I've read the first 2 Fandorin books and really enjoyed them so I was rather chuffed when I found this hardback copy of the third instalment during one of my regular visit to the library discard trolley.

This became an enjoyable read once I had got over the hurdle of working who was who in the usual Russian/bulgarian/etc military names maze. Everytime this happens it reminds me of my one and only reading of War and Peace. Place names were a challenge too, but anyway once it all fell into place (and maybe the chaos is somewhat deliberate from the writer's point of view? it is after all a fairly confused war front...) it gets better and better. By the time I got to the end of the book I was very much enjoying it, but maybe it was not as good as the first 2? Or maybe it was just me. I'll certainly read the 4th instalment, to make sure...all in all I'd recommend it anyway. Akunin is a very clever writer.

Sending to a fellow bookcrosser who had this book on her wishlist. Enjoy!

I have not BookCrossing for a very long time and was very much pleased to see a PM offering the book as RABCK to grant one of my wishlist item. And we also got to know more about each other.

I was not aware that the book is part of a series. Luckily I have the first, The Winter Queen. Thank you for the heads up on trying to get to know who's who. It will have to wait for I need to finish Nana.