Watch out, Archie Goodwin - Erast Fandorin could easily replace you in the favourite detective stakes! A chance discovery, swapped for one of my own books, 'The Winter Queen' is one of the most intriguing, original, attractive novels of its genre I have come across recently. Fandorin has been described as part Sherlock Holmes, part James Bond, but in this debut, he is far too innocent and trusting to fall into either category (the cruel and devastating ending will no doubt change him in the next book, but hopefully not too much). He is very young, good-looking, intelligent and lucky, but also rather a tragic figure, which makes him a compelling character - fortunately, there are many more Erast Fandorin mysteries to read!

Boris Akunin's style - or perhaps the translation of it - adds to the enjoyment. The conspiracy plotline itself is difficult to keep track of, with new twists and traitors uncovered in practically every chapter, but the writing is very jaunty and nostalgic of old cosy detective novels. The dialogue is necessarily dramatic, but always tongue in cheek - 'American roulette' is claimed by the Russians after the notorious suicide in the park which begins the mystery, for example. Some of the Russian names can be difficult to grapple with at first, particularly the polite terms of address, but it's easy enough to skim over and get the gist. An understanding of the country's history might also be helpful, but knowing nothing about nineteenth century Russia does not detract from the story. Time and place are presented naturally in the telling, making this an informative as well as entertaining read. ( )

I’ll offer a single comment on the novels of Russian author Boris Akunin. Both series, the Erast Fandorin and Sister Pelagia stories, are set in pre-revolutionary Russia. They’re not only great fun — imagine a late 19th Century James Bond or Mrs. Marple — but historically fascinating as well. ( )

Global conspiracy novels are a dime-a-dozen these days. However, Boris Akunin has managed to put together one that is different enough to be quite enjoyable to read. Set in 19th century Russia, The Winter Queen chronicles the first adventure of Moscow policeman Erast Fandorin as he moves from trying to understand the illogical suicide of a wealthy student to unraveling the tentacles of a mysterious, and murderous, international organization.

Wisely, the focus of the book is not on this secret organization (which would be more than a little ho-hum), but on the character of Fandorin as he starts to mature from a novice police clerk into an investigator of a bit of skill and a greater amount of intuition. The villains of the piece are not hard for the reader to deduce. However, true to his tyro status, Fandorin is not able to spot them quickly enough, and the reader is taken along a fast-paced and light-hearted ride of adventures and betrayals until the final climax.

The closest analogy I can find for this novel is in Fleming's character, James Bond: the same recklessness and bravado, the same lone-agent-against-the-super-villain literary format. It turns out that this works well, even set almost a century earlier in history.

The ending of the book, also surprisingly Bondian, changes the whole tone of story and, I think, augers well for a series that will keep its spark. ( )

i really didn't like this. i listened to it. sometimes this is a problem, i could not tie anything together. why did the men/man commit suicide? why did he go to london? who was the woman he married? who was the nutty dame at the end? i never like russian books. ( )

I'll admit that is not the first sentence of The Winter Queen by Boris Akunin. It's the first chapter heading -- but isn't it amazing? You don't even have to get past the chapter title to experience the fantastic writing of this book.

After giving up on The Mill on The Floss for now, I decided to go back and read The Winter Queen for a second time. It had been a while since I first read it (Amazon says I bought it in February 2005) which usually means that I can't remember much about it. It turned out that I remembered most of it but it was still throughly enjoyable this time through. Akunin is a fantastic writer and I also give credit to the translator of this book, Andrew Bromfield. He does an admirable job of translating this book from its native Russian.

The main character in The Winter Queen is a 20 year old clerk in the Moscow department of detectives in 1876. Erast Fandorin begins his adventure when he is assigned some investigatory work into the mildly suspicious suicide of a college student. This small and seemingly simple case leads Fandorin straight into the middle of a worldwide conspiracy. His life is constantly in danger but his intelligence and self-control help him to perserve in the most treacherous of situations.

http://webereading.com/2008/08/chapte... ( )