The Romanov Prophecy: A Novel (Mass Market Paperback)

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Key Phrases: romanov prophecy, final arbitor, princess trees, Miles Lord, San Francisco, Red Square (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

With this second Russian suspense novel, which focuses on the restoration of the Romanov dynasty, Berry shows he's honed his craft since his somewhat shaky debut, The Amber Room (2003). Miles Lord, a workaholic African-American lawyer from Atlanta, is in Moscow to help Stefan Baklanov, the Romanov claimant his high-powered firm is backing. Since the new tsar will reign as an autocrat like his ancestors, both big rubles and big bucks are at stake—not to mention access to nuclear weapons. Lord soon discerns that Baklanov is corrupt, a tool of the mafiya. While digging through old files on the Russian Revolution, Lord comes to believe Baklanov is the "raven" Rasputin predicted would help save the royal house in 1916. Teaming with a beautiful acrobat, Akilina Petrov of the Moscow Circus, Lord attempts to discover whether any children of Nicholas II escaped Lenin's executioners. A series of exotic clues propel the pair on an international scavenger hunt. Berry uses Russia—past and present—to excellent effect and makes sharp observations about the contemporary Russian scene, such as the racism Lord encounters throughout the country. The book's villain needs a bit more development, but this doesn't detract much from a solid tale a cut above—and then some—many thrillers on the market.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Review

Praise for Steve Berry

The Romanov Prophecy
“READERS WHO ENJOY THE BOOKS OF DAN BROWN AND DANIEL SILVA WILL ENJOY THE ROMANOV PROPHECY, TOO. This is a wild roller-coaster ride, with explosive action and compelling suspense, delving into one of the great mysteries of our time.”
–SHARON KAY PENMAN, author of Time and Chance

The Amber Room
“SEXY, ILLUMINATING, AND CONFIDENT . . . a globe-trotting treasure hunt packed with exotic locales, sumptuous art, and ruthless villains.
Steve Berry writes with the self-assured style of a veteran.”
–DAN BROWN, author of The Da Vinci Code

“COMPELLING . . . ADVENTURE-FILLED . . . a fast-moving, globe-hopping tale of long-lost treasure and shadowy bad guys.”
–San Francisco Chronicle

“MAGNIFICENTLY ENGROSSING, with wonderful characters and a plot that speeds, twists, and turns. Pure intrigue, pure fun.”
–CLIVE CUSSLER


From the Hardcover edition. --This text refers to the Kindle Edition edition.

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Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 416 pages
• Publisher: Ballantine Books; 2005 Edition edition (April 26, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0345460065
• ISBN-13: 978-0345460066
• Product Dimensions: 6.7 x 4.2 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (138 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #460,898 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

43 of 50 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Cross between John Grisham and Dan Brown (DaVinci Code), August 2, 2005

By	Cynthia K. Robertson (beverly, new jersey USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

I had such high hopes for The Romanov Prophecy by Steve Berry. Most people know the tragic fate of the last tsar and his family, and rumors have swirled for almost a century about possible survivors. When the remains were exhumed in 1991 and the skeletons of two of the royal children were missing, it just added fuel to the fire. Berry took the known facts, and added lots of fantasy to embellish this tale. But somewhere along the line, he dropped the ball.

The Romanov Prophecy opens in modern day Russia. The Russian people are tired of the lawlessness and economic uncertainty that have plagued their country since the fall of communism, and have decided to restore the monarchy. A 17 member independent Tsarist Commission has been appointed to find the "true" tsar. There are nine or ten Romanov claimants that need to be investigated. Stefan Baklanov seems to be the frontrunner, and his claim is bolstered by a secret group consisting of government officials, the military, the Russian Orthodox Church, the Russian Mafia and a group of American businessmen with companies in Russia. Their goal is to bribe the members of the Tsarist Commission to make sure Stefan assumes the crown, and then control the new tsar like a puppet. The American's are financing this plot through an American law firm, Pridgen and Woodworth.

The main character, Miles Lord, is an African American lawyer from South Carolina who speaks fluent Russian. An employee of Pridgen and Woodworth, his job is to sift through Russian archives to find anything that might affect Baklanov's claim to the throne. After weeks of research, Lord finds documents (one from Lenin) that allude to the fact that several of Tsar Nicholas II's children survived the massacre in Yekaterinburg. But this new evidence now proves dangerous to Lord, and those representing Baklanov now want Lord killed. Lord gains the assistance of a beautiful acrobat in the Russian Circus, and together, they try to flee those trying to kill him. He is assisted by a secret organization, and must find clues and solve puzzles to discover the true secret of the Romanov's fate. Of course, he also must travel extensively at breakneck speed. In this sense, The Romanov Prophecy reads like John Grisham meets Dan Brown (The DaVinci Code).

