A review by ravensandlace
The Tsarina's Daughter by Ellen Alpsten

3.0

Title: The Tsarina’s Daughter

Author: Ellen Alpsten

Genre: Historical Fiction

Format: hardback library book

Series: Tsarina (#2)

Star Rating: 3 stars

tw: stillbirth, death, murder, infidelity, infertility, assault, illness, arranged marriage, sexual assault, animal death, domestic violence, incestuous-ish relationship (aunt and nephew), depression, mentions of war, torture, drugging

A special thank you goes to St. Martin’s Press for providing me with an early copy of this book. Please know that this does not influence my rating or thoughts on the book itself.

One of my more casual goals is to read books from different periods besides the usual ones I read. When I read historical fiction, I tend to read the same periods which are usually King Henry VIII, Russian tsars, and WWII. So I’ve made it a goal to branch out. This particular book is about Catherine the Great’s mother-in-law. So it’s kind of in the same time period but I don’t know a lot about her mother-in-law so I was hoping to learn a little bit more.  

I’m going to be honest here, I expected Elizabeth to be better, I guess. I expected her to be this badass girl who didn’t take any guff from any men and knew exactly what she wanted. Instead, she just relied on everyone to save her and made multiple poor decisions, which nearly resulted in her getting killed many times. There were so many times when she could have gotten the throne. But chose to just wait which didn’t make a whole lot of sense to me. Then again I am not an expert in running a country so maybe it made sense. 

This wasn’t a horrible book but I guess I expected more. When I read Robert K. Massie’s book about Catherine the Great. I expected to read about how formidable Elizabeth was. I mean she stole Catherine’s kids to raise herself. I saw her as a hard, cold, and unforgiving woman. In this book, she comes off as weak and foolish. The book itself was okay to read. There were times when the entire screen (I read on a Kindle) was a whole paragraph. It could have been broken up into more paragraphs so it would be a little bit easier to read. 

Overall, this was an okay book but I wasn’t thrilled with it. Elizabeth was an alright character. The book itself was a bit too long. It could have been cut down some and the story wouldn’t have been affected. Also, can we talk about why this book is $30.99? This is practically highway robbery! No hardback should cost that much. But overall, I am glad I read it and can add another book to my goal.