The Winter Queen (Erast Fandorin Mysteries, #1) by Boris Akunin

Apr 27, 2011 Tatiana rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2011, mysteries-thrillers-horror, native, historical

I don't know if the charm of this novel translates well into English, but in its original (Russian) language this short historical mystery is delicious.

The Winter Queen (or as it was originally titled, Azazel) is the first book in a series of detective stories whose main character is Erast Fandorin. In this novel (set in 1870s Russia) Erast is a 20-year old wide-eyed youth who accidentally comes to investigate a strange case of public suicide. In spite of his naivete and innocence, Erast proves...more

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May 23, 2012 Neil rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: a-to-z-project

A to Z project, book 6
What a delightful mystery/adventure! Set in 1876 in Russia (and other parts of Europe) it follows an energetic but naive young man who has just begun a career as a minor functionary in the Moscow police. Erast Fandorin is something new (or perhaps something old made new again), a character who succeeds not through his abilities, although he is not without talents, but because fate seems to be on his side.

Akunin catches the tone of Victorian adventure very well. Plotwise, t...more

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Jan 10, 2013 Bettie rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Recommended to Bettie by: Carey Combe

Shelves: hardback, one-penny-wonder, slavic, winter-20122013, mystery-thriller, series, published-1998, paper-read, tbr-busting-2013, adventure, historical-fiction

Translated by Andrew Bromfield.

The Table of Ranks

Opening: On Monday the thirteenth of May in the year 1876, between the hours of two and three in the afternoon, on a day which combined the freshness of spring with the warmth of summer, numerous individuals in Moscow's Alexander Gardens unexpectedly found themselves eyewitnesses to the perpetration of an outrage which flagrantly transgressed the bounds of common decency.

#17 TBR Busting 2013

That was fun!

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Jul 15, 2007 Jill rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: anyone liking a good suspense story with humor

Shelves: foreignmysteries

I discovered Boris Akunin last year and immediately fell into his prosaic style. His novels are full of humor and suspense and there are parts that made me laugh aloud. These books are a fun, riotous read that you don't want to put down until you've completed each and every one of them.

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May 16, 2012 Richard rated it 4 of 5 stars

The Book Report: Young, orphaned Erast Fandorin has landed a comparatively cushy job for one whose comfortable future in czarist Russia was snatched away by the machinations of capitalists, beggaring and causing the suicide of his father: Erast is a fourteenth-class state functionary, serving a police official as amanuensis and errand-boy. It leads him into some odd alleyways, serving his about-to-retire master; his wit, his proficiency with language, his unquenchable curiosity lead his boss to...more The Book Report: Young, orphaned Erast Fandorin has landed a comparatively cushy job for one whose comfortable future in czarist Russia was snatched away by the machinations of capitalists, beggaring and causing the suicide of his father: Erast is a fourteenth-class state functionary, serving a police official as amanuensis and errand-boy. It leads him into some odd alleyways, serving his about-to-retire master; his wit, his proficiency with language, his unquenchable curiosity lead his boss to allow, amused and indulgent of his junior's silly fascination with nothing criminal, Erast to investigate some odd goings-on among Moscow's Bright Young Things, including the suicide of a youth whose estate, over a million rubles, is left to elderly English philanthropist Baroness Adair.

That one fact, that odd itchy ill-fitting wool sock of a fact, unravels an international conspiracy touching every government in the world, though it is unclear that this conspiracy has any evil intent, at least to me. Erast, extremely young and naive at the outset of the book, ends it extremely young, concussed, and in no possible sense naive and inexperienced any more. How that comes about is a page-turning pleasure to read.

My Review: For once, I am glad I read the second book in the series before the first. I felt much more like I was investing my time wisely after reading Turkish Gambit than I might have had I read this book first. It's good, don't mistake me, but it's not as good as "Gambit" and it's not as clear and succinct, either.

