Mostly, I read books in about 2-3 days so after 4 days and just about half way through, I knew I wasn’t going to finish this book. I think it is a novel that is rather like the emperor’s new clothes. There is nothing subtle, nuanced or even hidden in this narrative – the whole book is a telling of why Putin is as he is dressed up with some traditional stories that lecture. There’s nothing here that I haven’t heard/read before so it isn’t orignial and I didn’t think it was particularly well written but that could just be the translation.

Simplistic and shallow.