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A review by thedearest
Empress of the Night by Eva Stachniak
2.0
See more reviews at: http://galactictidesx.blogspot.ca
I really want to like Mistress of the Night but it just wasn't the book for me. I like historical fiction in small doses and like everyone else I went through a Phillipa Gregory phase where I was endlessly fascinated by the lives of European nobility. I don't know too much about Russian history--most of my studies from AP West and the World to my class this past semester on Comparative Politics of Western Europe focus on Western European history. I want to know more. Unfortunately this book didn't help.
Rather than the political history, this focused on the personal relationships with Catherine the Great which were tragic and for me, a little dull. I think Catherine the Great was many things to her country and history, and narrowing it down to a few paramours betrays her complexity.
The style didn't help. While told from the perspective of Catherine recalling her life, it jumps around in time to fill in details of her life. This was interesting in the beginning while it was a bit new but about a hundred pages in it starts to seem erratic.I don't know whether the fact that this is the second in series made it better or worse as it might well have fared better in light of that. I think while I would be interested in reading other historical novels with a different style by Eva Stachniak, this book was not what I wanted it to be which is perhaps not her fault but has made a less than pleasant reading experience for me.
Full disclosure: I received this book as a Netgalley from Random House - Bantam Dell in exchange for an honest review.
I really want to like Mistress of the Night but it just wasn't the book for me. I like historical fiction in small doses and like everyone else I went through a Phillipa Gregory phase where I was endlessly fascinated by the lives of European nobility. I don't know too much about Russian history--most of my studies from AP West and the World to my class this past semester on Comparative Politics of Western Europe focus on Western European history. I want to know more. Unfortunately this book didn't help.
Rather than the political history, this focused on the personal relationships with Catherine the Great which were tragic and for me, a little dull. I think Catherine the Great was many things to her country and history, and narrowing it down to a few paramours betrays her complexity.
The style didn't help. While told from the perspective of Catherine recalling her life, it jumps around in time to fill in details of her life. This was interesting in the beginning while it was a bit new but about a hundred pages in it starts to seem erratic.I don't know whether the fact that this is the second in series made it better or worse as it might well have fared better in light of that. I think while I would be interested in reading other historical novels with a different style by Eva Stachniak, this book was not what I wanted it to be which is perhaps not her fault but has made a less than pleasant reading experience for me.
Full disclosure: I received this book as a Netgalley from Random House - Bantam Dell in exchange for an honest review.