But good golly Miss Molly, it's a ripping good read full of explosions, betrayals, and general all-around wickedness and sneakiness. It's got young love, it's got hopeless infatuation, it's got comradeship and affection, and even a *very* memorable wedding scene. I am completely entranced with its picture of czarist Russia; I am excited to discover the roots of some of Erast's oddities; and I hanker to see these books turned into movies or TV shows, like Montalbano has been. I really feel I can SEE the action as I'm reading, and that's usually so much less of an issue for me; but this series is supremely visual.

Read, and enjoy, and don't fear the commitment of time a new series requires, because like Rutledge, like Montalbano, there are a lot of 'em and they get better as time goes by.(less)

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Mar 08, 2008 Nancy Oakes rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: russia-ussr, mystery, mystery-series-first-novel

Absolutely and totally fun novel, reminiscent of those old cliffhanger series things. I would recommend this book to readers who like what I would call "literary" mysteries, rather than the more fast-food type of reads (although, I must say, some of the ffrs (fast-food reads) are pretty good so I'm not slamming them -- I have read hundreds in my time). Anyway, this one demands a little more of your patience & time, but you will be rewarded in the long run.

brief plot review w/o spoilers

Set i...more

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Mar 12, 2008 Corinne rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: the-nook-book-club

This is a brilliant book. The plot is clever and full of those "no way!" moments that I love in mysteries. I laughed out loud more than once - Fandorin is such a silly and unassuming hero, and his use of the "male corset" was absolutely divine. I did see a few things coming - but the writing was such fun to read, that it didn't spoil the book for me.

I appreciate it as a work of Russian literature (excellently translated) - of course, the ending was incredibly Russian (we can't have things be TOO...more

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Apr 20, 2010 Joyce Lagow rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: mystery

First in the Erast Fandorin sieries.[return][return]This is a delightful romp in the mystery genre, set in 1876 Russia. It has everything: murder, suicide, spies, international conspiracies, terrorists, beautiful women, handsome men, bad mustache disguises, transcontinental train trips� you think of it, it� s probably there. It also has some very sly take-offs on language.[return][return]Erast Fandorin is a 20 year old 14th rank (you can go no lower in the Russian civil service) civil servant in...more

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Feb 16, 2009 Carrie rated it 3 of 5 stars

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. The Winter Queen tells the story of Erast Fandorin, a low level clerk in Czarist (1876) Russia, who starts out as a functionary in a police office, but over the course of the novel becomes engaged in a murder case that turns into an international conspiracy, and he learns the skills of a real detective. It is the first book in a series that is extremely popular in Russia, and has recently (well since 2004) been translated into English. Wow, I am full of parentheticals today.

Anyway, at first I wa...more The Winter Queen tells the story of Erast Fandorin, a low level clerk in Czarist (1876) Russia, who starts out as a functionary in a police office, but over the course of the novel becomes engaged in a murder case that turns into an international conspiracy, and he learns the skills of a real detective. It is the first book in a series that is extremely popular in Russia, and has recently (well since 2004) been translated into English. Wow, I am full of parentheticals today.

Anyway, at first I was really, really into this book. I'm interested in Russia generally, and that time period in particular (if you want to read a great book about Russian cultural history, may I suggest Natasha's Dance by Orlando Figes? It is a long, but absolutely fascinating dissection of what Russian culture is all about - particularly in the pre-Soviet era. I wish that there were more books like it that I could read about other countries - I learned so many interested things), and I am a mystery hound. The book is well written, and the character of Fandorin compelling, as he makes his transformation from naïve clerk to self confident detective. Because Fandorin is new to the detective game the reader has fun figuring out not to trust people a little bit before he does - but because the author is clever with red herrings, the answer isn't completely obvious. I was absolutely ready to call this one of the best reads I'd had in a while and to go out and get the rest of the series. And then, the book just lost steam for me.

