Publisher’s write-up:
‘The Russo-Turkish war is at a critical juncture, and
Erast Fandorin, broken-hearted and disillusioned, has gone to the front in an
attempt to forget his sorrows. But Fandorin’s efforts to steer clear of trouble
are thwarted when he comes to the aid of Varvara Suvorova – a ‘progressive’
Russian woman trying to make her way to the Russian headquarters to join her
fiancé.
Within days, Varvara’s fiancé has been accused of
treason, a Turkish victory looms on the horizon, and there are rumours of a
Turkish spy hiding within their own camp. Our reluctant gentleman sleuth will
need to resurrect all of his dormant powers of detection if he is to unmask the
traitor, help the Russians to victory and smooth the path of young love.’
The protagonist
created by Boris Akunin – Erast Fandorin, has often had comparisons with James
Bond as well as Sherlock Holmes. On that note, I decided to pick this book up,
to see how the author is managing to bring a mystery element into a spy
thriller plot.
This is the
second book where the police officer Erast Fandorin is featured. Here, he is in
Serbia as a volunteer in the Russo – Turkish War in order to overcome his
sorrows (I don’t know what as I haven’t read the first book but I can give my
word that you don’t necessarily have to, to enjoy this book). At the same time,
Varya Suvorova is on her way to Bulgaria to meet her fiancé who works as a
cryptographer in the war for the Russian army. She has her luggage stolen which
is when she meets Fandorin, who offers to help her and makes acquaintance of
the British journalist McLaughlin and the French journalist Charles Paladin,
who are covering the war.
However, soon
after she reaches the Russian camp, a crucial letter to the General is edited,
owing to which the Russian forces move to Nikopol while the Turks move into the
strategically important Plevna unopposed. The only person who had access to the
letter before it was sent was Pyotr Yablokov, Varya’s fiancé and thus, the
reach the obvious conclusion accusing him of treason. The Russian troubles
don’t end there, every attack led by the Russians, the Turks easily
outmanoeuvre them, facing heavy losses.
In the meantime,
Fandorin also talks about a certain Anwar, who is an astute Turkish official
and a formidable opponent to face. He suspects that Anwar has a mole inside the
Russian camp and is tasked with finding who changed the message and who is the
traitor within the camp, as Russia’s fortunes depend on that, and in this, he
takes Varya as his assistant who also has interest in proving her fiancé’s
innocence.
This book was an
amalgam of a lot of my favourite genres, to start with, historical fiction and
then, there was an element of mystery, a rather interesting one. The start
could have been a little difficult as the author would have introduced around
8-10 characters within the first pages, all of them with significant importance
but once you could get a hang of it, there was no stopping with the book. The author
did a good job in establishing the objectives of the warring factions
considering the historical context, with Russia fighting for its Pan-Slavic
ideals and the Ottoman Empire to defend their territories in Europe.
The author also
did a good job in unfolding the mystery gradually – unlike some of the novels I
have typically read wherein the culprit is found early on and the rest of the
book is on chasing the person. There were sufficient red herrings to divert the
attention of the reader and at the same time, without compromising on the
progress of the investigation. Of course, for the satisfaction of the reader, ‘solve before the police’ is possible in
this novel if careful attention was paid to every part of the novel.
Despite the
novel being short, at around 266 pages, the author did a good job in building
some of the characters, such as Varya herself, the progressive woman who
strongly believes in suffrage – this was a frequent point of debate in the
camp, where the highly conservative generals were opposed to her ideas.
However, she did find support from the French journalist Charles Paladin, who
had years of experience in covering events from Mesopotamia till Western Europe
and thus, well-versed in the cultures of both Europe and the Ottoman Empire.
The frequent
ideological conversations between Varya and the others in the camp might be
viewed by some people as a compromise on pace but then, if you enjoy such
conversations (I for one), you would certainly not feel bored, I had in fact
found it rather insightful. There could also be disappointment on the mystery
around Fandorin himself, considering till the end, I got to know very little
about him barring the fact that he was a smart detective and no character talks
much about him as he is in ‘sorrow’ but then, I would certainly read the first
book to know more about him.
The author also
used the genre to his advantage, wherein, characters make accurate predictions of the political consequences of various
decisions in the future, to display the intellect of the character whereas the
reader has knowledge of these events that happened in the future (such as the
Russian Revolution) and know what the author is getting at.
It is not often
that I have been left speechless after reading a book but that was the case
with this book. It was a well-crafted historical fiction cum mystery novel and
would be thoroughly enjoyed by readers of either genre. On that note, I would
award the book a rating of nine on ten.
Rating
– 9/10
Have
a nice day,
Andy
Andy
No comments:
Post a Comment