When two princesses from a minor royal house in Montenegro arrive in pre-Revolutionary Russia they land in a court riddled with intrigue, petty jealousies and desperation. With their knowledge of the occult, the sisters use their powers to help the tsarina in her quest to conceive a son- but by introducing her to a series of ‘gurus’ and eventually the scruffy Siberian priest called Rasputin, they risk everything.
Based on the real-life story of Grand Duchess Militza Nikolaevna and her sister Anastasia, it’s a novel that covers their lives from their early days in Russia to their lives post-Revolution and explores the dynamics of power given to women and just what people will do in order to climb the social ladder. The sisters must tread carefully in a country that does not welcome them and that suspects them at every turn; as outsiders (referred to as ‘goat girls’ and ‘the Black Peril’ by those at court), they seem natural allies for a desperate Tsarina who is mistrusted by her subjects and disliked by the aristocracy.
I have read a fair bit about Tsar Nicholas’ court and had never heard of these two- but it seems there were rumours about their occult activities, which were fashionable in the last days of the Russian empire. They did indeed introduce Alexandra to Rasputin (who seems really, really gross, whether I read about him in fiction or biography.)
Although it does sometimes veer into fantasy territory, I enjoyed the mixture of fact and fiction. As well as the magical realism, we’re also shown their everyday lives: their relationships with their husbands; the dullness of living in a gilded cage; their lack of awareness of the unrest in the country around them as they become obsessed with maintaining the tsarina’s happiness- and, so, their position in court.
It’s an interesting look at a time and place in history that’s usually very male-dominated, despite the fact that the tsarina held such sway over the court. Despite knowing the fate of most of the characters, I kept reading, my attention held by the fascinating sisters at the centre of the narrative.

DNF at 36%. The plot of this book really intrigued me, but soon I realized it just wasn't for me. The story was slow moving and repetitive, and the characters weren't gripping. The sisters had the potential to be interesting characters, but I couldn't fully understand their motivations, and their behaviours remained ambiguous to me. The other characters weren't much better: they seemed to be defined by one main characteristic, without being complex at all. There were also quite a few graphic scenes of magic rituals which I really didn't like. I don't mind dark books, but this one was too over the top for me.
Sadly, I don't have interest in continuing.

I read a non-fiction book earlier this year about the Romanovs and it piqued my interest. My knowledge of Russian history, from any era, is incredibly sketchy, so this seemed like a novel I could sink into. The Witches of St Petersburg was certainly rich in the history of its era, particularly the ins and outs of court life; there was a gossipy vibe that ran through the narrative, one had to read closely and resist the urge to skim as the author wove a lot of necessary information into these gossipy passages. I did enjoy these at first, but this novel is very long and prone to repetition, particularly via this type of scene. There were also a lot of characters to keep track of, Russian royalty, and everyone seemed to have similar first names and titles. The list at the beginning of the novel was not helpful when you’re reading an ebook, it’s just far too much effort to flip back and forth all the time. Further testimony to the length of the novel is the fact that Rasputin doesn’t make an appearance until past the half way mark. I was a little confused prior to this, wondering where he was as I’d formed the impression he was a major player in the novel. Despite these quibbles, I still enjoyed The Witches of St Petersburg. Militza in particular was a favourite, I found her tenacity and foresight admirable. I don’t for a minute believe that she and her sister Stana were motivated by anything other than securing their own social statuses, but still, they ingratiated themselves and wove their brand of magic right into the heart of the Imperial palace, something many before them had tried and failed at. Yet despite the favour bestowed upon them by the royal couple, the ‘Black Princesses’ as they were known, had many enemies and had to tread a careful path, forever looking over their shoulders.

‘Mikitza could feel a wave of irritation. Why was Stana always so indiscreet? The maid didn’t need to know about their family, their business. Ever since the wedding the sisters had deliberately decided to keep their “customs” to themselves. And although there was an embryonic movement amongst the more enlightened at the fringes of St Petersburg society, it was not so long ago that witches were being hounded, dunked and burnt. Women still had to make cakes and hold “phantom” tea parties, even if they were going to do something so rudimentarily primitive as tasseomancy – reading tea leaves. So both she and Stana had to be careful to protect themselves.’

