Reviews with content warning for Sexual content - Zarina

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Zarina by Ellen Alpsten

21 reviews

furheen's review against another edition

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dark informative medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

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oliviaalbion's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

I read this book in just over a week and was entranced by it. I possibly would have finished it sooner, but occasionally needed mental breaks from the very detailed gruesome and violent scenes. I'm finding it difficult to rate as, although fast-paced, that wasn't always a good thing. The structure of the book seemed to jump around a bit, and although somewhat chronological, it didn't always make sense or seem relevant to the current chapter. It seemed overly long, and there were times I felt like I had read a lot because of how much had happened, but really, I hadn't read many pages. The cross between fiction and historical reality has been cleverly manipulated to show the life of the Tsarina. The highs and lows of her life as a female in Russia during the early 1700s have been well portrayed, and I appreciated that the dark history of this time was not glossed over. I don't doubt the historical accuracy of the research, but I do have an issue with some of the portrayals and doubt the primary sources (political/historical bias?). Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed learning more about Russia's history and especially seeing the female pov of the Tsarina. I'm glad I ticked this book off my list but would not read it again.

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linair's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional hopeful informative sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

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rosemaryandrue's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Born a serf, Marta manages through her cunning and luck to rise through society until she becomes the mistress and later wife of Peter the Great, Tsar of Russia.

This is an insane story of stratospheric social mobility, and I am shocked I hadn’t heard of it beyond Alpsten’s books. There’s plenty of shadowy corners in Catherine’s biography in which Alpsten chooses the juicier option, but for the most part the facts however strange are true.

In this book, we follow Marta from her childhood to her ascension as the tsarina of Russia. The author does a good job of immersing the reader in the strange world of 17th century Russia. I liked the complexity with which she sketched out historical figures, especially Peter, who we get to know both as a man and a ruler. And of course the various twists and turns of Marta/Catherine’s life kept me invested throughout.

I did feel, though, that by virtue of being narrator Marta sometimes lurked in the blind spots of the story. Certainly she pursues Peter’s favor for the security that it will lend her, but I felt that we didn’t fully get to see what drives her. I also thought that luck bore her along too far in some parts of the story – probably to ensure a simpler narrative, but it did leave me feeling that Marta was less proactive a protagonist for more of the book than I would have liked.

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