false <![CDATA[The Secret History of Moscow]]> http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1183438446m/1418830.jpg 1418830 3 Every city contains secret places. Moscow in the tumultuous 1990s is no different, its citizens seeking safety in a world below the streets - a dark, cavernous world of magic, weeping trees, and albino jackdaws, where exiled pagan deities and faerytale creatures whisper strange tales to those who would listen. Galina is a young woman caught, like her contemporaries, in the seeming lawlessness of the new Russia. In the midst of this chaos, her sister Maria turns into a jackdaw and flies away - prompting Galina to join Yakov, a policeman investigating a rash of recent disappearances. Their search will take them to the underground realm of hidden truths and archetypes, to find themselves caught between reality and myth, past and present, honor and betrayal . . . the secret history of Moscow. 1409205 1 11 2007 The Secret History of Moscow total:192|5:20|4:69|3:73|2:25|1:5| 192 650 411 72 4 3 false false Tue Mar 31 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Wed Mar 25 04:00:50 -0700 2009 Tue Mar 31 01:26:01 -0700 2009 Secret History of Moscow reads like a fusion of Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere and American Gods, only set in Moscow and populated by Slavic deities.

On the one hand I can't say that I'm much enamoured by any of our protagonists, which is not to say that they are not good characters. They a...more...]]> 5 2 false false Thu Jan 31 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Sat Jan 12 13:48:35 -0800 2008 Fri Feb 01 12:42:21 -0800 2008 Ekaterina Sedia
Prime Books


Kat Sedia's "new" book, (it came out sometime in 2007, but my reading schedule is slow as molasses) The Secret History of Moscow, is an intriguing novel about set in both the normal world of Moscow in the 1...more...]]> 4 1 false false Thu Mar 20 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Mon Mar 17 12:12:33 -0700 2008 Fri Mar 21 10:10:07 -0700 2008 more...]]> 2 1 false false Wed Feb 06 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Thu Dec 27 22:38:27 -0800 2007 Wed Feb 06 20:46:09 -0800 2008 more...]]> 5 0 false false Mon Jan 05 23:07:38 -0800 2009 Mon Jan 05 23:23:49 -0800 2009
I think what stuck with me most was the characters' love of "Moscow of the past." The old homes and buildings that made up the city center where only the privileged few lived. The transition from "...more...]]> 2 0 false false Mon May 11 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Wed May 13 18:12:33 -0700 2009 Wed May 13 18:17:05 -0700 2009 more...]]> 2 0 false false Sat Jan 24 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Fri Jan 09 11:34:22 -0800 2009 Sat Jan 24 09:15:56 -0800 2009 more...]]> 2 0 false false Thu Sep 10 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Tue Aug 25 06:09:33 -0700 2009 Thu Sep 10 08:22:47 -0700 2009
Unfortunately I couldn't get into the story. First of all I didn't like...more...]]> 1 0 false false Sun Jan 11 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Wed Jan 07 19:23:57 -0800 2009 Mon Jan 12 19:13:03 -0800 2009 more...]]> 3 1 false false Tue Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Wed Jan 02 13:08:42 -0800 2008 Wed Jan 02 13:10:42 -0800 2008 1 0 false false Tue Jul 01 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Tue Mar 10 09:57:00 -0700 2009 Tue Mar 10 09:57:49 -0700 2009
Reading blogs' reviews on this book, I was under the impression it was a good fantasy.
It is not.
I would say it is a fiction with a bit of introduction of Russian fairy tales protagonists such as Koschey the Deathless, some bits and pieces of hi...more...]]> 4 0 false false Fri Mar 20 04:29:23 -0700 2009 Wed Mar 18 05:56:19 -0700 2009 Fri Mar 20 04:29:23 -0700 2009
...more...]]> 5 0 false true Wed Sep 03 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Mon Jan 05 19:40:21 -0800 2009 Tue Jan 06 00:36:23 -0800 2009 more...]]> 3 0 false false Sun Mar 22 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Fri Mar 27 20:22:32 -0700 2009 Fri Mar 27 20:23:06 -0700 2009 This was a rather strange book that I found I quite enjoyed. It was kind of fun to read all of these fairytale characters coming to life and contemporary Russians taking their very existense in stride... just like a good Russian would do! (A Russian peasant would know this af...more...]]> 3 0 false false Thu Feb 05 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Thu Dec 18 09:00:31 -0800 2008 Thu Feb 05 18:33:44 -0800 2009 more...]]> 4 0 false false Sat Jun 07 18:13:53 -0700 2008 Sat Jun 07 18:15:12 -0700 2008
The Secret Hi...more...]]> 2 0 false false Tue Dec 23 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Wed May 07 02:53:52 -0700 2008 Tue Dec 23 06:18:52 -0800 2008 more...]]> 4 0 false false Mon Apr 07 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Sat Mar 29 20:13:23 -0700 2008 Mon Apr 07 21:43:20 -0700 2008
I hav...more...]]> 3 0 false false Sat Dec 01 00:00:00 -0800 2007 Mon Nov 26 12:54:02 -0800 2007 Fri Dec 21 16:51:07 -0800 2007
I did enjoy the glimpses of Russian folklore that it offered because I'm not familiar with that mythology at all. I would have liked to see a stronger connection to...more...]]> 2 0 false false Fri Feb 06 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Tue Jan 13 10:31:24 -0800 2009 Sun Feb 15 20:42:28 -0800 2009 more...]]> http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/8?book_id=1418830