
Fandorin is just not a joiner. And specifically, if there’s one principle to which he’s committed above all others, it’s this notion of “personal human dignity” and the individual’s prerogative to sequester themselves in their own preferences. Fandorin doesn’t want to work for the Okhranka or for any other part of the Imperial government, which he sees becoming increasingly brutal and unreasonable. He doesn’t want to be with the progressives, either; he just wants to be on his own. And what’s interesting is that, for him, the only path to true independence is to be insanely wealthy. It’s one big libertarian dream.
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The rule of law is boring, but necessary
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Pelagia impersonates herself
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For a “tasteful” novel about a nun, Pelagia and the White Bulldog has a surprising predilection for dismemberment
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We’ve wandered onto territory somewhere between the Beiils Affair and the Pussy Riot trial
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Capitals destroy the soul.
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Perhaps we’re all in some mirror universe episode of Scooby Doo, and Pelagia is Velma?
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R.I.P. Zakusai. You’ll be missed. Well, only by Marya Afanasyevna, but still.
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Underneath a veneer of coziness lies the potential for violence and exploitation.
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Bubentsov is going to make this provincial town matter, whether the town wants it or not.
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Yes, who is Pelagia, really? A flibbertijibbet? A will o’the wisp? A clown?
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Part III blows the whole thing up.
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Akunin scatters living and dead black bodies at the scenes of avarice-driven crimes and follies.
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If the Leviathan were the Titanic, all of the characters would easily find their way to a lifeboat, caring not a whit whether or not Kate Winslet’s heart will go on
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Russian literature is “no worse than English or French.”
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The Turkish Gambit was first published in 1998, the year before the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia
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One expects a mystery to have a red herring or two, but The Turkish Gambit has enough to field an entire army.
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The characters are dropping like flies
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What, exactly, were we hoping to see and why?
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Fandorin sounds less like Akunin and more like Yuliya Latynina
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