I couldn't put my finger on it at first, but I realized that near the end the book changed from a mystery story to a suspense story. I prefer a simple murder to a world-wide conspiracy. By the time I got to the cliff-hanger ending (which I don't really think was earned emotionally, but that's common to the genre - they can't all be Peter and Harriet, with their compelling love stories, can they?), I was over the whole thing. Maybe I'll eventually read another in the series, but I'm in no rush to do so. Disappointing, because I love the notion of the tsarist detective, but in the end the books didn't deliver, at least for me.(less)

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Dec 29, 2012 Oliver Iberien rated it 3 of 5 stars

The Winter Queen has an unreal quality. The Moscow and Saint Petersburg (and London) of the past are evoked with descriptive language so non-committal that the reader sees them almost in outline, as if the action were taking place before stylized two-dimensional scenery on otherwise empty sound stages. I imagined Moscow as looking like some kind of Russian Di Chirico painting, with nearly vacant cobbled streets and late-imperial architecture replacing the empty colonnades.

The characters are sim...more

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Dec 09, 2012 Martinc rated it 4 of 5 stars

This book presents a captivating mystery set in 1870's czarist Russia. The plot follows the young policeman called Erast Fandorin as he is pulled into a global conspiracy following the seemingly unrelated suicide of a student in Moscow's Alexander Gardens. The success of his investigations could ultimate alter the fate of Europe and the world.

The beginning of the book immediately kicks of the plot as a student wanders through the Moscow Alexander Gardens. But in a sudden twist of events, he com...more This book presents a captivating mystery set in 1870's czarist Russia. The plot follows the young policeman called Erast Fandorin as he is pulled into a global conspiracy following the seemingly unrelated suicide of a student in Moscow's Alexander Gardens. The success of his investigations could ultimate alter the fate of Europe and the world.

The beginning of the book immediately kicks of the plot as a student wanders through the Moscow Alexander Gardens. But in a sudden twist of events, he commits suicide in front of a crowd of bystanders. This brings in Erast Fandorin. He is sitting idly, without any real cases in his sleepy police station. Upon reading about the suicide, his boss sends him to investigate. After having interrogated some witnesses, one of whom would prove a love interest to Fandorin, the young investigator is sent off on an intricate trail of clues, which would come to include a wealthy, English philantrophist, a cult of men garnering for the attention of a single woman, a dangerous gambling den, a murderous count, and a mysterious organization called "Azazel". The protagonist even has to engage on a journey across Europe and all the way to England, all the while having to survive multiple attempts on his life. In the end, the trail leads back to Russia and the most unexpected, seemingly sanctimonious of individuals turns out to have been pulling the strings behind the conspiracy. Ultimately, Fandorin is able to overcome the antagonist and he is even to able to marry his love. The happiness won't last as a tragic turn of events ends the book.

Overall, I found this book to be a quite interesting read. The in the beginning it flowed somewhat slowly and was even a bit dull. But the plot soon picked up and and intensified with every chapter as the protagonist's journey twisted in the most unexpected of ways. By the end of the book, however, everything fit together in perfect continuity. The various elements of the narrative fit in very well with their historic setting and the author makes gratuitous use of expressions in foreign languages, including German and French. I would recommend this book to any fan of detective fiction. (less)

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Aug 15, 2012 Mommalibrarian rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: mystery, russian-literature, historical-fiction

The author is contemporary but the story is set in the late 19th century in Moscow, St. Petersburg, and London. As I began reading I was conscious of the author inserting clever gaps, forward in time, after which she makes clear that all the characters have been brought up-to-date on the information they were not present for and the reader does not have to hear everything more than once. The story flowed so well that I ceased to observe the style within a few pages.

In historical fiction, the dif...more

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Aug 08, 2012 Biblionomicon rated it 4 of 5 stars

Also wie ich eigentlich auf dieses Buch gestoßen bin, kann ich beim besten Willen nicht mehr genau sagen. Eigentlich hatte ich es entdeckt, als ich für meine Mutter - eine passionierte Krimi-Leserin - neues 'Lesefutter' gesucht habe und dabei diesmal etwas ausgefallen Ungewöhnliches für sie zum Schmöckern auftreiben wollte. Und etwas ungewohnt kommt Boris Akunins Roman "Fandorin" schon daher, der eine ganze Serie mit eben demselben Detektiv begründen sollte...

