What do readers think of The Winter Palace by Eva Stachniak? Write your own review.

The Winter Palace is an average historical fiction account of Catherine the Great. I read a lot of historical fiction novels about Queens and Kings. I love them! This one was too long with very little substance. There was no "meat" to it. It was uninteresting. It was weighed down with details of setting and place. There was very little action. I would not recommend this one- boring and long. There are far better stories out there. I would like to read another account of Catherine the Great, maybe she was the bore!

I had high hopes for The WInter Palace as a fan of historical fiction and Russian history. However, the book failed to live up to its potential. The author's creativity in storytelling was not fully realized since the majority of the characters were written one-dimensionally. Overall, the book was arduous to finish, I kept waiting for more character development or for the author to tie up loose ends, but instead the book was more of a "study" instead of a finished work.

I so wanted to read this book as I have traveled to St. Petersburg/Leningrad. I was disappointed that I am on page 404 and just now Catherine has become Catherine the Great. Much of her life was eliminated but we know all about Varvara. Did I miss the steps leading up to her coronation? I shall read Robert Massie's book to learn more about Sophie who became Catherine.

Catherine the Great was truly a larger-than-life individual. I was disappointed by the way this author chose to tell her story....as tabloid material. I wish the author had told her story through a more worldly and knowledgeable spokesperson.