Reviews

Nikolai ja Aleksandra. Viimane tsaar ja tema perekond by Robert K. Massie

nicole603's review against another edition

dark emotional informative sad tense slow-paced

3.5

jkwriting24's review against another edition

informative sad slow-paced

4.5

ekyungaepark's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative sad tense slow-paced

4.5

aaronreadabook's review against another edition

5.0

This was brilliant. A beautifully written narrative history/biography full of interesting characters at a turning point of modern history.

Although the Romanov's with hindsight seem quite naive, Massie is very sympathetic with them as parents dealing with a child with a horrible disease (he too had a child with hemophilia). Add to this one of the most fascinating and mysterious characters in all of history, Rasputin, it becomes a completely compelling drama.

Reading this you can't help but like Nicholas and his family, and hope that they somehow escape their terrible fate, a fate which led to decades of horror for their country.

I love Russian history but I think anyone with any interest in history at all would love this.

rmclain1989's review against another edition

challenging informative slow-paced

5.0

untitledlullaby's review against another edition

4.0

I think this would be better if I was more interested in Rasputin and russias history. I enjoyed the bit about the Tsar and his life but didn’t care much for rasputins bits, hemophilia, World War One bits or the revolutionary’s. I enjoyed the epilogue and found it quite funny one turned into a champagne salesman and another a janitor in New York. But this took me forever to read a hundred pages and often I would get bored that I would want to check my phone. Also the way he would describe rasputins exploits irked me

rebeccatc's review against another edition

5.0

While most biographies tend to be a bit dry and boring, this story of the Last Tsar of Russia and his family is a real page-turner. I was left with not only a better understanding of the causes leading to the communist revolution, but also felt that I knew the Romanovs as individuals. I recommend this to anyone who is interested in Russian history.

dlanciault's review against another edition

dark emotional informative sad tense medium-paced

4.5

I’ve wanted for years to find the time to read this masterful work by Robert Massie.  It did not disappoint.  Well-researched and supported by numerous contemporaneous documents, but written so well that the narrative flows without being booked down in overly academic or clinical minutiae.  Highly recommended for fans of biographical histories.  

palnic26's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad medium-paced

4.75

deniqd's review against another edition

2.0

Although an interesting real story, there were too many details for everything and it made a slow and boring read.