The Winter Queen (Erast Fandorin #1) - SPOILER Thread - (May/June 24)

[Susan]

Welcome to our May/June 24 buddy read of The Winter Queen the first book in the Erast Fandorin series first published in 2003 (although I think this refers to the UK publication date).

This is the first book featuring Erast Fandorin, a gentleman sleuth who solves murders and mysteries in tsarist Russia. 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 Conan Doyle.

Boris Akunin was born in Tbilisi, in the Republic of Georgia, as Grigory Shalvovich Chkhartishvili. His father was Georgian and his mother was Jewish, since 1958 he has lived in Moscow. Influenced by Japanese Kabuki theatre, he joined the historical-philological branch of the Institute of the Countries of Asia and Africa of the Moscow State University as an expert on Japan.Before he embarked on a life of crime writing, Grigory Chkhartishvili worked as an assistant to the editor-in-chief of the magazine Foreign Literature, but left in October 2000 to pursue a career as a fiction writer.

Please feel free to post spoilers in this thread.

[Sandy]

On my first read I decided to drop the series after all the miraculous escapes, unlikely twists, and the depressing ending. This time I am a bit more forgiving as a wife he loved might hamper future books. I am somewhat open to future adventures.

[Jill]

This is certainly an action-packed book. Fandorin defies death throughout, although having said that, he does not come across as being particularly bright, just extremely lucky. His ability does however become recognized and he manages to get promoted. The plot was a good one and the telling of it was well done, although I did have suspicions about one character. I had to smile at the phrase American Roulette instead of Russian.
I was irritated by the use of some modern Americanisms. I don't know if this was down to the author or the translator. Fandorin's stumbling about in this did make it fun and I may go on the read the next in the series at some time.

[Susan in NC]

Sandy wrote: "On my first read I decided to drop the series after all the miraculous escapes, unlikely twists, and the depressing ending. This time I am a bit more forgiving as a wife he loved might hamper futur..."

Same here - read this years ago, thought about carrying on, but my library either didn’t carry more of the series, or I think had a couple of his “Sister Pelagia” books. Either way, I wasn’t enthralled enough to carry on then; this time, I started to reread, but dragged my feet and the book was due back. If I can get the next in the series, I might give it a try - I always check out GR reviews, and some indicated book 2 is much better, so I will see when the time comes if I can get the book.

[Susan]

I think the author chucked everything into this first book. I will hope the series settles down, but we can try reading on and abandon the series if we don't find it gets better. We are masters (or mostly mistresses) of our own reading destiny!

[Susan in NC]

Susan wrote: "I think the author chucked everything into this first book. I will hope the series settles down, but we can try reading on and abandon the series if we don't find it gets better. We are masters (or..."

lol, I like that - mistresses of our own reading destiny! Huzzah!

[Judy]

I've just finished this and quite liked it but I found I remembered a lot from our previous read as I got into the book, including the villain's identity, which made it slightly less enjoyable second time around.

Looking forward, confusingly it appears that the second book is actually The Turkish Gambit, even though the paperback edition I read has a sample chapter of Murder on the Leviathan: A Novel by Boris Akunin at the end, claiming that it's the next one. I had a search around and it seems the confusion was caused by the English translations being published in the wrong order.

[Susan in NC]

Well, luckily my library actually now has The Turkish Gambit, so good to hear!

[Frances]

I've just finished this-it didn't really grab me as I'd hoped, perhaps because it's more of a thriller than a mystery, and the ending was just bitter-I had not anticipated that a lowly policeman could win a society beauty, and the death just doesn't sit well for a mystery-if that isn't breaking one of the cardinal rules, it should be! As I'd said in the other thread, I don't know if it's the style or the translation, but I was somewhat disappointed and don't think I'll carry on with the series, though I'll at least check out the next one!