This book is an entertaining and accessible introduction to Russia's political history and Putin's personal background. While those who are very familiar with these topics might be a tad bored, Weiss is able to give a lot of information in a small space, and it definitely does not read like a textbook you'd see in a poli sci class. Instead, Weiss offers a bare-bones, factual account of the past few decades of Russian politics while including some of his own personal experiences as a Russian expert.

Thank you NetGalley for the chance to read and review this book!

This book reads like American propaganda. You don't need to like or support Putin in any way, shape, or form, to find this uncomfortable to read. There's absolutely no nuance to this book at all. The author takes random things from Russian history and fits them in to try to make his point. It's also super disjointed in how it does that.

Looking for some insight into arguably one of the most reviled men in the current day, I wanted this to be a bona fide biography of Vladimir Putin. As accomplished as the author claims to be in Soviet and Russian statesmanship and a “former White House Russia expert”, I expected to read an in-depth expose’ to gain insight into Putin, the man, the KGB officer, and the leader of the former Communist nation without the added politically biased views of Mr. Weiss.

This story reminds me of Diary of a Wimpy Kid meets Pseudo-Batman in a comic-style graphic novel written for a middle school reader. It was not at all what I expected from the description. The tangential side stories lend a disjointed and off-the-subject quality distracting from the subject (Putin) of the book. Calling this a graphic novel overplays the simplistic and inadequately researched story that should have been written. As written, this is an amateurish overview of the dangerous Russian President.

This book does a really good job describing the rise of Vladamir Putin and how his rule is influenced by the history of Russia and the rise and fall of the Soviet Union. The book is graphic history is comprised of different chapters, that are each illustrated in their own monochrome color, which was a great touch. If you do not know that much about Putin this is a great through introduction and still provides enough details for people well informed to get something out of. My only complaint would be the amount that it jumps around from a chronological perspective. Readers who are less familiar with Russian history might have a hard time drawing the correct connections because of this,

Philosophy of Vladimir Putin; Orthodoxy, autocracy, nationality.

An intriguing insight into the evolution of Russia over the last few decades. Putin has taken advantage of, and promoted, world events and crisis to manipulate his authority within Russia through fear and misinformation. Putin is exposed here as a real person displaying paranoia and fear even within the Kremlin.

Putin’s rise to power is artfully documented through authenticated events.

A good basic outline of V.V. Putin and the actions of Russia over the last decade or so. While it comes to press at a changing time, the forward and afterward do acknowledge that and the content itself mentions the very early parts of the 2022 invasion of Ukraine (and leaves an open ending be side the author isn't psychic)

Accidental Czar is a graphic novel about Vladimir Putin, all the way from his early years in the KGB to his rise as the president of Russia.

Reading this book and following the war that is happening with Ukraine is terrifying to say the least. It’s incredibly sad to see what is happening to innocent people who are now fleeing their home country.

I do not know a lot about Russia or Putin himself, so this book informed me well. A lot of the information was written in a way that was easy to understand, since my mother tongue is Norwegian, and history books tend to be written in a “use-big-words”-kind of way.

Also, the illustrations fitted the text perfectly; it was simple and not overdone with color. I did like the use of color to signify what was happening in the text, e.g the soldiers used green outfit so the green was the centre color.

Since this book is going to be published in November 2022, there is a small afterword at the end acknowledging the current situation, but a lot of stuff will have happened in the next few months leading up to the publication date. This is a good backstory to a terrible, horrifying man.

Along with the expected details of Putin’s rise from low-level KGB employee to the linchpin of modern Russia, “Accidental Czar” also had a great deal of other information as well. Since Putin and the state have become so deeply intertwined together, it’s impossible to not give any kind of decent biography of the man without giving any insight into Russia itself as well. So there was quite an array of contexts and influences to read about here, ranging from the various color revolutions that have swept nearby Russian neighbors in the near-past, to the conceptions of Moscow as a “Third Rome'' and the Russian nation as this bastion of orthdox Christian values. These various backgrounds were finely spiced with bits of insight from various experts, and from Weiss’s own relevant personal experiences working in government.

The only issue I would bring up is that “Accidental Czar” unfortunately already finds itself a bit dated in time. The book was only able to mention the very beginnings of the ongoing Russian invasion in Ukraine before wrapping up. Now it awaits a November 2022 publication, while what is arguably the culmination of Putin’s plans and policies for the past several years still rages on for who only knows how long. However, with that being said, it’s unfair to blame Weiss and his artist Brian Box for timing when these are matters that are far, far, far out of theirs and anyone else’s control.

So, even though this book will already have some catching up to do once available to the greater reading public, it’s still definitely quite a helpful and easy overview that goes a sizable way in making some sort of sense of these current times!