"Gambit", literally "tricking somebody" is usually applied to military operations or chess strategies. In order to achieve the ultimate win some losses have to be accepted along the way. Both contexts fit here beautifully. Boris Akunin, Russian pen name of Georgian writer Grigory Chkhartisvili, has taken an actual episode from the 1877-78 war between the Russian and Ottoman empires to spin yet another successful yarn around young Erast Fandorin, secret agent in the Tsar's Special Division. The author fills a niche market in Russia, as he himself sees it, between the serious literature of the likes of Dostoevsky and Tolstoy and the usual light detective stories of today. For the international reader this new genre of Russian "espionage mystery" - the subtitle of the original - in a specific historical context is a fun read that at the same time provides some insights into the society of the day.At the end of the previous, first novel in the series, Winter Queen, Erast Fandorin's world was shattered; the repercussions of the drama seem to have resulted in a change of character. Now, he tends to stutter and is introvert and reserved. Has he lost his detective's touch as well? En route to the Russian military command headquarters outside Plevna, in Bulgaria, where a secret mission has sent him, he literally stumbles across Varvara Andreevna Suvorova. A vivacious and "modern" young woman, she is intent on following her fiancé, a volunteer soldier and cryptographer stationed at the same camp. Varvara, Varya for short, takes over as the primary protagonist of the narrative and Akunin exquisitely develops her character and describes her increasingly important position among the expanding entourage of admiring men. One of these is Sobolev, the White General, for the Russian reader easily recognized as General Skobelev, the real-life hero of the battle for Plevna. For the Turkish side, Akunin also bases some of his characters on actual personalities in the conflict. Furthermore, he introduces an illustrious retinue of international journalists, who mingle with the senior military and are "embedded" at the front lines. Akunin's subtle sarcasm at their doings and mishaps shows through and gives the story a certain actuality to current issues surrounding media observing military conflicts. The drama builds when it becomes evident that a saboteur must be at work: Russian attack positions are pre-empted by Turkish troops. Can the culprit or culprits be apprehended before more lives are lost? Like at a treasure hunt, Akunin leads the protagonists and the reader on a few wild good chases. Will Erast Fandorin's ingenuity and sharp deductive talent, help or hinder the investigation?Erast Fandorin has become a household name in Russia where millions of copies of each Akunin book are sold. The English speaking world is slowly catching on with now eight novels available in translation. This highly entertaining, this fast moving, action-packed and character-rich story, the second in the series, will delight any reader, beyond the already established Akunin fans. The author brings the intricate Russian historical events of the late 19th century to life with wit and a great sense of irony and humour.
The Book Report: Erast Petrovich Fandorin, titular counsellor of the Tsar's Special Branch (secret police, ugh), finds himself in the thick of the Russo-Turkish War of 1877-1878. In a manner very like that of a skinny, stammering love-child of James Bond and Nero Wolfe, Fandorin arranges things so that the party responsible for the sudden and inglorious halt of victorious Russian armies to Constantinople, long the most urgent desire of Imperial Russian froeign policy, comes inevitably to light. His newly minted assistant, the silly and delightfully idealistic Varvara Andreevna Suvorova, takes the center stage for much of this wild, careening caper; a good choice for misdirecting attention, that, and yet the author *scrupulously* plays fair and puts all the clues before the reader...yet Varya's goosey honkings about irrelevancies and her young woman of middling class and wealth scruples, presented with great and genuine affection by the author, do screen the actual malefactor's malefactions quite neatly. One scene, a sword-fight, is particularly nicely handled; Varya's emotions of fear, disgust, and slightly tickled vanity (it's over her honor the parties fight) are so believable that it's hard to imagine the author hasn't had the same thing happen to him. (I doubt much that it has, though.) Quite a wonderful piece of writing (and translation), and not the only one.My Review: All hail friends with reading addictions! My friend's praise tipped the scales for me, causing me to get these books. I don't regret this, though I am sorry that I waited so long. Still, that means I've got a lot of time before I run out of them! There are over ten in the series so far.Very high-quality escapism, written and translated very ably, and presented in a point-of-view that's different enough to make the well-worn genre of lone wolf solves problems for Big Government, and then runs away from the limelight, feel fresh and new. Recommended to all who have a yen for solving puzzles...I didn't figure this one out until halfway through!
What do You think about The Turkish Gambit (2006)?
I'm really starting to love this series. In a departure from The Winter Queen, in this book the POV character is a woman named Varya who has traveled across Europe to the Turkish front to find her fiance. Abandoned by her guide, she's rescued by Erast Fandorin and then appointed to be his assistant (Fandorin manipulates this as a favor to her, since she would otherwise be shipped back to Russia). Fandorin is there because an old enemy seems to have surfaced as advisor to the Sultan, but his brief soon becomes the investigation of treason within the Russian camp. Though Varya is at first only nominally involved, she soon becomes invaluable to Fandorin--and develops a more personal interest in him as well.I liked Varya even though she starts off selfish and frivolous. Seeing Fandorin at a remove, through her eyes, makes him into a more serious and competent investigator than he was in The Winter Queen, though he's only a year older; he's mysterious and clever and a very romantic figure. Again, Akunin's mystery is complicated and seems to be solved several times before it actually is, and the true villain was a surprise. This also made me wonder about the war between Russia and the Ottoman Empire in 1877; how much of this story was true, or did Akunin make this part of the campaign up? As before, I'm left wishing that Andrew Bromfield (again, an amazing translator) could translate faster, or that I could read Russian and be able to read all thirteen Fandorin mysteries at once.
—Melissa McShane
Akunin, po raz kolejny, nie zawodzi! "Gambit turecki" ma wszystkie cechy, które tak sobie chwaliłem w pierwszej powieści z cyklu o Fandorinie, "Azazelu". Ponownie więc świetna narracja, utrzymana w stylu retro-kryminału, jest idealnie kontrapunktowana przez całkiem nowocześnie prowadzoną fabułę - masa tu naprawdę zaskakujących zwrotów akcji, niespodziewanych "zejść" bohaterów i mylenia tropów. Intryga, co prawda nieco mniej skomplikowana, ale za to dużo bardziej prawdopodobna a do tego akcja osadzona jest na naprawdę barwnym, ciekawym historycznie tle wojny rosyjsko-tureckiej. Znakomita powieść, która z pewnością przypadnie do gustu i miłośnikom staro-szkolnego, i tym, lubujących się w przemyślanych, dobrze poprowadzonych i zaskakujących intrygach. Polecam!
—Rafal Jasinski
I have to be honest, this is the first Fandorin book that I've read, but not the first in the series (obviously). I saw it in a second-hand bookstore and thought it looked interesting.Unfortunately, not so much.The setting is interesting. I got the book because I enjoy reading historical novels set during times I didn't learn much about in school. So I can give it that! And while a little expected, I did like when everything started becoming a real pop-mystery novel.But...Varya is a caricature of a person at best, and at worst is insulting to women. I mean, we're talking about someone who goes to great lengths to see her fiance, then basically forgets about him, and can't help but flirt even when she's been taken hostage. The men are hardly any better. They seem to exist only to be attracted to Varya. Fandorin seems interesting, though, and I'd like to pick up another Varya-less book in the series to see what he's like.
—Melissa
