Bronze Horseman, The

Rating:
Summary: Hooked from the start
Review: I read this book in a couple of days, rarely putting it down. The first half of the book is worth 5 stars and more. It grabs hold of you and sucks you in! The tension between Alexander and Tatiana is so strong you get goosebumps. It feels just like falling in love yourself, you really have your own love affair with this book and these two characters.

I think the 2nd half doesn't quite live up to the standard of the beginning, but is still very good. As others have mentioned the sex scenes in the middle are way too repetitive and definitely lose the impact that they gave the first time - to the point of becoming boring. From this point I also found it never quite felt as exciting to read as it had earlier... but maybe that's just me, I loved the tension between the characters earlier in the piece.

Saying all that however, I did love the book, I would still recommend it as brilliant reading to anyone and everyone. If some of the sections where a little shorter (it does feel dragged out at times with a lot of similar scenes) I would have definately given this 5 stars.


Rating:
Summary: Too many shortcomings to be really good
Review: I was surprised to see the many raving reviews about this book. It seems that many people don't notice - or don't mind - its obvious shortcomings. First, the general story idea - a moving love story in war-beaten Russia - is wonderful. The history is well-researched and equally well-presented. Actually those parts that concentrate on describing the effects of the blockade on Leningrad and the current events are the best of the book and would deserve five stars. One can feel the despair, the hopelessness and the desparate will to survive. Great writing, riveting story. However, this great five-star-deserving part unfortunately stands out alone next to the other parts of the book which range from medium to simply unbearable.

The first threehundred pages of the book have a tendency to be slightly repetitive and the setting of the love story is not really believable. Tatiana - who is so altruistic that it gets annoying - falls in love with Alexander - who in the beginning is a bit too perfect to be true. However, Alexander is the boy-friend of Tatiana's sister Dasha and so Tatiana and Alexander agree (or rather: Tatiana insists) that they hide their feelings for each other in order to protect Dasha's feelings. The lengths to which they go for this are unrealistic and slightly unnerving. The arrangement also sets the stage for an ever-repeated pattern of conversations between Tatiana and Alexander which goes like this: one of them does something in order to hide the love between them - the other one doesn't get the true intention and is annoyed - they argue without clearly saying what's actually bother them. Sometimes they make up, sometimes they don't. If one stops being annoyed, the other starts being annoyed. If they get ready to actually talk openly to each other, some kind of interruption prevents them. This happens a bit too often to still be interesting and actually by page 300 I was ready to stop reading, but forced myself to go on.

The pattern of using the same scene over and over again with slight alterations dominates most of the book, be it the above-mentioned misunderstandings or the family meal situations. The most blatant use of this technique is to be found later in the book: after the wonderful and thrilling historical bit, the story plunges deeply into the smutty romance-novel level. On 90 pages of the book, the same scene happens 33 times (!) - yes, I counted, because I thought I was suffering from a deja-vu. There are slight alterations in background and dialogue, but basically its thirty-three times (!) the same: young couple talks to each other while enjoying some leisure activities or doing daily chores, conversation becomes slightly teasing and either ends with ambiguous remark or with ambiguous remark followed by deatils about their physical intimacy. After a while I was terribly bored by the repetitions and felt ready to throw the book down and explain "Yes, I got the point, they're crazy about each other and enjoying the carefree days they have together." I seriously can't understand why no editor shortened this passage. The tendency of the author to make her point again and again seriously got over the top there.

Another issue that spoiled the reading for me was the partially bad writing. I noticed that some reviews here mentioned it as well. This bad writing is amazing, because parts of the book are written so extremely well and other parts are almost embarrassing to read because of the bad writing - mainly the dialogues.

This could have been a marvelous book - the historical details, the story idea, the well-described characters, the ability of the author to really create the atmosphere. But it has so incredibly many terribly weak points - the partly bad writing, the repetitive scenes, some extremely annoying characters (the four old village women, for example) and the plunges into the depths of a smutty schmaltzy romance novel - that it takes away too much reading pleasure. A real pity, but apparently it didn't harm the commercial success.

Rating:
Summary: Loved this book!
Review: This was my first experience with reading a book by Paullina Simons. At first it seemed a bit slow, but once I got going, wow, I could not put it down, I could not wait to get home to read it - I found myself thinking about it when I was at work.
I really enjoyed the book - learning what people in Russia went through during the war, and just in every day life. I did not care so much for the ending..........

Rating:
Summary: Words cannot even utter how great this book is....
Review: I read this book when I was 16 and I am now a die-hard romantic because of Simons beautiful story about the two leading characters who were forced to endure the worst things in the world because of their love for eachother. Please read it despite the slightly bulky appearance of the novel.

Rating:
Summary: GREAT!
Review: This is the best book i've ever read. And since I read an average of 3 novels a week, that's saying something. It starts of a little slow, but the story interested me so I kept at it. Then, wham! I couldn't put it down until I finished. The WWII setting in Russia was so realistic, I felt I was there. The romance, oh my, the best, I mean THE BEST hero I've ever come across. And the heroine was just wonderful.

Rating:
Summary: Fabulous
Review: I cannot explain how much i love and adore this book. The first time i read it was when i was 13, (probably a little innapropriate for me then) and i loved it from first read. The only thing i hated, was obviously the ending. Two years after i read it, i was in a bookstore and i saw another book by Paulina Simons 'The Bridge to Holy Cross' which is the sequel name in Australia. I picked it up and realised it was a sequel, the bakc cover told me the ending wasn't infact true and i was so happy i screamed. I messaged my sister and she still has that message in her phone, 3 years later. When i finished tbh I cried and cried, then gave the book to my sister and she cried and cried. It is set in WW2 Russia, and tells of the love between Tatiana and Alexander, who's relationship at first seems destined to fail. You grow to love (LOVE) the characters in the book, and really feel their heatache and their happiness. Everyone i know who has read the book, always imagine Alexander as incredibly hot, and i have to tell you he is. He couldn't be better. And the sex, fabulous.