Wir befinden uns im vorrevolutionär...more

Also wie ich eigentlich auf dieses Buch gestoßen bin, kann ich beim besten Willen nicht mehr genau sagen. Eigentlich hatte ich es entdeckt, als ich für meine Mutter - eine passionierte Krimi-Leserin - neues 'Lesefutter' gesucht habe und dabei diesmal etwas ausgefallen Ungewöhnliches für sie zum Schmöckern auftreiben wollte. Und etwas ungewohnt kommt Boris Akunins Roman "Fandorin" schon daher, der eine ganze Serie mit eben demselben Detektiv begründen sollte...

Wir befinden uns im vorrevolutionären Russland in der zweiten Hälfte des 19. Jahrhunderts. Auch in Moskau hält mit dem Fernschreiber (Baudot-Telegraph), modernen polizeilichen Ermittlungsmethoden, dem Herren-Stützkorsett Marke "Lord Byron" und sogar den ersten Prototypen des Telefons die unaufhaltsam heranpreschende Moderne Einzug. Erast Petrowitsch Fandorin, mit 19 Jahren bereits Vollwaise, verarmter Sohn eines "Brausekopfs", der sein Vermögen in "windigen Projekten" gewonnen und auch wieder verloren hatte, arbeitet als kleiner Schriftführer bei der Moskauer Polizei. Im Alexandergarten erschießt sich ein Student aus unerfindlichen Gründen vor den Augen einer verdutzten jungen Frau und ihrer Gouvernante, und es wird nicht der einzige Vorfall dieser Art bleiben.

Handelt es sich einfach um den Lebensüberdruss einer dekadenten Jugend? Stecken etwa die seit kurzem in Russland agierenden Anarchisten hinter dem Ganzen? Interessant dabei bleibt, dass die Betroffenen stets ihr gesamtes Vermögen ein und demselben "Guten Zweck" zukommen lassen: den 'Asternaten', Erziehungsheimen für Waisenkinder der weltbekannten britischen Wohltäterin Lady Aster. Als Fandorin bei seinen Ermittlungen beinahe erstochen wird - nur "Lord Byron", das Korsett das er zur optimalen Formgebung von Taille und Haltung trägt bewahrt ihn vor dem sicheren Tod - ist er von einer Verschwörung überzeugt. Doch wer steckt hinter dem Ganzen?

Fandorins Ermittlungen führen ihn in den Salon einer atemberaubenden eiskalten Schönheit, der die Männerherzen Moskaus zu Füßen liegen. Als ein weiterer prominenter junger Mann stirbt, wird der bekannteste Ermittler des russischen Reiches aus Petersburg hinzugezogen: Iwan Franzewitsch Brilling, der mit modernsten Methoden der kriminalistischen Ermittlungstechnik arbeitet. Er erkennt schnell Fandorins verborgenes kriminalistisches Talent und schickt ihn in geheimer Mission quer durch Europa auf den Spuren eben jener mysteriösen Schönheit, um die Verschwörer dingfest zu machen und um Schlimmeres zu verhindern.

Natürlich verrate ich bei einem Kriminalroman nicht mehr als unbedingt nötig. Daher wird es auch keine weiteren Hinweise zum Plot der spannenden Geschichte geben, die ihren berühmten Vorbildern Sherlock Holmes (Arthur Conan Doyle), Auguste Dupin (Edgar Allan Poe) oder Hercule Poirot (Agatha Christie) nacheifert und dabei auch den Hunger nach den aktuell so gern gesehenen (Welt-)Verschwörungstheorien bedient. Zwar muss der geneigte Leser erst einige Seiten mit der Einführung recht schwieriger russischer Eigennamen über sich ergehen lassen (Fandorins Moskauer Vorgesetzter etwa trägt den für westliche Zungen schwierigen Namen Xaveri Feofilaktowitsch Gruschin), aber hat man sich erst einmal an das russische Lokalkolorit gewöhnt, überzeugt der Roman mit atemloser Spannung, augenzwinkernder Selbstironie und einer gehörigen Portion Sprachwitz. Die Epoche des späten 19. Jahrhunderts wird von Akunin sehr schön skizziert und das Aufeinandertreffen von westlicher Moderne und zaristischer Tradition gibt diesem Kriminalroman eine sehr eigenwillige Färbung. An dieser Stelle sollte ich erwähnen, dass der Roman meiner Mutter nicht besonders gut gefallen hat. Ich habe ihn dagegen mit großem Vergnügen auf einer Zugfahrt Berlin - Frankfurt - Berlin fast in einem Rutsch durchgelesen.

