Review: Interesting story
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 04 7, 2012
The book begins with Princess Yaroslava trying to prepare her small Russian principality for the invasion of the Mongols. The people know the Mongols will show them no mercy and are doing everything they can to prepare to fight them. Unfortunately their efforts are not enough and their home falls to the Mongols. They slaughter most of the people and enslave the attractive woman and craftsman. Yaroslava is among those who becomes a slave and the rest of the book deals with her trying to adjust to being a slave and plotting to free the rest of her people that have survived.This is an interesting book that deals with a topic I have not read about before, the Mongol invasion of Russia. I learned a lot about Russia during this time and I thought Walk did a good job of describing battle scenes and the despair of the people whose homes were being invaded. It was also interesting to read about the nomad life of the Mongols and how they lived, what they wore, what they ate, etc. Walk seems to have done some thorough research in writing her book.The one thing that I would have liked to have seen more of was more descriptions of the country during this time. What I enjoy the most about historical fiction is feeling like I am in another place and time while I am reading and I just didn't feel like enough time was spent on details about Russia to give me a good idea of what it looked like. I also would have liked to have seen some of the characters in the book given some more depth and detail, especially Batu Khan.Besides those issues I had with the book I thought it was an entertaining book that flowed well and had lots of suspense that kept me reading. Yaroslava was a strong character and Walk does and excellent job describing all of the different emotions and fears she felt while being a slave. I would recommend this book to any historical fiction fan or someone who enjoys reading about Russia. I am looking forward to reading other books by this author.