VeganCleopatra

As some reviewers have mentioned, Queen of Someday is in fact a Russian version of the show Reign. This is not a good thing.

I'll call Queen of Someday a "Wikipedia Historical". In this regard I mean that the history is shallow enough to be included in a brief Wikipedia entry and nothing more. I understand that the author warned readers that she was not in fact sticking to history but creating her own, but I do not understand the point. Why not just invent entirely different people then? The connection to Catherine the Great is not strong enough to even bother, in my opinion. This is, in fact, the same case for the CW show Reign. Really, why did they bother?

My biggest issue in the novel was the love quadrangle. There was Sophie/Catherine plus Peter III, Sergei and Alexander. One thing I will note is that these are in fact Catherine's lovers, but the timelines are not right. However, why the need to have them all vying for Catherine at the same time? (I tentatively include Peter despite end results.) The author then chose to have a rather crazy series of events occur when it came to Alexander (He is threatened to be killed but Elizabeth marries him off to Sophie's friend instead. Okay, but if Alexander loves Sophie and no one else yadda yadda, well how quickly and happily you got your new wife pregnant eh?. I also did not appreciate that due to Sergei's loyalty (and apparently how much trust Sophie had in him immediately, it was insta-trust), Sophie runs to him in the end and essentially uses him for her own gains/enjoyment rather than attempting to get out of her situation with Peter III.

The main character, Sophie/Catherine, was inconsistent. Her narrative voice even differed from situation to situation. I found her irritating in large part. The beginning where she was worrying more about her ruined dressed than people attempting to kill her and her mother did not help make her likable. Seriously, they're trying to kill you. (I won't even go into the knife skills she apparently had...that was a over the top as well.)

Overall an irritating misuse of history in order to grace us with love quadrangle drama.

Quotes I found...wrong.

Her lips are large and puffy like Elizavetta's, only, somehow, they sit just right on her face. Location 841 Do tell us more!

"He likes military things," I remember.
She looks off in the distance.
"Yes, that's something you can work with."
"How?" I ask.
She sets down her cup of tea. "My first suggestion, have a gown made that greatly resembles a military uniform."
"Then what?" I ask nervously.
She begins a detailed plan of seduction. Location 1341

What the bloody hell is that? A military uniform dress for seduction? Oy.