Many people have a mixed attitude toward Boris Akunin’s History of the Russian State series, accusing him of oversimplification and highly personal interpretations. However, I still believe that the author has achieved at least one great thing—he got many readers interested in history who otherwise might not have wanted to delve into it. Take me, for example: I’m interested in history, but I can’t handle purely historical works. Akunin, with his style, usually makes such narratives engaging.
The volume Tsar Peter Alexeyevich is already the fifth book in the series, and it’s entirely dedicated to just one ruler, unlike the previous volumes.
However, this is the first volume that disappointed me more than it pleased. You’d think, with such a monumental figure like Peter the Great—arguably the most well-known tsar in Russian history—there would be plenty of material for an engaging story. With all his adventures and his breaking of traditional norms, there should be so much room for a captivating narrative.
However, the book surprisingly turned out to be quite “dry.” There are plenty of facts, but this volume ended up being more of a bland list of well-known events. Even though you’re reading about such a famous figure, it somehow feels dull. You don’t get a sense of the power and presence typically associated with Peter. Yes, he was often very controversial, and Boris Akunin touches on this as well. Sometimes he was heroic, and other times cowardly. But even so, I didn’t get a real sense of his personality. The book reminded me of the off-screen narration in Seventeen Moments of Spring Soviet movie, where they simply list a person’s key traits, but you don’t really understand who they are.
Additionally, this is the first volume in the series that hasn’t been accompanied by a companion book with fictional stories from the same period. Previously, they were released almost in tandem, and it was interesting to read a story or two about the events described. It’s strange that the author suddenly broke this tradition he himself had established.
My rating: 3/5