This novel is steeped in the supernatural, dark witchcraft and old world paganism. Militza is quite a powerful witch, more so than her sister Stana, although she seemed to need Stana’s energy for some of the more complex spells, so the two were rarely apart. This close relationship between the sisters was formidable, and while Militza was particularly protective of her younger sister, she retained her authority as the older, and more powerful sister, and rarely ceded to Stana’s wishes. It was Militza who had the closer relationship with the Tsarina Alix, and it was also Militza who was more involved with Rasputin. Although in his case, she believed she had conjured him through dark magic, believing herself to be his maker and controller. She was quite mistaken on this, Rasputin’s appearance in line with her spell more coincidence than design. Rasputin himself was richly characterised, he was a force on the page and took command of the scenes he was in. Not the most admirable of characters, a charlatan and sexual deviant, yet the charisma he supposedly had in real life was certainly realised on the page by the author, along with the repulsion he ignited in others.

‘Stana shook her head. “Militza, you can’t consort with the dead and expect to be left alone.”
“Says who?”
“Do you think you’re the only person who can dance with the Devil and expect him to listen when you ask to stop?”
“I have looked the Devil in the eye.” Militza raised her eyebrows, sounding pleased with herself. “All those séances, all those times we have used the Ouija board, where do you think I went?”
“You are scaring me now.”
“Don’t be so weak. You have known about our power all your life; it goes back centuries. Now is the time to use it.”
“But you will open Pandora’s Box!”
“And then…” said Militza, stubbing her cigarette in a silver ashtray, “I shall close it.”

The shallowness of court life was well depicted, how easily people fell in and out of favour. It was a cut throat circle to move in. I was somewhat taken aback by the prevalent use of cocaine and the high interest in mystics along with the superstitious beliefs many held fast to. One can almost see quite clearly why the revolution eventuated if the events within this novel are based on even a grain of truth. A drugged out Tsar deferring to his ailing wife who was afraid of everything and a virtual puppet for Rasputin. Hardly a pair to instil confidence. All in all this was an entertaining read, a vivid representation of the entwined lives of the Montenegro sisters with the Romanovs and the ill-famed Rasputin in the years leading up to the Russian revolution. An intriguing blend of historical and paranormal fiction.


Thanks is extended to Head of Zeus via NetGalley for providing me with a copy of The Witches of St Petersburg for review.

*Review will be posted to my blog one week prior to release*

A good, if overly long book. I enjoy books about Imperial Russia. However I struggled to finish this, but enjoyed the subject matter.

Rich yet repetitive, this book is a little bit of a mixed bag. While I loved Militza as a character and found her, quite frankly, disturbing relationship with Rasputin interesting, the circle of parties and veiled insults proved repetitive. The attempt to convey the intrigues and whispers of the Russian court at this time is commendable, but falls a little flat as the book seems torn between being a courtly drama and a supernatural one.

Atmospheric and a period of history I don't know so well, but not quite in the mood for this one just now. Probably a great book for the winter months and will pick up again when it gets a bit colder!

Thank you to Netgalley, Imogen Edwards-Jones and Head of Zeus for my arc of The Witches of St Petersburg.
Without sounding truly horrible, what can I say about this book without starting with 'what a mess'.
I hate writing bad reviews but I have tried my very best to like this book. I got as far as 81% before I DNF because I REALLY wanted to like it. I love stories about Russia and I'm fascinated by Rasputin, dark fairytales and witches so this should have been right up my street. But apparently not.
So, the premise first of all. Militza and Stana are princesses of Montenegro who marry into the Russian aristocracy. Soon they are surrounded by the pomp and fuss of court, but never part of the inner circle. Stana is unhappy in her marriage, both the sisters are viewed as too poor, too dark, too mysterious and not worthy of marrying Russian nobility. But when the new Tsar comes into power they ensure they are right by his side, becoming the new favourites. But when Rasputin arrives, everything changes.

Ok, so where do I go with this. First off either the editing was poor (understandable with an arc so I hope it's that) or the author decided to keep switching the way people talked because all of a sudden the word 'the' was dropped. Example; 'she needed to get back to City'. This was confusing and distracting. Secondly the POV. I don't know the official term for this way of writing POV but it was sort of like a third person narration but also omniscient and it got confusing because in a conversation between the two sisters it would say 'she thought' and I didn't know who was thinking, or it would be talking about Militza and then say 'Stana was thinking' and I was like why does Militza know what Stana was thinking. It just blew my head apart, I couldn't get to grips with it.

Then there was the fact it was boring. And long. The goodreads page description is 206 Pages. There's no way that's correct. I can read that many pages in 90 minutes, it took me 6 hours to get to 81% and it was predicting another hour left. I just couldn't take any more of it.
The book was repetitive it went over the same points. The sisters try to help the Tsarina, they fail, they try again. People say they're witches and smell of goats. They attend a ball, they attend another ball and people say the same thing.