Fazit: ungewöhnlicher Kriminalroman mit russischem Lokalkolorit in den Fußstapfen literarischer Schwergewichte, die das Genre seinerzeit begründet haben. Lesen!(less)

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Nov 12, 2011 astried rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2011, detective-mistery-etc, bbc-wbc

Another BBC WBC influenced read, the birth of Erast Fandorin the great Russian police.

It' funny how I adjust my standard on each type of book. It seems that I don't exactly insist on realism or fantasy or whatever, but only that a story stays consistent.

Take Wallander for example, it showed from the beginning its strong flavour of realism which made the story's heavy handed luck streak at the last part annoying to me.

With Erast though, it was pretty clear it would be a light fluffy comedy with...more

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Oct 08, 2011 Jeffrey added it · review of another edition

The descriptions of this book I saw before reading suggested it was a "mystery." That's a bit misleading, I think, since although the plot does mostly center on a mystery, or rather series of mysteries (first a strange suicide, then a murder, then an ever-widening conspiracy), it's really more of an adventure or even fantasy story. It includes, for instance, not only the obligatory scene where the hero scales the wall of a house by using a drain pipe and ivy, but also a scene where he's trapped...more

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Sep 26, 2011 Arthur rated it 3 of 5 stars

Erast Fandorin, in this first outing of a series, is a junior detective in imperial Russia of about 1875. He's tasked with investigating the apparent suicide of a student. The task puts him on the trail of a mysterious terrorist ring, who kill or die with the cry "Alzalzel."

Fandorin is described by one character in the book as someone with a halo, who survives despite numerous scrapes with certain death. Given that this is the first of about ten books, it's no surprise that he escapes in each in...more

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Aug 08, 2011 SwensonBooks rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: jill

May 1876. Moscow. Lizanda and her chaperone sitting on a bench near the Grotto on the Promenade witness a young student from a wealthy family use a revolver to shoot himself. Was the death really a suicide? Or a game of American roulette?

Erast Fandorin, clerk and civil servant fourteenth class, reports for duty to Brilling with the Criminal Investigation Division of the Moscow Police. He's sent out to investigate. He quickly discovers this is no ordinary suicide when Fandorin witnesses a murder...more May 1876. Moscow. Lizanda and her chaperone sitting on a bench near the Grotto on the Promenade witness a young student from a wealthy family use a revolver to shoot himself. Was the death really a suicide? Or a game of American roulette?

Erast Fandorin, clerk and civil servant fourteenth class, reports for duty to Brilling with the Criminal Investigation Division of the Moscow Police. He's sent out to investigate. He quickly discovers this is no ordinary suicide when Fandorin witnesses a murder directly related to the event.

The plot is as twisted as The Manchurian Candidate by Richard Condon (1959) and as historically situated in solving crimes as Sherlock Holmes (Sir Arthur Conan Doyle) with the intrigue of James Bond (Ian Fleming). The telling is done with dry wit. It's both a parody and a commentary on czarist society. Everyone is under surveillance by everyone else and the feeling is similar to the kind of peek-a-boo Boris and Natasha did in the old Rocky and Bullwinkle cartoons. The young clerk gets his first break when his boss gets him to buy and wear a Lord Byron corset. You can't help but chuckle when he invokes the breathing practices of Indian Brahmin Chandra Johnson to resist the effects of chloroform when he falls into his adversary's hands...and it works. While working undercover he wins a lot of money playing poker with a person of interest - and his boss lets him keep it.