While I enjoy historical fiction and I am not opposed to a little fantasy, The Romanov Prophecy is just too unbelievable. The fact that the Russian's would restore the monarchy is perhaps the biggest stretch of all. Also, do we really think that so many Russian factions (mafia, church, military, etc.) would all agree on anything? Or that two Russian mafia goons and a corrupt policeman could travel the world chasing Lord, without any problems with passports and visas? Or that the FBI and American police would be so easily fooled by the Russians without double checking? Or that the KGB has informants in US banks where they monitor bank accounts and safety deposit boxes that might still contain tsarist gold? Also, Lord is supposed to be a brilliant lawyer, but he's totally clueless in figuring out who is betraying him (it takes more than a house to fall on Lord).

So while I enjoyed The Romanov Prophecy and was anxious to see how it played out, I just think it had the potential to be so much more. Still, I gave it three stars as it combines two of my favorites-Romanov history in a mystery setting.

18 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars The proof that wasn't., February 1, 2006

By	J. Martens (Winnetka, IL USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

"Write what you know" is advice often offered to writers. Steve Berry should have heeded that advice. He doesn't speak Russian, nor does he know much about Russia.

His incorrect Russian was like a fingernail dragging across a chalkboard through the whole novel. Instead of Nikolskiy prospect, we get Nikolskaya. A babushka becomes a bobushka. And he dresses a Russian policeman in a woman's hat or "shlapa," which is actually written shlyapa. That's hardly an exhaustive list. Orleg (did he mean Oleg?) eats his bliny like an American, using syrup, rather than tvarog and jam.

Not that Berry's English is all that powerful. "And other than the man in the archives, whom he'd thought might be watching ..." Whom? Who would do just fine. Unleashing his creativity to write in a staccato, hard-boiled style, Berry pens: "He spent at least nine weeks a year traveling the world on expeditions. Canadian caribou and geese. Asian pheasant and wild sheep. European red stag and fox. ...." I don't think semi-colons would spoil the canvas here.

Don't expect any psychological depth from Berry's characters. Insights on what makes his characters tick appear as afterthoughts, plopped down on paper. Chapter 18 ends with: "Just like his father." Clunk. Evil-doer Hayes stands on a hill overlooking Moscow where "the Kremlin cathedrals peaked through a cold haze like tombstones in a fog." Is Hayes sensing his own death? He doesn't appear to be. So what's the reader to make of this image? Don't dig deeply. My guess is that it's only a doodad to give the work the semblance of the profound thought and observation expected in good literature.

Believability is an important quality of fiction. Berry lost all believability when he wrote that DNA testing confirmed that Michael Thorn was directly descended from the Russian Tsar Nicholas. He stated that Michael's "genetic structure matched Nicholas's exactly, even containing the same mutation scientists had found when Nicholas's bones were identified in 1994."

In the case Berry refers to, scientists tested mitochondrial DNA, which is only passed down the female line. Michael's mother got her mitochondrial DNA from her mother. Her mother got hers from her mother, etc.

If Michael Thorn's mitochondrial DNA matches Nicholas's, then Michael Thorn's mother is related to a female in Nicholas's mother's family.

Yet, that can't be. Berry states that Michael Thorn's mother, a Russian refugee living in America, was "Russian born to noble blood." Nicholas's mother's family is Danish. Thus, the results of the DNA test actually mean that Michael Thorn is not the Tsar. When science speaks, Berry's story disappears. That's just plain sloppy writing and editing.

Berry seems to have developed a recipe: take a foreign vacation, find colorful sights, take copious notes for descriptions, salt and pepper with foreign words, boil down local history to Cliff Notes sketches and attach them to scenery, simmer with a stock plot, and voila!

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Stuck on Duh?, March 25, 2006

By	R. E. Poz "Surf Fox" (LONG BEACH, CA USA) - See all my reviews

I got to page 120 when my "b.s." meter pegged out. Either all Russian mafia and police are incompetent buffoons ala Keystone Kops, or Johnnie Cochran got reincarnated with the powers of Superman. To believe a black research attorney working in Moscow could avoid five (count 'em FIVE) assassination attempts in two days goes beyond believability, Denzel or not. I wanted to enjoy this read but it wasn't to be found here.