Book Review: The Tsarina's Daughter by Carolly Erickson

 

Goodreads Summary: From the bestselling author of The Hidden Diary of Marie Antoinette comes a dramatic novel and powerful love story about the last Russian imperial family.It is 1989 and Daria Gradov is an elderly grandmother living in the rural West. What neighbors and even her children don't know, however, is that she is not who she claims to be—the widow of a Russian immigrant of modest means. In actuality she began her life as the Grand Duchess Tatiana, known as Tania to her parents, Tsar Nicholas II and Tsarina Alexandra. And so begins the latest entrancing historical entertainment by Carolly Erickson. At its center is young Tania, who lives a life of incomparable luxury in pre-Revolutionary Russia, from the magnificence of the Winter Palace in St. Petersburg to the family's private enclave outside the capital. Tania is one of four daughters, and the birth of her younger brother Alexei is both a blessing and a curse. When he is diagnosed with hemophilia and the key to his survival lies in the mysterious power of the illiterate monk Rasputin, it is merely an omen of much worse things to come. Soon war breaks out and revolution sweeps the family from power and into claustrophobic imprisonment in Siberia. Into Tania's world comes a young soldier whose life she helps to save and who becomes her partner in daring plans to rescue the imperial family from certain death.

Goodreads Ratings: 3.38 stars with over 2,500ratings

Genre Listing: Historical Fiction, Romance, Alternate History, Speculative Fiction

Goodreads Challenge: 2/60

2024 Reading Challenge: #44 Read a book that takes place in a cold climate (Find the entire challenge here)

Book Review: 

Hello, Readers! I hope everyone is doing well. I actually finished The Tsarina's Daughter a few days ago, but have been fighting a cold. This will be a fairly short review. I actually debated not doing a review for this book, but I am trying to post more. 

I picked The Tsarina's Daughter by Carolly Erickson a while ago, but for whatever reason didn't finish it. The book reimagines the life of the Romanov family before their assassinations. In The Tsarina's Daughter, their second oldest daughter, Tatiana survives and assumes a new identity. This probably sounds a little familiar, but about a different Romanov daughter.

Overall I enjoyed the book, but I don't have much to say about it. The Tsarina's Daughter is a perfectly acceptable novel. I didn't love it or hate it. It's under 350 pages, and the way Tania survives is plausible. It's just kind of one note and I feel completely neutral about it.

Book Review: Hominids by Robert J. Sawyer

 

Goodreads Summary: Hominids is a strong, stand-alone SF novel, but it's also the first book of The Neanderthal Parallax, a trilogy examining two unique species of people. They are alien to each other yet bound together by the never-ending quest for knowledge and, beneath their differences, common humanity. We are one of those species; the other is the Neanderthals of a parallel world where they, not Homo sapiens, became the dominant intelligence. In that world, the Neanderthal civilization has reached heights of culture and science comparable to ours but is very different in history, society, and philosophy.
During a risky experiment deep in a mine in Canada, Ponter Boddit, a Neanderthal physicist, accidentally pierces the barrier between worlds and is transferred to our universe, where in the same mine, another experiment is taking place. Hurt but alive, he is almost immediately recognized as a Neanderthal, but only much later as a scientist. He is captured and studied, alone and bewildered, a stranger in a strange land. But Ponter is also befriended by a doctor and a physicist who share his questing intelligence and boundless enthusiasm for the world's strangeness, and especially by geneticist Mary Vaughan, a lonely woman with whom he develops a special rapport.

Meanwhile, Ponter's partner, Adikor Huld, finds himself with a messy lab, a missing body, suspicious people all around, and an explosive murder trial that he can't possibly win because he has no idea what actually happened. Talk about a scientific challenge!
Goodreads Ratings: 3.79 stars with over 17,000 ratings

Genre Listing: Science Fiction, Fantasy, Speculative Fiction, Alternate Universe, Alternate History

Goodreads Challenge: 19/36

2022 Reading Challenge: #14 Read a Speculative Fiction (See the entire challenge here)

Book Review:

Hello, Readers, and Happy August! I am thrilled that Fall is approaching soon. It's absolutely gorgeous in Minnesota when the leaves turn. I wish it'd stick around longer since it's my favorite season.

There's not much real-world stuff to catch up on since I did a Birthday post last week, so I'll jump right into Hominids by Robert J. Sawyer.

This is not a book I would have picked for myself in a million years. This story got on my radar because, in the Spring, my husband's aunt and uncle visited briefly. I had recommended Humans by Matt Haig and, in return, was sent Hominids by Robert J. Sawyer. I won't lie; I was slightly nervous to read it. I was afraid that the science discussed in the book would be way over my head. I was pleasantly surprised, however.

Hominids was really easy to get into. The characters were interesting, as was the story. The science discussed was really approachable. There was an explanation for anything that was pretty complex, which was appreciated. There was even some further explanation regarding how Neanderthals in the book calculated things.  

I liked how the story went back and forth between the two worlds. It gave an interesting comparison and explained the sociological differences between the two worlds. Sawyer really took care in thinking about how to have Ponter learn the language and how the Neanderthal society would work, including how their legal trials functioned. Both parts of the story were intriguing, but I think I liked the Neanderthal side more just for the logical approach everything had.

Trigger warning - there is a rape scene in the book. I don't really feel like it was a necessary scene to move the story forward; however, I do appreciate that it shows the victim coping with it, including seeking a support group. It also briefly discusses how the situation is handled in today's world compared to the Neanderthal's world. So I guess in that aspect, it did serve a purpose. 

Overall, I really enjoyed Hominids by Robert J. Sawyer. The parallel universe with the inclusion of Neanderthals was really interesting, and the characters were likable. This may be a good fit if you are looking for an easy-to-read Science Fiction or Alternate History.