Citadels of Fire

Kremlins, Book 1

De: K.L. Conger

Narrado por: Cathy Burnham Martin

In a world where danger hides in plain sight and no one aspires to more than what they were born to, Inga must find the courage to break the oppressive chains she's been bound with since birth.

Even as a maid in the infamous Kremlin, life in 16th-century Russia is bleak and treacherous. That is, until Taras arrives. Convinced that his mother's death when he was a boy was no mere accident, he returned from England to discover what really happened. While there, he gains favor from the Tsar later known as Ivan the Terrible, the most brutal and notorious ruler ever to sit upon the throne of Russia.

Up against the social confines of the time, the shadowy conspiracies that cloak their history, and the sexual politics of the Russian Imperial court, Inga and Taras must discover their past, plan for their future and survive the brutality that permeates life within the four walls that tower over them all, or they may end up like so many citizens of ancient Russia: nothing but flesh and bone mortar for the stones of the Kremlin wall.

©2014 Liesel Hill (P)2018 Liesel Hill

terrific story

Great book! I was pleasantly surprised I don't normally read historical fiction. This was a page turner, I can't wait to listen the the next book in the series.

Read this instead

I received a free review copy of the audio version of this book in exchange for an honest review. This was a difficult book to rate, because it is an excellent book, but it was presented in a very unfortunate way in audio format, and I struggled between three and four stars. As a written work, this would receive five stars from me. The book is interrupted throughout with needless sound effects, and every time there is a chapter break, or scene change, you have to wait for a musical interlude before the story continues. This really disrupts the flow of the story, and makes it harder to keep the listeners interest. It irritated me immensely. I would highly recommend reading this book. I would not recommend listening to it.

Great listen

An interesting book to be sure, so I will give it four stars. The added romance line to this book was a bonus. The only part that made it hard to listen to the audiobook is the music in between scene changes. It took me right out of the book and though I think it was put in to make it unique and give the listener an idea of a change coming, it took me right out of the story each time.

At first it take too long than suddenly it's done

I love history; and Russia as well as China have always held a certain fascination for me. So don't say I didn't warn you about the history. You will not only get a history lesson but you will also be treated to music and sound effects (that was a surprising first for me). Also just to keep yoy coming back for more the author decided to weave a little extra mystery within the text of the book, than you are left hanging without the solution to the mystery.

Very enjoyable

I enjoyed this book a lot. I wanted so many times to ask my coworker that grew up in Russia about what they had been taught of this history while growing up. I find everyone has their own interpretation of things, and am very curious what the Russian government’s interpretation is for this time period. I loved learning about some of the customs. I found myself researching some more about this time frame because it piqued my interest so much. The story and interaction between characters is wonderful. The narrator did a good job, although I did notice some inconsistencies in the way she pronounced a few names (this was very minor and did not cause any confusion as to what character was being referred to). I admire they way the author was able to make such realistic characters and show their feelings, strengths, and weaknesses. I want more.