Reviews

Fear by Anatoli Rybakov

miklosha's review

5.0

Stalins pursuit of a Party cleansing is under way and woe betide those who, through bad timing or bad placement, get "caught", arrested, tried, and either shot or sent to the camps.
All this at the same time the original group of students are growing up into their own. Yuri as NKVD, Sasha post-exile, Varya afar, Vadim navigating a world of art through state oppression. How these stories are weaved through with the peaking paranoia of Stalin is a feat and Rybakov wrote with such vividness that its hard not to see this trilogy come to life.
The last, dust and ashes, will carry this story to its inevitable end.

msgtdameron's review

4.0

Great book. A continuation of the Rybakov's historical fiction of the Stalin years. Characters continue to develop and the story lines stay true. If you enjoy Russian history lightened by strong characters and a good plot, this is a winner.

mimima's review

4.0

Continuing the story of [b:Children of the Arbat|906860|Children of the Arbat (Arbat Tetralogy, #1)|Anatoli Rybakov|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1179349550s/906860.jpg|1476270], Fear is well named. Excellent exploration of trying to navigate a constantly shifting political landscape. Rybakov did an amazing job of portraying the purges and explaining how the stage was set for a power vacuum as Stalin entered the Second World War. Again, he goes inside Stalin's mind for some of the story, and again it is an icky place to be.
Every once in a while, the story would bog down, which is what kept it from being a five star read.