out what is going on.

There is also fascinating detail of life in Tsarist Russia although as with any novel set during that time the seemingly endless Russian names - so hard to pronounce for my Anglophone brain - are sometimes a little overwhelming.

Special mention to the translator who does a fantastic job. Some Russion idioms are left intact for authenticity but others are rendered into English. This may have been originally written in Russian but it reads as if Akunin is a native English speaker.

This wasn't my first Fandorin novel and to be honest I'm not sure it's the best one to start with, despite it being the genesis of the character. To me the complexities of having to understand the Tsarist Russia (and the names) and the plot would be frustrating. But nevertheless a good and interesting read.
  
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Suswatibasu (1703 KP) rated A Dog's Heart in Books

Sep 2, 2017  
A Dog's Heart
A Dog's Heart
Mikhail Afanasevich Bulgakov, Antonina W. Bouis | 2016 | Fiction & Poetry
10
10.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
Fabulous Russian tale about human ethics
What a fantastic satirical book. Think about crossing Frankenstein with My Fair Lady, and then setting it in Soviet Russia. This book is about how human beings are essentially more enslaved to systems than a dog is. A doctor decides to do a science experiment, putting the pituitary gland and testicles of a man into a stray dog to see the results. Instead they end up with a man wolf, who is rude and obnoxious, and demands the same rights as a human being. No sooner is he a man, he is forced to be registered and take part in rebuilding the nation after tsarist Russia. However, as a man he's still treated as a lowly pauper or a dog by the doctor. So who is more free - the dog having to raid bins to search for scraps or the one owned by the doctor and the government? Fabulous little tale.
  
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Leah (: (569 KP) rated Queen of Someday (Stolen Empire, #1) in Books

Feb 4, 2019  
Queen of Someday (Stolen Empire, #1)
Queen of Someday (Stolen Empire, #1)
Sherry D. Ficklin | 2014 | History & Politics, Romance, Young Adult (YA)
9
9.5 (2 Ratings)
Book Rating
This book tells the story of a young Sophia on her journey to Russia where she will hopefully marry Peter to become queen one day.

I didn’t realise it was telling the story of the young Catherine the Great and how she came to be ruler of Russia.

I found Sophie’s character to overall be very enjoyable as she was badass and would take care of herself whilst also having a kind and caring side. However she was a bit annoying at times with how naive and idealistic she could be.

What was really great about this book was at the end of most chapters there was a link to a short video. In this the author would give some extra information and sometimes explain differences between her story and known historical facts and the reasons behind them.

Overall I enjoyed this book and decided to buy the rest in the series and that is saying something.