The train wreck continues. The first three books in the series were the best. I believe co-writer Phillips kept at least some of the integrity and authenticity in terms of Russian history. I specialize in Russian/Soviet history of the 20th century and continue to read this series only because of the time invested and to see how bad the train wreck turns out. That said, I recommend only the first three in the series. #5: This book opens with the war with Japan and ends with Bloody Sunday. Wow, this should have been good. Bloody Sunday is the second most significant point in Russian history leading directly to the Soviet takeover of Russia. (The first being the freeing of the serfs; the third being the abdication of Tsar Nicholas II/Bolshevik takeover). The author failed in her depiction of Bloody Sunday. How? She rushed right through it. Why, I don't know. A death of a major character happens then and she rushes it. Her depiction totally underscores any importance the reader should get out of this book and this important point in Russian history. This was far more important than the war and this event deserved expansion. Poor writing. I wonder if she decided to speed up the series when the co-writer left and was just in a hurry to hit the major points before 1917. If you skip the slap to Russian history, the redeeming parts of the book: Anna has a crisis of faith and become a full character (flaws and all, instead of this do no wrong character, which is refreshing) and Dmitri finally mans up at the end of the book. Really, these are the only redeeming parts of the book once the writing of Bloody Sunday failed.
great series
