Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #201879 in Books
• Published on: 2007-11-27
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Mass Market Paperback
• 448 pages

Customer Reviews

The Romanov Prophecy - Steve Berry
This is a good, solid thriller, definitely worthy of 4 stars. Not 5, though, as it is not perfect. There is plenty of action as you'd expect in a Steve Berry novel. I am a bit of a fan of Berry and of the 4 novels (he's written 6) I've read so far from him this was the most enjoyable, and not quite so incredulous as the others.

The protagonist, Miles Lord, is a worthy hero and a likable enough person. He does have an uncanny knack of getting out of deep trouble with surprising regularity. As others have noted the regularity of chase scenes and escapes from certain death are a bit repetitive and unbelievable, and I would agree with that to an extent. Nevertheless such scenes are done well- full of action and, sometimes, gripping. However, the escape from the gorillas was a bit too incredulous. Lord is a bright lawyer who had an unhappy relationship with his dead preacher father - this theme crops up quite often in the novel, and I'm not quite sure how relevant it was to the story, possibly it makes Lord more determined to succeed in unravelling Rasputin's prophecy and the lost Romanov heir. Lord is the perfect opposite of his boss, Taylor Hayes. The other hero, Michael Thorn, is also the exact opposite of Hayes - Hayes hunts animals, Thorn keeps dogs, Hayes is avaricious and ambitious, Thorn is happy with his quiet family life.

The story itself is intriguing, based on Rasputin's prophecy of the re-emergence of the Russian monarchy. In the novel, Russia has voted to restore the monarchy and the Tsarist Commission is entrusted with filling the vacant throne with claimants descended from the former imperial family. There is of course political intrigue in the shape of the Secret Chancellery, working for the election of Stefan Baklanov as a puppet ruler, through whom the Chancellery can control Russia. The notion of Russia restoring tsarism might perhaps be a bit far-fetched today, but not quite so much when Berry first wrote the book in 1996. Lord is charged with searching through the archives for anything that could impugn Baklanov's claim to the crown - this quickly pushes Lord on to the trail of an 80 year-old plot surrounding the last Tsar, Nicholas II, and his family.

Some of the historical aspects of the book are a bit suspect, such as the explanation of the workings of the succession law of 1797 of Paul I. It did not bar females completely. Females could succeed if the male line became extinct. Also some of the marriages made by the modern Romanovs, revealed fictionally in the book, probably would have not been accepted as dynastic as spouses had to be of equal (i.e royal or imperial) birth.

All in all fans of Berry will not be disappointed and I'd recommend newcomers to the author to start off with this novel. Recommended.

The Quest for a Czar
A new Romanov Czar on the throne of Russia..... well sometimes one wonders whether that would be indeed a good idea if one takes into account what the "so-called red Czars" and the "so-called democratic Czars" make out of Russia.
Steven Berry based his thriller on the present state of Russia, the actual disputes in the Romananov family over the question of the headship of the House, the prophecies of Rasputin and most of all on the eternal mystery what has happend to the last Imperial Family. All this is a perfect background for this action filled thriller which indeed grabs the readers attention right from the start. The story develops quickly, the personalities are convincing and the plot intriguing. It was a page turner for me and I wanted to know what happens next. So never a dull moment.

I feel that the chases were a bit too much and that certain aspects were a bit far fetched. That he turned Prince Felix Juppussov into the "hero" who engeneered the long-term survival of the the Imperial Famnily was a bit difficult to stomach but it was cleverly done.

All in all, a book I enjoyed reading as it stimulates one' s phantasy

A Compelling Read

Steve Berry lives on the Georgia coast in Camden County. He's a lawyer who, for twenty-five years, has helped people both in and out of the courtroom.

Until fairly recently I had not read any of Steve Berry's books and now I have read them all up to date. That is how good I rate them personally. I cannot say that anyone else will rate them so highly but I think I can say that they will get an enjoyable read from whichever of the author's books they may decide to read.

It doesn't take a genius to work out that this novel has connections with Russia and the story begins ten months after Tsar Nicholas II's reign was brutally cut short by the revolution. The tsar and his immediate family are held captive by the Bolsheviks, but even at this stage Nicholas dares to hope that sense will prevail. But his dreams are shattered when the whole Romanov family including himself are callously executed.

The book moves forward to present day Russia and Atlanta lawyer Miles Lord, well versed in the country's history, is delighted to be in Moscow at a momentous event. The communist regime has floundered and the Russian people have voted to bring back the monarchy. But is anything that simple. Miles has been called in to perform a background check on the Tsarist candidate, supposedly chosen from the distant relatives of Nicholas II and favored by a group of Western businessmen. But research quickly becomes the least of Miles's problems when he is almost killed by gunmen on a city plaza. What has he let himself in for and how is he going to get out of it . . .