Whereas Colombo played an aging, sloppy, and confused investigator whose ability to act stupid led criminals into his lair of justice, Fandorin is a young, intelligent, and rational investigator whose beginner's luck, sheer coincidence, and lack of experience lead him to indirectly discover one clue after another as he follows the hot trail across Europe to London.

Three female characters take center stage in the plot. Lizanda is his "angel" and Amalia is the spirit of "Azazel," the conspiracy. Lady Astair is the third. Super-Nanny to the street urchins and poor orphans of London. That's right; a female Fagin to Fandorin's Oliver. There is a shocking traumatic cliffhanger ending; enough said. Read it.

The Winter Queen is the first in a series of eleven detective novels by Boris Akunin and introduces detective Erast Fandorin to the American audience. Boris Akunin is the pen name of Grigory Chkhartishvili, a philogist, critic, essayist, translator of Japanese and author of two other series.(less)

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Jul 10, 2011 Rafal Jasinski rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Jestem kompletnie oczarowany, zarówno kwiecistym, stylizowanym na dziewiętnastowieczną narrację, nieco gawędziarskim stylem powieści Akunina, jak i misternie opracowaną intrygą.

Autor sprawnie przechodzi od wydarzenia do wydarzenia, zręcznie myli tropy, a ilością zwrotów akcji, które występują w "Azazelu" dałoby się obdzielić z dziesięć innych powieści kryminalnych. Prowadzący dochodzenie Fandorin, to postać na tyle sympatyczna, że zupełnie nie przeszkadzało mi jego nietuzinkowe szczęście, które...more

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Dec 06, 2010 rainbow3 rated it 3 of 5 stars

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. The Winter Queen – Boris Akunin :: Saturday, September 18, 2010

FANTASTIC FICTION Synopsis: This is the first book featuring Erast Fandorin, a gentleman sleuth who solves murders and mysteries in tsarist Russia. Moscow 1876. A 23 year old law student commits suicide in broad daylight in Moscow's Alexander Gardens. Fandorin is put on the case to find out what drove him to it, a case that deepens as he discovers that the young man was the son of a rich and influential factory owner. The story is e...more The Winter Queen – Boris Akunin :: Saturday, September 18, 2010

FANTASTIC FICTION Synopsis: This is the first book featuring Erast Fandorin, a gentleman sleuth who solves murders and mysteries in tsarist Russia. Moscow 1876. A 23 year old law student commits suicide in broad daylight in Moscow's Alexander Gardens. Fandorin is put on the case to find out what drove him to it, a case that deepens as he discovers that the young man was the son of a rich and influential factory owner. The story is enhanced by its authentic backdrop of nineteenth century Russia. After all, it's difficult to keep your mind on a case when the new Dostoyevsky novel has just hit the shops. Fandorin has been described as 'the James Bond of the 19th century' and Akunin has been compared to Gogol, Tolstoy and Arthur Conan Doyle. The UK publication of these books will be an international literary event and mark the arrival of a startling new voice in the thriller marketplace.
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Early thoughts, up to page … 29. Circuitous, dense, and to my mind tedious, writing, I shall have to see if I can settle to this. I’m thinking here very much in the style of other Russian authors I have read, truth to be told though my experience is small. Give me a couple of solid paragraphs, or heaven forefend, any clutch of pages, where people start to spout off on their political beliefs or list lots of facts and my mind heads off elsewhere, I’m afraid. Luckily I have recognised that there is humour here too which is a relief. To be honest though, I am sure I would get more out of this if I listened to an audio book.

So on completion? There was something all at a bit of a distance about this for me, I was waiting throughout to become fully engaged but it didn’t happen. The writing style was a tad wearisome, sometimes horribly flowery, sometimes lots and lots of information, and few points where conclusions were drawn, leaving me thinking, yes and… what does it all mean? Not enough periods in some paragraphs for me, where following the information required effort, to sometimes little effect as I thought on completing. There were a multitude of hideously huge titles and names which could have been complicated to follow but I decided from the first page to note the full names, pet names and titles of all the characters that may be key to the plot. Ages of these characters were also a detail I noted, I am not quite sure why. Perhaps to help get an over view and handle on them.

