A review by rachgunnreads
The Kitchen Boy: A Novel of the Last Tsar by Robert Alexander

4.0

The author helped me reminisce the things I loved so much Russia. It’s so crazy because I lived in the Urals, spent time in Yekaterinburg, and my Russian friends never mentioned the Romanov history buried right in their cities. It must be complicated. And that’s what this book portrays—a piece of some of Russia’s complicated history. While Russian citizens starved, there lived the Romanovs in their lavish wealth. The Bolsheviks killing them senselessly to destroy a 370 year monarchy has since romanticized the Romanovs lives. If Nikolai, the calm and gentle ruler, had been more powerful, maybe he could’ve prevented the fall. Who knows. So well written and I loved the speculative theory of the Romanovs last days and the extensive research.