I don't read a lot of history, but this was described as novelistic in its approach, so when my book club chose it, I tried to be optimistic. Alas, though this may be more novelistic than your average history book, it reads to me like a master's thesis. Massie was a thorough researcher, and it looks like everything is carefully documented, but the heavy interlacing of direct quotes makes the end result more academic than authentic.

I admit that I'm happy to now have a better understanding of the Russian Revolution and to now know Rasputin a little better than the shadowy fairy-tale figure of legend. It will be interesting to see how well I enjoy the movie when the book club views it in a couple of weeks.