I’ll admit the plot line was exciting, though terribly drawn out. But yet the feeling that the book in its entirety was just scene setting for the rest of the series felt a bit disappointing, as the body blow on the last few pages would clearly have a far reaching effect on the naïve young Fandorin. Or maybe not - time to read more? This I can do having the second book in this series, the Leviathan, on hand to read soon.

The feeling gleaned early that this was humorous was lost for me through the book. Sometimes I recognised that humour was probably still there but it just wasn’t my taste in humour so I suspect lots of it passed me by.

Not liking the superior, arrogant, and cruelly dismissive style of many of the characters, even Fandorin, (i.e. talking down to subordinates) where he thought the situation warranted it, seems to have turned me off this. So, do I dislike the characters or the writing style, or both. Frankly I am muddled. Might be clearer after I have read more in this series?
(less)

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Jun 13, 2010 Mary rated it 3 of 5 stars

This was interesting from a cultural/historical point of view. It was suggested to me by a Russian friend; Akunin is a popular author in Russia.
The protagonist is a young Russian (Erast Fandorin) working in the office of the Moscow Police. He becomes involved in an apparent conspiracy, and (through absolute luck) manages to survive several near-death situations. This was a book I had no problem reading down off and on; I was in no real hurry to find out the 'whole story' as there were so many '...more

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Feb 22, 2011 Annette rated it 3 of 5 stars

Finally finished after a long hiatus!

This is a detective story, but one set in 19th century Russia, so I was pretty favorably predisposed to start off. The conspiracy is actually good - which I assume must be hard to pull off, since they must either have been done already (anarchists!) or be so over the top that they are entirely implausible. This one was probably more on the implausible end, but it pulled out fun details about the political and social context. This was a "if Bentham conspired"...more

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Jan 03, 2013 Melissa Proffitt rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: own, mystery, detective-stories, favorites, historical-fiction

I think I have a new favorite detective series; why, why do I have to wait for the translator? (Answer: Translators are hard-working people who have a difficult job, and Andrew Bromfield is excellent, but probably has a life outside producing new English-language editions for people like me.) Erast Fandorin is charming, so young and sweet and yet so dogged in his pursuit of the mystery behind why a young man would kill himself, in public, for no apparent reason. There are many twists in the tale...more

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May 27, 2011 Jill rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: mystery

I loved the first book I read by Akunin, Murder on the Leviathan: a Novel but this one didn't appeal to me quite as much. I think it was because it was too much of a "spy thriller" which is not my favorite genre. This is the first appearance of the continuing character of Erast Fandorin who is in the first days of his career as a detective for the Russian police and is finding his legs as he goes in search of a group of anarchists. The story gets complicated as clues lead in many directions and...more

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Jan 23, 2011 wally rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: akunin, favorites

Akunin’s story begins like a parody of all those long-dead Russian masters, Dostoyevsky, Tolstoy, George Eliot. Too, I was comparing it to Peter Sellers in his role as Inspector Clouseau, in The Pink Panther. There’s shades of Sherlock Holmes w/the give and take of Erast and Ivan Franzevich. It doesn’t stop there though, as there are scenes reminiscent of Bond, James Bond, but Erast is not the lady-killer that Bond, James Bond is….Erast is a kind of….well, he’s his own man, an original, and thou...more

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Dec 30, 2012 Maikie rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: crime, history

I have tried to find that particular book for more than a year now; I'm finishing Akunin's series by the first volume. How logical.

The Fandorine in the Winter Queen is not the one I'm used to. He's young, intelligent yet naive and emotional. He doesn't stutter. He doesn't have white hair. I really measured his evolution now I was able to discover his first aventure. I liked how he got his Herstal and the habit of counting in his explanations - it is true it is part of his style and I was happy...more

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Nov 18, 2011 Margo Brooks rated it 4 of 5 stars

The Winter Queen, in which our naive hero accidentally unmasks an international terrorist organization single handedly.

