Stephanie Jane reviewed The Winter Queen by Andrew Bromfield (Erast Fandorin Mysteries, #1)
A well-paced adventure
4 stars
I didn't realise when I read The Turkish Gambit (the second in this series) a couple of years ago, that Akunin apparently wrote each of the novels in the style of a different literary genre. I found The Turkish Gambit too slow, but this first book, The Winter Queen was much more to my taste. It's well-paced adventure tale that doesn't take itself too seriously so, although Akunin creates a good sense of late-1800s Moscow and London, there are also plenty of dastardly deeds and the occasional moustache twirl! For me, The Winter Queen almost felt like a steampunk novel. It doesn't have any of that genre's wild inventions of course, but I thought it does have a similar sense of fun.
Erast is nicely understated as a character, especially when set against the more flamboyant suspects in the murder case he puts himself to investigating. We get to see …
I didn't realise when I read The Turkish Gambit (the second in this series) a couple of years ago, that Akunin apparently wrote each of the novels in the style of a different literary genre. I found The Turkish Gambit too slow, but this first book, The Winter Queen was much more to my taste. It's well-paced adventure tale that doesn't take itself too seriously so, although Akunin creates a good sense of late-1800s Moscow and London, there are also plenty of dastardly deeds and the occasional moustache twirl! For me, The Winter Queen almost felt like a steampunk novel. It doesn't have any of that genre's wild inventions of course, but I thought it does have a similar sense of fun.
Erast is nicely understated as a character, especially when set against the more flamboyant suspects in the murder case he puts himself to investigating. We get to see and understand this young man as bashful and often nervous in his first proper job - the start of what he hopes will become a successful career - and I could empathise with his stumbles. I liked that we then see him mature and grow more confident as the novel progresses.
The Winter Queen was a pretty fast read. Its plot tangles well, but not too confusingly, and there is a good array of suspects and red herrings to maintain a reader's interest. I can now understand how Akunin's Erast Fandorin series (all eleven books of it) is so popular. I will probably go on to read more of them myself!