About:
The Mirrored World by Debra Dean is a fictional account of the life of St. Xenia. The novel takes place in St. Petersburg, Russia during the 18th Century.
The publisher is giving away one copy of this book— use the Rafflecopter form at the end of the post to enter.
My rating for The Mirrored World – 2
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Thoughts:
The Mirrored World by Debra Dean (Facebook) is has an interesting premise – the life of a Russian saint. This is one of those books where everything is wonderful, but for me the sum of the parts simply didn’t come together to create a whole.
The subject is interesting, the time period fascinating, the writing is lyrical and the novel certainly captures a dreamy state of time and place. However, the book simply failed to capture my interest.
Even though I appreciated the styling, effort and talent that went into the writing, I found myself having a difficult time reading the novel. I never got vested in any of the characters, I simply didn’t care about them at all.
The best thing about the book is the way Ms. Dean sets up her scenery, every time I got my nose out of the book I expected to look out the window and see the bleak streets of St. Petersburg. The hopelessness and sadness of the residents resonates off the pages and into your head.
The real disappoint though was the wasted opportunity for an interesting novel. I don’t feel I learned anything about Xenia since the story is told from the point of view of her cousin. The story is there, but we never learn the motivation behind her actions. Was Xenia crazy? Depressed? Guilty of her life compared to the poor rabbles outside her door?
We never find out.
Ms. Dean is certainly a wonderful writer, she can string words and sentences together for a compelling narrative. Even though this book didn’t work for me, I am looking forward to read more of her works in the future.
Synopsis:
Xenia was born to a lower nobility class in Russia, she falls in life with a soldier and a singer in the Imperial choir named Andrei. Even though their marriage is a happy one, the couple’s life is difficult due to the ridiculous demands by the court they are serving.
Xenia’s dreadful visions come true and she descends into depression and goes through a profound transformation. She starts giving away all her earthly possessions until one day she simply disappears.
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Disclaimer: I got this book for free from TLC Book Tours
BOOK BLOGGERS – Have you read The Mirrored World? If so link up your review below:
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I appreciated how much research Debra Dean put into writing this book. It's little things, like the timing of when tea became such an integral part of Russian culture, that really stood out to me.
julierupert@gmail.com
I guess that I am a "cover person". I thought the cover was so pretty. I liked the first few pages of the book but not the rest. I could connect with any of the characters either. I was very disappointed.
meikleblog at gmail dot com
Would love to read this one!
harvee44@yahoo.com
thanks for the giveaway
nanze55 at hotmail dot com
I'm sorry to see that this one wasn't quite the perfect fit for you but thanks for sharing your thoughts for the tour.
Can't wait to read!
I would love to read the book. Thanks for having the giveaway.
ayancey(at)dishmail(dot)net