Customer Reviews

Seeds of Power -Op/064 (Russian Quartet)

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This is the first of a quartet of novels which portray the events of Russian history from 1853 to 1953 through the eyes of the Bolugayevski family.

The "Russian Quartet" consists of

1) "The Seeds of Power"
2) "The Masters" (link:Russian Quartet #02 M -Canc)
3) "The Red Tide -Lib -Op/026 (Russian Quartet)"
4) "The Red Gods (Russian Quartet)"

At the start of this first book, Cornet Colin MacLain of the British 11th Hussars saves the life of a Russian Count, Georgei Bolugayevski, who is visiting his uncle and is nearly drowned following a riding accident. Count Bolugayevski is grateful and promises that he will repay the favour if he ever has the opportunity.

A year later, their paths cross again during the battle of Balaclava, when Colin takes part in the Charge of the Light Brigade and is wounded and captured in the desperate fight which follows. Count Bolugayevski recognises Colin and repays his debt by having him cared for by his family's own servants.

Colin had been horrified by the arrogant way Count Bolugayevski treated servants in general and women in particular when they were in England, but in Russia where the Count's father, Prince Alexander Bolugayevski has the power of life or death over everyone else on his vast estates, Colin soon realises that the Russian aristocracy makes the most arrogant tyrant among the British nobility look like a wishy-washy liberal. But he soon becomes involved with the family, particularly with Prince Alexander's three beautiful daughters, Dagmar, Anna, and young Alexandra. In an extraordinary sequence of events, Colin finds that his future is in Russia ...

This novel is by turns brutal, sensual, sadistic, shocking, and powerful. The quartet does give some idea of the extraordinary history of the birth of modern Russia.