Turkish Gambit by Boris Akunin
Sep. 30th, 2006 12:05 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
quippeThe Blurb On The Back:
The Russo-Turkish war is at a critical juncture, and Erast Fandorin, broken-hearted and disillusioned, has gone to the front in an attempt to forget his sorrows. But Fandorin's efforts to steer clear of trouble are thwarted when he comes to the aid of Varvara Suvorova - a 'progressive' Russian woman trying to make her way to the Russian headquarters to join her fiancé.
Within days, Varvara's fiancé has been accused of treason, a Turkish victory looms on the horizon, and there are rumours of a Turkish spy hiding within their own camp. Our reluctant gentleman sleuth will need to resurrect all of his dormant powers of detection if he is to unmask the traitor, help the Russians to victory and smooth the path of young love.
This is another v. enjoyable book and has helped me to view The Winter Queen as just a bit of a false start to the series. As with Murder on the Leviathan, I think that Erast's character comes across in a much more entertaining manner when he's viewed from the perspective of another character and here we have the somewhat naive, passionate and at times, coquettish Varvara Suvorova.
Suvorova starts the book in something of a predicament - having poorly disguised herself as a boy in order to travel from Russia to Bulgaria she is betrayed by her guide who leaves her in a pub and makes off with her money, passport and possessions. It is only due to Fandorin's timely arrival (he is heading to the front line to give the General Staff some urgent intelligence on troop movements) and his uncanny luck at games of chance that she is rescued and together they head to the Russian camp. As the story continues, Suvorova begins to have second thoughts as to whether she is right to marry her beleagured fiancé and has her head turned by the many brave journalists and dashing Russian officers who take note of her and of course, also the brilliant young Fandorin. As a character, I found that I quite liked her and Akunin makes good use of her naivete and at times, contrary nature. There's a constant undercurrent that her feelings for Fandorin are growing, even if she doesn't understand it and at times, Akunin hints that he could reciprocate.
The actual mystery element to the story is deftly handled in such a way that whilst you have your suspicions as to who the spy is, it's not so obvious that you can't enjoy the denouement. Akunin's skill at pacing the plot definitely helps in this regard - as a reader you feel catapulted along with events and he constantly throws up new twists to keep you guessing.
I do however have two criticisms of the book. Firstly, I couldn't help but feel that Akunin really leaves Suvorova's fiancé as a cipher on the sidelines. He has no character development, rarely turns up (excpet to get arrested and thereby form the rationale for Suvorova staying with the camp) and because there's little interaction between her and him, you do wonder why she feels obligated to marry him or indeed, what their connection is. Secondly, (and understandably) because most of the characters in the book are Russian, there are an awful lot of Russian names to try and keep in your head. At times, I found it v. difficult to keep track of who everyone was and it's not helped by the fact that at times characters refer to each other by their surnames or their Christian and middle names in an inconsistent manner. It might have been useful if the translator (Andrew Bromfield) had either used character names in a consistent manner or if a table of characters had been added to the book so that you could quickly check who so-and-so was.
Incidentally, I said in my review for Murder on the Leviathan that I thought the books were being translated out of sequence. This is indeed the case - Turkish Gambit is clearly the sequel to The Winter Queen, with Murder on the Leviathan coming later. Whilst reading the books out of sequence is not fatal, as a reader who enjoys following plot arcs, it is something of an irritation and smacks of the publisher rushing the translations to meet public demand. The only defence I can offer for the publisher is that one of the main characters in this book, becomes a murder victim in The Death of Achilles, and I imagine that they're trying to link the two.
The Verdict:
An exciting, rollicking take on spy mystery thrillers, this is a well crafted book and definitely worth a read. I would however, recommend that you read the Erast Fandorin mysteries in their correct order - The Winter Queen, Turkish Gambit, Murder on the Leviathan and The Death of Achilles and not in their translation order.
The Russo-Turkish war is at a critical juncture, and Erast Fandorin, broken-hearted and disillusioned, has gone to the front in an attempt to forget his sorrows. But Fandorin's efforts to steer clear of trouble are thwarted when he comes to the aid of Varvara Suvorova - a 'progressive' Russian woman trying to make her way to the Russian headquarters to join her fiancé.
Within days, Varvara's fiancé has been accused of treason, a Turkish victory looms on the horizon, and there are rumours of a Turkish spy hiding within their own camp. Our reluctant gentleman sleuth will need to resurrect all of his dormant powers of detection if he is to unmask the traitor, help the Russians to victory and smooth the path of young love.
This is another v. enjoyable book and has helped me to view The Winter Queen as just a bit of a false start to the series. As with Murder on the Leviathan, I think that Erast's character comes across in a much more entertaining manner when he's viewed from the perspective of another character and here we have the somewhat naive, passionate and at times, coquettish Varvara Suvorova.
Suvorova starts the book in something of a predicament - having poorly disguised herself as a boy in order to travel from Russia to Bulgaria she is betrayed by her guide who leaves her in a pub and makes off with her money, passport and possessions. It is only due to Fandorin's timely arrival (he is heading to the front line to give the General Staff some urgent intelligence on troop movements) and his uncanny luck at games of chance that she is rescued and together they head to the Russian camp. As the story continues, Suvorova begins to have second thoughts as to whether she is right to marry her beleagured fiancé and has her head turned by the many brave journalists and dashing Russian officers who take note of her and of course, also the brilliant young Fandorin. As a character, I found that I quite liked her and Akunin makes good use of her naivete and at times, contrary nature. There's a constant undercurrent that her feelings for Fandorin are growing, even if she doesn't understand it and at times, Akunin hints that he could reciprocate.
The actual mystery element to the story is deftly handled in such a way that whilst you have your suspicions as to who the spy is, it's not so obvious that you can't enjoy the denouement. Akunin's skill at pacing the plot definitely helps in this regard - as a reader you feel catapulted along with events and he constantly throws up new twists to keep you guessing.
I do however have two criticisms of the book. Firstly, I couldn't help but feel that Akunin really leaves Suvorova's fiancé as a cipher on the sidelines. He has no character development, rarely turns up (excpet to get arrested and thereby form the rationale for Suvorova staying with the camp) and because there's little interaction between her and him, you do wonder why she feels obligated to marry him or indeed, what their connection is. Secondly, (and understandably) because most of the characters in the book are Russian, there are an awful lot of Russian names to try and keep in your head. At times, I found it v. difficult to keep track of who everyone was and it's not helped by the fact that at times characters refer to each other by their surnames or their Christian and middle names in an inconsistent manner. It might have been useful if the translator (Andrew Bromfield) had either used character names in a consistent manner or if a table of characters had been added to the book so that you could quickly check who so-and-so was.
Incidentally, I said in my review for Murder on the Leviathan that I thought the books were being translated out of sequence. This is indeed the case - Turkish Gambit is clearly the sequel to The Winter Queen, with Murder on the Leviathan coming later. Whilst reading the books out of sequence is not fatal, as a reader who enjoys following plot arcs, it is something of an irritation and smacks of the publisher rushing the translations to meet public demand. The only defence I can offer for the publisher is that one of the main characters in this book, becomes a murder victim in The Death of Achilles, and I imagine that they're trying to link the two.
The Verdict:
An exciting, rollicking take on spy mystery thrillers, this is a well crafted book and definitely worth a read. I would however, recommend that you read the Erast Fandorin mysteries in their correct order - The Winter Queen, Turkish Gambit, Murder on the Leviathan and The Death of Achilles and not in their translation order.
