Book Review: Turkish Gambit [Boris Akunin]

RATING: A delightful read. Will definitely follow this series.

Mustachioed, boyish-looking men - hot or not? 

"Turkish Gambit" is set on the Russo-Turkish war of 1877 (Food for Thought: this is the one some 20 years after the Crimean War and 36 years before WWI; apparently, Russia and Turkey has been at odds since the late 15th century. The war of 1877 provided Romania to gain full independence from the Ottoman Empire). Our heroine, Varya Surovova, is one of the progressive daughters of the motherland. Her fiancé has rushed off to the Balkan front as a volunteer cryptographer (my, how heroic), and headstrong Varya dresses up as a peasant boy (although her disguise fools no one) and follows suit.

A spoiled, naive young lady traveling alone and running into trouble is no surprise at all, and we find Varya stranded in a peasant country (one of those that ends with "-ovia") with no money. Enter Erast Fandorin to the rescue. Because of Fandorin, Varya was able to reach the front in one piece and reunite with her fiancé.

As the sole attractive, educated and unescorted female (the fiancé was busy) in the whole camp, Varya almost immediately finds herself surrounded by suitors left and right. (Much more attractive prospects than the said fiancé, in my opinion! :D) Shortly afterwards, the fiancé was accused of being a spy and was arrested. Fandorin, our reluctant hero, suspects something more sinister is afoot, and begins to investigate.

Boris Akunin is a superb writer. His narrative takes on different styles. For example, his previous Erast Fandorin mystery “Murder on the Leviathan” reads like an Agatha Christie novel, while “Turkish Gambit” is more of Arthur Conan Doyle’s “Brigadier Gerard” told in a woman’s voice.

Although Fandorin is the hero, he does not appear much in the story. I think this is a nice touch to make Fandorin seem more… superhuman. Fandorin’s character is like Sherlock Holmes with a touch of Droopy and talks like Porky Pig. I suppose if the story were centered on him, he’d look like… well, for lack of a better term, very un-hero-like. The result is quite interesting.

The story is told in Varya’s point of view. While I enjoyed the scenes where an extremely flattered Varya was flirting and being courted left and right by seriously dashing suitors, the story dragged somewhat in the middle. There was a point when nothing related to the case seemed to be happening, and all Varya was doing was feeling guilty that she was enjoying herself while her fiancé was in prison, and reprimanding herself of flirting with other men.

However, the story goes out with a bang. I shan’t divulge any details here, but I will say that the ending was “Whoa!” Totally unexpected but satisfyingly executed.

“Turkish Gambit” is well-researched and very informative without the qualities of a textbook. Reading it was a delightful way to pass the time.