The Bronze Horseman was good if you take most of the love story out. Unfortunately the love story was most of the novel. I generally find stories about deprivation extremely compelling (my favorite Little House book is The Long Winter, after all, so naturally, my favorite part of the book was about the Leningrad blockade during the first winter. This part of the book was chilling and quite well-written. I would have given the book five stars for that alone. Therefore, I almost feel like I should have stopped reading after those parts were over because The Bronze Horseman is way, way, way too long. The love story felt completely run to the ground by the end. For god's sake, there was seriously like a hundred pages of completely unnecessary love scenes. Every time you think that the plot can finally move forward, there's another love scene. And another. And another. It was like the Groundhog Day of cheesy love scenes in the Urals. I was surprised there was no love scene on top of a bowl of pelmeni.