I had no idea it was in the style of a graphic novel and almost dismissed it but so very glad I didn't. Thoroughly interesting and could not put it down. I had been looking for more information on what makes Putin tick (if he has a heart at all) and this was a great intro in discovering more about him. There was so much more than just his political rise. The illustrations were terrific and I learned so much about players I had never heard of and want to learn more about as a result. Definitely worth a read! ( )

Timely catalog of the personal grievance, conspiracy, propaganda cycle in Putin's head. ( )

This is definitely one of the most uniquely told nonfiction books I've encountered. Using the form of a graphic novel, Andrew Weiss explores the life and career of Vladimir Putin within the context of Russian history. I don't typically read many graphic novels, and I was skeptical of how a nonfiction biography would work, but I finished this book impressed. Weiss includes some anecdotes and information about Putin I haven't heard elsewhere and I finished the book quickly - the graphic form makes for fast reading. This book can serve both as a good introduction to its topic as well as insightful for those already familiar with Putin. ( )

I was worried that I would be bored by too much overlap with Darryl Cunningham's graphic biography, Putin's Russia: The Rise of a Dictator, that I read just a month ago, but there was surprisingly little as this one has a much different -- and much more boring -- take on Putin's rise to power. Whereas Cunningham gives the story a Sopranos vibe with all the murders and scams allegedly tied to Putin, Andrew S. Weiss is content to settle into monotone History Channel documentary autopilot, reaching back through centuries of Russian history to find context for Putin's current actions. Being a long-time Washington insider and acknowledged expert on Russia, he has some worthy insights, but the presentation is flat and sometimes confusing with all the time jumps thanks to my decreasing ability to concentrate due to the droning nature of it.

Box Brown tries to spice the whole thing up with his art, but too often is left with nothing but talking heads to depict. I did find it amusing that on page 126 he went with the censored Soviet depiction of Lenin speaking in Moscow in May 1920 that airbrushes out Leon Trotsky and Lev Borisovich Kamenev. And I was a bit confused during the section on Russia's 2022 invasion when he showed Barack Obama and Angela Merkel in leadership roles when they were both out of office at the time, though I suppose it was a thematic callback more than a slight against Joe Biden and Olaf Scholz.

Bottom line, the book is good for you, but in the same way that eating vegetables is. More a chore than a pleasure. ( )