DNF about a third of the way through. The book was mildly interesting but not very compelling. There was a much stronger Outsider lens than I was expecting, and thus a stronger emphasis on the author's experience rather than on the countries discusses; their histories and the effects of the Soviet Union and its dissolution on them.

Written with a friendly, readable style, just not exactly what I was looking for.

Although my NetGalley advanced reader copy ended up having technical issues that prevented me from reading it, I couldn't help but share my review after acquiring a published copy.

So for me, some of the best travelogues do more than just open up a corner of the world to me and its history, culture, people, and possible future. An excellent travelogue is one that exposes me to so much within a single book that I find myself pausing constantly at first to look up various odds and ends, before finally deciding to keep a notebook handy nearby to jot down an array of things to learn more about later and feed my sparked curiosity. Suffice to say, upon finishing "Sovietstan" I found myself with a sizable handwritten list featuring quite a varied array of places, figures, and more from central Asia.

If you are anything like me and feel you know near next to nothing about this region, then you will hopefully also find Erika Fatland to be a fantastic guide through this deeply fascinating look across these five former Soviet republics.

The book is formatted incorrectly. When downloaded it is sideways and starts on page 419 for kindle. If you are able to fix this I would be happy to redownload it and review it.