I enjoyed this. At one point, I went through a Romanov phase, and I was very interested to see a lot of very familiar stuff - letters and diary entries I recognised, for example. I also read a lot about "Grand Duchess Anastasia" (I lived in Charlottesville for a while, and we had acquaintances in common), and the whole "What really happened in Ekaterinberg?" mystery. I was interested to see oblique references to several of the more popular theories, bits from here and there stuck together.

This is a rather long-winded way of saying that Alexander has really done his homework. This is the best kind of historical fiction, well-researched, and sliding neatly into the actual blanks left in reality. I don't believe that his solution is correct, but I don't think he's very far off, either.

I want to also comment that his website is one of the best I've ever seen (except for JK Rowling's, and that's on a whole different plane of expenditure), and I intend to read his other books based on what I saw there. ( )

While an interesting premise, I found the first half of the book a chore to get through. Even though I majored in Russian in college, I would not recommend this book. I understand that the author took historical documents and based a fiction around them. I am glad that I finished the book, simply to say that I completed it. It did have a nice little twist at the end. However, I do not see what all of the "hoopla" was about for this novel. I didn't feel that this book provided any true hooks to get the reader into the book. ( )

“My name is Mikhail Semyonov. I live in Lake Forest village, Illinois state, the United States of America. I am ninety-four years old. I was born in Russia before the revolution. I was born in Tula province and my name then was not Mikhail or even Misha, as I am known here in America. No, my real name–the one given to me at birth–was Leonid Sednyov, and I was known as Leonka. Please forgive my years of lies, but now I tell you the truth.”

So begins Misha’s recounting of the real story of his emigration from Russia to the United States. Robert Alexander’s The Kitchen Boy unfolds Misha’s story by degrees–at times moving painstakingly slowly and at times rushing towards its inevitable, tragic conclusion of the assassination of the Romanov royals by the Bolsheviks.

After decades of silence, Misha tape records his story of the events surrounding the Romanov’s execution for his granddaughter to listen to upon his death; in his recording, he continues to weave together lies and truth. The guilt he feels over surviving that night when his beloved Romanovs met their deaths is palpable and becomes increasingly understandable as his narration unfolds.

Misha declares himself to have been the kitchen boy for the Romanov family for their last years through their final days in the House of Special Purpose in Yekaterinburg. In this role, he was charged with the task of carrying smuggling notes between the Romanovs and their purported rescuers. Their subsequent deaths mark his failure in this charge.

The recording reveals that for the remainder of his life he lives in the shadow of their deaths, repeatedly replaying the events of that night and questioning his actions prior to that night trying to deduce how he could have acted differently to save them. He says, “I am the last living witness and I alone know what really happened that awful night…just as I alone know where the bodies of the two missing children are…”

Misha’s story–The Kitchen Boy–is a story full of history, tragedy, guilt, love, and forgiveness. I would particularly recommend it for those interested in learning more about Russian history in general and the Russian Revolution of 1917 in particular or for those who enjoy stories full of mystery and conspiracy. Plus, Alexander throws in a twist at the end regarding the fate of the missing Romanovs. Robert Alexander is also the author of Rasputin’s Daughter and The Romanov Bride. ( )

I really enjoyed this book, even more than Rasputin's Daughter, which was written by the same author. I did not like how things ended with Misha in the last chapter before the epilogue, but this was an interesting twist on the Romanov story. ( )

This was a very suspenseful and sympathetic tale that focused on the last months of the Romanovs' lives. The kitchen boy reflects on his role in the assassination of the Romanovs, on how he failed them, and what really happened to the two youngest Romanov children. While largely a tale of fiction, the author has made the book as accurate as possible, including actual notes and events from the House of Special Purpose. The book is further enhanced by visiting the author's website, where he has many photos and a reader's guide to the book. ( )