Reviews for Istorii︠a︡ Ekateriny Vtoroĭ

The average rating for Istorii︠a︡ Ekateriny Vtoroĭ based on 2 reviews is 3 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2015-02-23 00:00:00 MIKE MEADOWS [ The rating, any status updates, and those bookshelves, indicate my feelings for this book. (hide spoiler)]

Review # 2 was written on 2010-04-14 00:00:00 Daniel Daigle I enjoyed this book a lot, but I have to admit that the author seemed to grow bored with the subject matter by the end, which meant that I did, too. The first half I could barely put down; it really is fascinating how the rather unremarkable (that is to say, precocious, but not pretty) Princess Sophie of Germany managed to rise to become the Empress of Russia. But once she finally came into power, it seemed like the best of the story was over, and while she was a good ruler, I didn't feel she was actually "great" and in many ways her life was really quite sad. The last few pages I felt like the author was crawling across the finish line, glad to be done with it all. I would have preferred a little more triumph, or perhaps a summary of where Catherine the Great stands in history from today's perspective. Something more, at least. One last note-- I was disappointed that there were no footnotes at all. Erickson relied on plenty of quotes from letters and Catherine's own memoirs, but without any references as to where these quotes actually came from I had a hard time taking this as seriously as it perhaps deserves. Maybe I'm just a snob here, but I want footnotes!!!