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arthurbdd's review
3.0
Either this is a clunky translation or the original prose isn't up to much; either way, I wasn't feeling this one. Full review: https://fakegeekboy.wordpress.com/2008/02/14/reading-canary-the-curious-incident-of-the-nun-in-nineteenth-century-russia/
persey's review
3.0
Essentially a cozy with an evocative sense of place in late 19th century Russia. I liked how the series started in medias res, so to speak; not the first case for the nun/bishop combo. However, while the bishop convinced, I was missing any real sense of vocation on the part of Sister Pelagia. Perhaps in a later book.
kdraw333's review
3.0
Russian mystery nun fun! I'm a big fan of Boris Akunin's Fandorin series so I gobbled this one up right away. The novel opens beautifully but I found my interest frustrated at times by some lengthy asides and a tendency to choose a point of view too distant from Sister Pelagia's. There are some great twists in the tale and plenty of colourful characters, but it's a shame I was so often left guessing what this clumsy, mysteriously-devout woman might be thinking. Hopefully we'll hear more sisterly thoughts next time.
kimmerp's review
I actually found this a very witty and engaging book initially, but several chapters the characters and the plot started to unravel for me. I eventually decided not to finish.
leialocks's review
4.0
Akunin never disappoints me. Though I missed Erast, Sister Pelagia was equally fun to solve a mystery with. I'm excited and will enjoy getting into this series.
himatako's review
4.0
Had a hard time memorizing all the names since I'm not used to them, but after you got a hang of it, it's really entertaining. Love the author's sense of humor, as I find the comedy parts in the book really funny and even laughed a few times. However, the book doesn't hold back when it comes to death and brutal scenes. I especially love the courtroom part, as I didn't expect the twist at the end. Now I really need to find the rest of the series!
tashabye's review
4.0
Great writing and storytelling with an interesting mystery set in a little town in 19th century Russian makes for a good read. I really enjoyed this one. The writing was great, lots of great sentences that I read more than once just to read them again. I think it takes a bit of time to get all the characters down but once that's done, the read moves smoothly on. I'm looking forward to the next books in the series.
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