"You ever notice," Bronstein began, "that whenever we ask the tsar to stop a war—"
"He kills us," Borutsch finished for him, his beard jumping. "Lots of us." ( )

Though at times it was both intriguing and fascinating, for me, the overall story got a bit muddled. Perhaps it's because I don't know enough about the Russian Revolution, or perhaps it was the writing style that just didn't grab me, but I quickly found myself losing interest in the story and wanting it to be over. I couldn't connect with any of the characters, and by around the middle of the book, I no longer cared what happened to any of them, historical spoilers or no, and that's a big problem for me. You have to make me care, about a character, the story, even a dragon or two. But I just didn't care what happened after about the middle of the book. ( )

Russia, 1917, under the autocratic rule of Tsar Nicholas II. The imperial will is enforced by the airborne terror of the Tsar’s dragons: great black beasts reared in the palace stables and then sent out across the country to ravage the lands of those the Tsar deems offensive – the Jews chief among them. But times are changing. In a quiet Jewish village, a group of ambitious men have long dreamed of bringing that change to Russia. Now they have the means. As their leader Lenin drums up support beyond the Russian borders, Bronstein and Borustch carefully work on a secret weapon that will bring down the forces of tyranny once and for all. Meanwhile, mutiny also simmers within the palace walls as a cabal of courtiers plot to rid themselves of the charismatic monk Rasputin. Set in the final days of the Romanov dynasty, this is a strange little novella: historical fiction skewed by the addition of dragons, which somehow never quite takes flight...

For the full review, please see my blog:
https://theidlewoman.net/2020/03/21/the-last-tsars-dragons-jane-yolen-adam-stemp... ( )

The setup felt jumbled. Too many focus characters in the startup.

Disappointed in the dragons.

Not caring about any of these characters. Rasputin, Alexandra. Meh.

We had dragons, tsars, and revolutionaries...and...

YMMV, just not for me. ( )