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linwearcamenel 's review for:
The Kitchen Boy: A Novel of the Last Tsar
by Robert Alexander
I really enjoyed this...I haven't read much historical fiction about the Romanovs before, but I think I have to look for more now. It did get confusing towards the end, trying to figure out what had actually happened, but I think the book did a really good job of capturing the confusion of that time, and of making the Tsar and his family real, and in making me feel for them. While I kind of wish that the author had not jumped on the "did any of the Romanovs survive?" bandwagon, I was pleased that the story did not center on Anastasia, which is massively overdone. I would love to see someone write a longer novel about the entire reign of Nicholas II. I particularly enjoyed the incredible Russian flavor, for instance, I had not known the correct Russian spellings of the names before. I think the author did a great job staying true to the personalities of the Tsar and his family, and I would love to read more about them now. Really my only complaint, and that was beyond the author's control, is that the last third of the book is now known to be pure speculation, given that the last two bodies have been found. But since the book was written before they were found, that really is not much of a complaint, and didn't interfere at all with my enjoyment of the book.