kirkusreviews.com
Master fantasist Yolen (How To Fracture a Fairy Tale, 2018,
etc.) and her son Stemple collaborate on a novella that merges dragons with the
Russian Revolution.
Cycling among the points of view of the last tsar, Nicholas II,
his wife, the tsarina Alexandra, the notorious Grigori Rasputin, Leon Trotsky,
and an unnamed court official, the story tells of the downfall of tsarist Russia
and the rise of the revolution—but if you think you know the story, think
again. Because in this Russia, the tsar sends out flights of black-scaled,
fire-breathing dragons to harass his enemies, especially the Jews, and Leon
Trotsky (known in the book by his birth name, Bronstein) has managed to
secretly raise an army of his own dragons—these are red and fighting for the
revolution. Despite the high stakes, the story feels quite intimate as it leads
us to gaze on each player in turn: the tsarina, a foreigner to her husband’s
country, plagued with worry over her ill son and believing that only Rasputin
can save him; Rasputin himself, driven by his madness, lusts, and ambition;
Bronstein, who struggles to keep hold of the weapon he has given to the
revolution; and our nameless court dignitary, whose hatred of Rasputin drives
much of the action. The dragons themselves are never afterthoughts—their effect
on the characters, even when they are not present, worms its way into nearly
every scene—but they are also not the players of the drama. Like the impending
revolution, their presence simply hangs over the characters with the shadow of
brutal, impersonal violence.
Where the characters end up is not surprising—we know the
history, after all—but getting there is delightful, carried along by
crisp, tight prose and the authors’ marvelous imaginations.
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