Customer Reviews

The Royal Diary: Catherine, the Great Journey Russia, 1743

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It is 1743, and fourteen-year-old Sophie is a princess of Anhalt-Zerbst in Prussia. Sophie's father is not royalty, and her cruel mother, Princess Johanna Elizabeth, is obsessed with improving her own status through her daughter's marriage. To that end, she is determined to do everything possible in order to get Sophie chosen by Empress Elizabeth of Russia to marry her nephew Peter, heir to the throne. Soon, Sophie and her mother must travel to Russia in order to meet Empress Elizabeth. Sophie is indeed chosen to be Peter's wife, but her life changes completely as a result. She must adopt a new language, religion, and even a new name, Catherine.

I've enjoyed reading The Royal Diaries books for many years, and I was sad to see this would be the final book in the series. However, I was glad to see it would be written by one of my favorite authors from the series, Kristiana Gregory. I enjoyed this book a lot, but I do wish it had been longer and had more detail. I would still recommend this book to all fans of the series.

The year is 1743, and 14-year-old Prussian Princess Sophie Augusta Fredericka of Anhalt-Zerbst - better known as Catherine the Great - is living an above poverty-stricken life with her family - which includes both a verbally and physically abusive mother - when Sophie is accosted by people from the Russian court, and looked over to see if she will be the "right" wife for Peter - the grandson of Peter the Great - who happens to be the heir to the Russian throne. When it is decided that she may be satisfactory, Sophie is swept off to Russia to meet Empress Elizabeth, who chooses Sophie to be Peter's wife, and changes her name to Catherine. Within just a matter of time, Sophie is forced to change her religion, and the language she speaks in an attempt to please Empress Elizabeth. But as the months wear on, Catherine feels as if her "true" world is moving farther and farther away from her, and there is no one in Russia who can ease her homesickness.

I've always been interested in the history of Russia, even more so since reading the ROYAL DIARIES book ANASTASIA: THE LAST GRAND DUCHESS by Carolyn Meyer, which is why I was quite eager to get my hands on Kristiana Gregory's CATHERINE: THE GREAT JOURNEY. Catherine is an interesting historical figure, whose somewhat tragic and torturous life make readers sympathize with her. Gregory's descriptions of Empress Elizabeth are quite delightful, and truly make the reader fear her wrath. Gregory has tapped the inner Catherine, and come up with quite an enjoyable piece of historical fiction.

Erika Sorocco

Book Review Columnist for The Community Bugle Newspaper

Sophie is a 14 year old princess and lives her simple life in Zerbst, Prussia. She is constantly under the burdern of her abusive mother who not only damages her emotionally but physically too. Sophie's father doesn't carry royal blood and her desperate mother is a princess from a small royal family. Sophie's damaged personality is torn adn torn each day as her mother insults her and continuously presses her to marry princes so that her family will be related to 'real' royalty.

So one day, after many portraits of herself have been taken to various royalties abroad, Sophie is in shock when she finds that she had been chosen by the Empress of Russia- Elizabeth, to marry her nephew and become duchess and maybe one day queen of all Russia. Leaving her beloved family behind, Sophie and her mother leave to Moscow, unaware of the terrible journey across the ice-lands they would have to take.

But when they finally reach the city of snow- Moscow, Sophie realises that Elizabeth is dangerous and is in even more shock when her own mother plots against her. Sophie will have to hold her scheming mother and her tearing-apart life together, before both split. For Sophie, many things change: her language, her religion and most of all her name which is changed from Sophie to Catherine.

In this beautiful finale to the Royal Diary Series, Kristiana Greggory portrays Princess Catherine of Russia in her teenage years. When she had to leave her home-land to a place of hope and watch her whole life fall apart. I have loved nearly every book in this beautiful series and I farewell the Royal Diarys hoping the best for it's writers. All around the world, children's hearts have already been changed by the diarys of: Elizabeth I, Cleopatra VII, Isabel, Anastasia, Nzingha, Kaiulani, Victoria, Sondok, Jahanara, Eleanor, Kristina, Elisabeth, Kazunomiya, Green Jay, Redbird, Anacaona, Weetamoo, Marie-Anotinette, Mary of Scotts, Anacaona and Catherine. A beautiful story.

Catherine, Great Journey / 0-439-25385-3

Here is another wonderful Royal Diary addition. Catherine the Great is of interest to me, having read Henri Troyat's superb rendition of her life and reign. This novel, fictionally 'written' by Catherine, follows Troyat's own work closely and is remarkably consistent with the facts of Catherine's early life, and with the tone of Catherine's personality and style.

This book would be highly approachable for children and adults of all ages. The historical accuracy is superb and provides a valuable insight into the early life of Catherine, while being rich and personal enough to compel more than a historical interest from the reader. The author, Gregory, touches on the most salient points of Catherine's journey into Russia to meet the Empress and to become betrothed to the crown prince. Catherine touches on the bitter cold and the hardships of travel, and describes her own serious illness which endeared her so strikingly to the Russian people - it was widely believed that her illness was caused by her ceaseless studies to learn the language and customs of her chosen people.

While I usually list the potential concerns a parent may have with the Royal Diary in question, there is not too much here to be concerned about - no wars, violence, or wounded in these pages. The crown prince's cruelty and madness which surfaced later in life is suppressed here, probably for the best. Catherine's mother, however, is remarkably cruel and harsh to her daughter, which might disturb very young readers. Also, the Empress' odd custom of enforcing cross-dressing balls (where the men dress in ladies' clothes and the women dress in mens' clothes) is noted briefly here - historically accurate, but potentially confusing for a very young reader. The incident is dealt with quickly and carefully, however, and should not be a deterrent to an older reader.

~ Ana Mardoll

Another great installment of the Royal Diaries series. Sophie travels from her beloved home to Russia with her mother. In a beautiful but foreign country stuck between her ambitious and harsh mother and the strong, powerful Empress she's torn between the two. The idea of marrying Peter, who's an idiot isn't exactly her dream but the allure of weatlh and power is strong...you get a very good look at a woman who became Empress in her own right after overthrowing her husband...A excellent story. The descriptions are wonderful.

All I can say to describe this book is wow!!! It was sooo intresting and kept me reading until when I was at the end. This book was so good, heck my mom even read it in one night unable to take her eyes of it! I even recomended my friends to read it and they loved it.

Now anyways, royal Catherine... well her real name is Sophie since shes from Prussia lives happily until her cruel mother wants to have power and to be known so Sophie's cousin and friend is this one prince from Russia, who is related to the powerful ruler Elisabeth 2, wants Sophie to marry him. Sophie unwillingally excepts and they head to Russia but is scared of Queen Elisabeth 2 sice she even send her own daughter to Syberia and cut her tounge!! But she will do what her mother wants and heads of to Russia to be wed.

It is a exciting thriller that makes me want to read on and most people agree with me. READ THIS!!!

great book, it was the only one of the series missing from her school library. Covers early life of Catherine the Great, in the entire series the books end before things get really awful.

I read this book, and it was amazing! I never dreamed of reading a book that was a diary of a girl that had royal blood but was poor, and then all of the sudden, she became empress of Russia! It's a great book and has much more to it! I want to read this book again and again. I know you will enjoy it as much as I did!

I have never read a story about Catharine the Great, so when I saw this story I thought why not? It was a wonderful tale about a young girl who had so much expected of her. I felt her pain and hardship as she traveled all the many miles to meet a man who would never truly care about her. Her story is not a happy one, yet it teaches readers about true history and what happened in Russia during this time period.

My granddaughter loved getting this for Christmas. Nice addition to her growing library of Royal Diary books.