A review by lanternheart
Let the Dead Bury the Dead by Allison Epstein

adventurous dark emotional tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

Hard to put down, poetic, and with the dark underbelly of an old tale, Let the Dead Bury the Dead was a gripping read by Allison Epstein. Though on the surface an alternate history, and very much holding in its hands an account of old Russia, I found myself far closer held by the book as a character study — watching the crushing, exhilarating, horrifying, and even sometimes hopeful evolution of its main characters: Felix, Marya, and Sasha. 

I felt that the deep internal conflict of these characters within themselves, heightened by the strange witchcraft of the vila, Sofia, to be the strongest point of this book — and could not have asked for a better linchpin around which their evolution turns. From the moment Sasha rescues her and regrets it, while Felix cleaves to this mystery woman while failing to recognize the lover who came back from the Napoleonic Wars, I was hooked on reading the transformations set before me. 

I will admit to, though I know the history of revolution in Russia and any country to be a hard one, a pang of disappointment at the end — though Epstein tries to offset this by having Marya look forward, to the spirit of the Russian people who have seen that a kind of revolution is possible. We as readers in our day know it will be a long time coming, and a bloody one, far from what these characters may have hoped. Nevertheless, I enjoyed this book very much and read it quickly whenever I grasped it, and won't forget its characters soon. Perhaps due to his extreme conflicts within himself, Sasha is the one I'm least likely to forget.
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