This novel, set in Moscow during the last quarter of the nineteenth century, transforms an obscure, fresh-faced clerk, forced to work in the police because his father’s gambling debts made college out of reach, into a Russian hero with a vendetta. The reader clearly sees poor Erast Petrovich Fandorin’s mistakes as he stumbles through the story. We watch the “bad guys” watch him...more

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Jul 20, 2010 Christina Stind rated it 2 of 5 stars

Recommended to Christina Stind by: Kelly

Shelves: kindle, 2010, fiction

This started out so well. A young man commits suicide in a park, right in front of a bench where a young lady and her chaperone are sitting. Young Erast Fandorin of the Criminal Investigation Department is eager to prove himself so he investigates the suicide and discovers that it was more of a suicide pact - or actually, a feud over a woman where two young men takes turn playing American roulette - and joking about how it will be re-named Russian roulette because of them.
So far, so good.
Our her...more This started out so well. A young man commits suicide in a park, right in front of a bench where a young lady and her chaperone are sitting. Young Erast Fandorin of the Criminal Investigation Department is eager to prove himself so he investigates the suicide and discovers that it was more of a suicide pact - or actually, a feud over a woman where two young men takes turn playing American roulette - and joking about how it will be re-named Russian roulette because of them.
So far, so good.
Our hero, Fandorin, follows various leads and ends up in London. He is almost killed, several times in fact, but discovers a giant conspiracy, spreading itself over most of the world.
While doing this, he also has time to fall in love...
So we have both a crime/mystery and a love story - where the crime part is by far the largest. The love story is more or less just pasted upon the rest - to build up to future books in the series, sort of, I guess.
Now, normally I'm not into crime stories - but this taking place in Tsarist Russia, I thought it could be different. Also, Akunin is supposed to be a funny writer.
For me, crime stories just isn't really the thing - and this one was to easy to guess on several accounts. Some of the major plot twists I had seen coming for so long that I almost got impatient waiting for the author to get there. And I'm not normally one to guess anything ahead of time.
The funny parts - well, I loved how Fandorin was saved from one attempt on his life by his Lord Byron corset. But other than that - and the Russian Roulette re-naming - I didn't find anything particularly funny. And never really cared about any of the characters.
Fandorin was in some ways to naive to at the same time be able to solve the mystery so his character didn't feel believable to me.
And then the ending ... Sighs ... Well, that was another example of Fandorin being too clever and too naive at the same time. Didn't work at all for me and although it was a major event, I just didn't care ...
I loved the idea of this series before reading the book but after finishing it, I doubt I will read another Fandorin book.(less)

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Jan 01, 2010 El rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: late20th-centurylit, russia

Boris Akunin is actually a pen name of Grigory Chkhartishvili (bless you), according to the "About the Author" section in the back. "Akunin" is Japanese for "villain", a rather fitting pen-surname for someone who is apparently legendary in Russia for his crime novels. The Winter Queen is one of three mysteries featuring the detective Erast Fandorin. I understand all three of them were made into big Russian blockbuster movies. I think I might like the better movie. I'm just sayin'. This particula...more

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Apr 13, 2012 Piotr rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I must admit openly that I was very skeptical about this book; but with every finished page, my concers were vanishing like ice in the sunshine. All in all this is a very entertaining piece of mystery writing set in a 19th century Russia (so the main "hero" Erast Fandorin is not able to use all hilarious staff like in a CSI series to find victims of the crime). The language of the book is really beautiful and I must say that the creation of likable/sympathetic/ruthless "bad guys" is one of the m...more

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Mar 03, 2013 Yulia rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I liked the writing style and the humour. This was also very interesting from a historical point of view. The writer has done his research and the atmosphere of late 19th century Russia is recreated very well.
Maybe it's got to do with the fact that this was a reread, but the plot seemed rather thin to me. While the way the odds seem to be in favour of the protagonist can be explained by its later subversion, this might still put off readers who don't anticipate it. If I hadn't known the ending,...more

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The Winter Queen (Erast Fandorin Mysteries #1)

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