Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.79 AVERAGE
3.79 AVERAGE
This book seemed to be fairly well researched. Being fiction though, they took some liberties with the facts.
Like most educated people my age, I first fell in love with the Romanovs and Anastasia during the animated Dreamworks movie. The movie broke my heart in many ways, but by the end, the swelling music, sparkly dress and (spoiler alert) elopement with John Cusack made everything better before Richard Marx sings the ending credits.
This book just killed me in so many ways. An imagining of the Romanvos' last few days and infused with real notes and letters pulled from archives just made my heart break even more knowing what was coming and how violent it would be. The author does make the effort not to martyr them and explain how the Tsar and his family came to be imprisoned. They were not completely faultless, as anyone who has read a book on Russian history knows. Still, it's one of the more tragic ends to a monarchy in history and the anticipation of waiting to just get it over with was more anxiety inducing than the actual deaths.
This book just killed me in so many ways. An imagining of the Romanvos' last few days and infused with real notes and letters pulled from archives just made my heart break even more knowing what was coming and how violent it would be. The author does make the effort not to martyr them and explain how the Tsar and his family came to be imprisoned. They were not completely faultless, as anyone who has read a book on Russian history knows. Still, it's one of the more tragic ends to a monarchy in history and the anticipation of waiting to just get it over with was more anxiety inducing than the actual deaths.
This book offers a different twist to the long-standing mystery of what *really* happened to the last two children of Tsar Nicolas. I really enjoyed the very intimate look at this controversial family, and the amount of research and historical documents used in the story's telling. The twist at the end was not what I expected! The foreshadowing throughout the book was a little forced but on the whole a great book for anyone interested in this bit of history.
I love historical fiction and this novel---set during the last days of Nicholas and Alexandra was hard to put down. Looking forward to reading other novels by Robert Alexander soon.
July 1918, Siberia. In the Impatiev house, the former Tsar of Russia and his family are imprisoned by Bolshevik soldiers. As the family waits to be rescued, their captors receive authorization to execute the Tsar and his family. This is the story, recounted in all its vivid and terrible drama. What happened to their kitchen boy?
This book was very interesting. It made me want to learn more about the Russian revolution. It was a Thrilling book and it keeps you guessing about things until the end. The ending was a big surprise. I also liked the historical aspect.
This book was very interesting. It made me want to learn more about the Russian revolution. It was a Thrilling book and it keeps you guessing about things until the end. The ending was a big surprise. I also liked the historical aspect.
dark
informative
sad
medium-paced
I really liked this historical (yet fictional) account of the last moments of the Romanovs and the mysteries that shrouded their fatal end for decades. Very interesting retelling of the story. I only took points off for how graphic it got at points, but honestly not sure what I expected from a book about murder.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death
After reading several non-fiction accounts of the murders of the Romanovs I don't really have any desire to read a fictionalized account, but here was this book among my huge stack of unreads, and it's short, so I decided to polish it off. Slightly tedious and repetitious at first, it's just about the daily life of the family in captivity told from the point of view of a little boy working in the kitchen. Then we have the murders told in gory detail. So fun so far. The gimmick of the story is that the kitchen boy is now an old man, telling this story for his granddaughter into a tape recorder And he has a big twist for us. Then the granddaughter discovers another BIG twist. These parts are completely fictional. So what was the point? To say, boy would that have been cool if it was true? I just didn't get it.
This book was very interesting! A bit tedious in the details and history in some parts, so it dragged a little in parts. However, the ending was fantastic and I loved the wonderful way the author wove the historical aspects with the fiction. Honestly, you could totally think it was a true story!! I need to look up the other books on this genre/topic by this author!
dark
emotional
informative
sad
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated