Kelli Stuart

"The Master Craftsman" is a masterful piece of craftsmanship itself. This novel exceeded my expectations and I couldn't fly through the pages fast enough. Not only is it a beautiful tale of Russian history, it's also a bit of romance, espionage and treasure-hunting, with a dash of family drama that will definitely pull on your heartstrings. I often find when reading a dual timeline novel that I prefer one story over the other. The beauty of this book is that I enjoyed both stories equally. show more And the way the author brings them both together at the end is nothing short of brilliant. I won a copy of this book through a LibraryThing Early Reviewer Giveaway and I'm so glad I did, as I might not have discovered this author otherwise. I'll definitely be reading more of her work.
***I received an ARC from the publisher as part of a LibraryThing Early Reviewer Giveaway. My review is strictly voluntary.*** show less

LIKE A RIVER FROM ITS COURSE sounded like it would make a great read. The premise of this book of historical fiction sounded very intriguing: the German Army's invasion of Ukraine in 1941, the mass slaughter of thousands of Jews at the Babi Yar ravine, indeed the whole concept of the Holocaust itself. Sadly, the execution of the story is just not very good. Overwrought, melodramatic language in the narration - which utilizes a shifting POV, changing with each chapter, but the voice always show more comes across as overly delicate and feminine, whether the speaker is the head of a Ukrainian family, his teenage daughter, a German SS trooper, or a young woman brutally gang-raped by a group of soldiers.

Here are a few examples. First, a young daughter, describing her mother - WHILE THEIR HOME IS BEING SHELLED BY GERMANS:

"Mama, like Anna, is small and gentle. Her light brown hair is long and soft, though she rarely wears it down. Every day Mama twists it into an elegant bun at the nape of her neck ... Mama's eyes are a warm brown and reveal the depths of her very being ..."

And on and on. Here's another, from Frederick Hermann, the young German storm trooper:

"I'm not tall like Father. I bear the unfortunate stature of my mother and have small delicate features that fail to give me the formidableness of the great Tomas Hermann."

Or this, from a motherless Ukrainian teenager living with her drunken father, wondering what her mother was like:

"I don't know if her laugh sounded like a thousand bells or a babbling brook ... In my mind she is the very picture of love ... In my mind her voice is a melody and her movements a beat."

Or this from a father, crawling from beneath the bodies in Babi Yar, trying to bring out with him a neighbor's traumatized little girl, Polina:

"... pulling ourselves up the side of the death ditch. Polina glanced back once more at the place where her parents lie buried. She lifted her hand to her mouth then blew a soft kiss before turning and grabbing hold of a small root, pulling herself up over the edge."

And then there's this from Luda, the girl who has been gang-raped and impregnated by three German soldiers, who then agrees to participate in a partisans' plan to entice two other Germans into a trap, and suddenly finds herself romantically attracted to one of them:

"... I move toward him. I am completely out of control of both my mind and my heart. I simply need to be touched by him one more time. I need to feel the heat of his hand and the power of his goodness. Confusion and fear mix with something I've never known: passion and bravery ... Again I feel the electricity of his touch. It's as if the dead parts of my soul awake."

This last was the straw that broke the camel's back, that caused me to stop reading. Because despite the shifting point of view, the voice is always the same, and it all comes out sounding like a women's romance-adventure novel. I struggled through nearly a hundred pages of this stuff, but I was certainly not going to keep slogging through another 250 pages of more of the same. This is supposed to be a book about the horrors of World War II on the Russian front, about that inhuman 'final solution' Hitler and his henchmen concocted, about the Babi Yar MASSACRE, for cripesake. Nope. Enough. Too tidy, too sanitized, too 'chick-lit' -sounding, almost to the point of silliness. My regrets to the author, Kelli Stuart. Perhaps certain women readers will like this book. I did not, and cannot recommend it.

- Tim Bazzett, author of the memoir, BOOKLOVER show less

Ohhh, this book is glorious. And not just because i'm mildly obsessed with Eastern European (more specifically Russian) history--but that is entirely an added bonus!

Stuart does a fantastic job at weaving dual timelines, bringing them to a delicious conclusion I didn't see coming (and frankly is still just the teensiest bit open-ended? Or maybe that's just me not wanting the story to end ...). She avoids the common tropes that can prove fatal to timeslips, keeping the plot fresh and the show more reader guessing to the end.

Interestingly, as obsessed as I am with Russian history, I hadn't been too familiar with Fabergé before reading _The Master Craftsman_. That probably helped; I knew enough about the events of 1905-6 and 1917-18 to have a general idea of in-country events, but couldn't foresee what would happen with Fabergé himself, his family, or his employees.

I will note, there are two instances of "what the h***"; disappointing, though I can certainly appreciate the gravitas of both situations. Simply a disclosure for my fellow inspy-fic readers.

That aside, wholeheartedly recommended, especially fans of "National Treasure," Russian history, and/or treasure-hunting. One of my favorite reads of 2022, at least Q1 if not beyond!

I received an eARC of the book from the publisher. All opinions are my own. show less

Kelli Stuart is one of my favorite authors. The Russian and Ukrainian connections found in her books give an added dimension to her excellent writing. The Master Craftsman is a dual timeline novel with lots of elements of suspense and has both historical and fictional characters. I found the historical story fascinating — the Fabrege workshop that created the famous Easter eggs against the backdrop of a failing Imperial system and revolution showed the peril of those even peripherally tied show more to Tsar Alexander. The modern-day treasure hunt was suspense-filled and action-packed with lots of shady characters. Who can you really trust!? All the priceless treasures the characters created and pursued served as reminders of just Who gives us personal value. I loved the adventure, the historical elements, and the subtle, yet important, spiritual themes. This novel is a recommended read.

Recommended.

Audience: Adults.

(Thanks to NetGalley for a complimentary copy. All opinions expressed are mine alone.) show less