Then in the second half it's more of the same but now Rasputin is here so it's just peppered with lots of really revolting sex. Now I'm no prude. I read and enjoyed Fifty Shades, the ACOTAR series is one of my favourites. But when you're reading something about filthy fingers, revolting breath, leathery tongues and warts on the end of people's bits it's all a bit too much. And I swear if I read the word 'tumescent' to describe his man parts one more time!

In the last third of the book it got significantly worse which is why I decided to DNF. There was way too much going wrong with the language. Way too much weird sex stuff going on, way too much bad writing/lack of editing happening and I just thought I can't waste another hour of my time on this.

I'm really sorry to have to leave a bad review for this as 1. I hate doing that and 2. My expectations were really high but it is an honest review and I think this book requires much more work on the editing and a good 2-300 Pages cutting out altogether.

I actually really enjoyed this. Admittedly the fall of the Russian Empire is a period of history that fascinates me and yet is one I have never probably studied so it wouldn’t be hard to get a few inaccuracies of liberties past me. That said this is historical fiction which means that as long as you cling to the historical skeleton, you can take a few liberties (honestly I defy anyone to write hist fic and not make some stuff up!) To me, this book’s big theme was power: what people will do to get it, what they’ll do to hold on to it and how out of touch it makes the privileged few who are born into it with no conception of what it’s like not to have that power. The author has made her characters accessible and human – most of whom were born into an elite class where they genuinely thought of themselves almost as a different species than the lower classes. (Discovering that there was a piper to pay for their perceived excesses and their thoughtlessness must have been quite the awakening!) Add to that the political jostling of the Tsar’s court and a Tsarina who will do anything to give birth to a male heir and this is one of history’s melting pot moments. I can’t say I liked any of the characters but I was invested in the way the author told the story. My one niggle is that the pace dipped and sagged a few times which meant I kept putting the book down and finding it hard to get going again. Interesting and enjoyable if not an immediate favourite.

What a disappointing and a very long book. I gave it a chance, a very thick chance indeed. I’ve read 39% of e-book before I could not read anymore. What a load of crap, excuse my French.
Books written on Russia and Russians do make me feel very sensitive. Some of them are good, some of them are bad and some of them are horrible. This book is of the latter kind. So many historical details bunched up into one very prolonged, dragged out, twisted and chewed on story. Yes, some of the characters are recognisable, but some are utterly unbelievable.
Author does not bother with keeping names correct and the same. In some places the main character is Anastasia Nikolaevna, in some places she becomes Sergeevna (different fathers???). The last Russian Empress shown to be a hysterical, spoiled girl with lesbian tendencies. I understand the fashion, the trend and hu-ha of the modern world, but to leave some things be without dragging them all over the place.
All in all, a very disappointing essence of something that have started off so well. I could not finish the book and will not read this author again.
Yes, and the author ‘had me at hello’ – Tolstoy never wrote What Is To Be Done… Get your facts right…
I wonder, would the author be able to write a similar book on any of the European Royals (to portray them as bunch of drunks, drug addicts, susceptible to all sorts of lies and mysticism, promiscuous and spoiled to n-th degree) in this way???
I love witches. They are wise and powerful women… but these two… I do not think so…

Set before the revolution this book tells us of the excesses, the profligacy and the opulence enjoyed by the Romanovs. And it also demonstrates just how out of touch with their people they were. And yet.....it has a slightly gothic feel in parts, it demonstrates quite harshly the very real flaws in human nature, it shows us weakness and manipulation which could be easy to scoff at with hindsight, but if it’s time it’s understandable.
It’s not a relaxing read but it is a dynamic book. I have always felt that the Romanovs suffered from human error rather than cruelty or unkindness and this book shows us a tsarina willing to go to any lengths to provide a male heir.

The Witches of St Petersburg was a gripping tale. I don't recall ever having read much about these two princesses before, so it was interesting to see a new take on the Rasputin story, which has already been told so many times and in many different ways. The girls were intriguing characters, especially Militza, but I couldn't help yelling at them in my head now and then for being so dense. Sometimes things were obviously a bad idea, but they just walked right into those situations anyway. Ah, well... Overall, though, this was a most entertaining read, and I recommend it for historical fiction lovers and those interested in the fall of the Romanovs.