"The Romanov Prophecy" and Buc bits

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The Romanov Prophecy is a book I picked up a long time ago and was saving for a rainy day. With the next emberverse book taking forever to get into paperback, I figured that for me, it was a literary rainy day and so I grabbed the book from it's place on the shelf and started to read. The Romanov's and the events surrounding their murder have always intrigued me and I'm happy to say that this book did not disappoint in the amount of true history it mixed in along with the fictional story.
Synopsis

The Romanov Prophecy is the story of a young lawyer from the states, who runs afoul of the turmoil in the re-establishment of a monarchy in Russia. Originally, the lawyer was simply there to do research into the claim of the pretender that his firm was supporting, however in his research he learned that it was possible that some of the Romanov children survived the terrible tragedy that occured in 1918 and took the lives of the ruling house of Russia. This, of course, jeopardizes the interests of some very powerful men, who would prefer that they establish their own puppet ruler, instead of the actual person who should be ruling. He ends up running for his life while the Russian mafia tries to put an end to his research.

Review

Honestly? I was a bit disappointed in this book. Don't get me wrong...it was a good book. However, after reading "The Amber Room" and "The Third Secret", I was expecting much more from Steve Berry. This particular tale was just a bit too cliched and predictible for my tastes, however I eagerly look forward to more by Mr. Berry. I must point out as well that this book seemed to be more of an effort to make the public aware of the awful events that destroyed the Romanov family. Truly, one of the most tragic events to befall Russia, and the entire world. This novel brings home the fateful day when the Romanov's were marched down to a cold basement for 'a picture', and ended up being slaughtered by the Bolsheviks. This novel also addresses some of the claims that Romanov children might have survived the slaughter. The story told by Berry was not a very good one, however it didn't really need to be, since the story that occurred in real life is one of the most tragic of all time. Had Berry upstaged the story of the Romanov's with his fiction...this book probably would not have been as good as it was. 4/5






What can I say about the Bucs? Everyone knew this was a rebuilding year. Everyone knew we were not going to contend. Still, with the good preseason play of Leftwich and Johnson, I think there was guarded optimism that the Bucs might end up being a darkhorse contender for the superbowl. Now the Bucs are sitting at 0-3, with no possibility for a win in sight as we head first to Washington, then Philadelphia, come home to face the panthers and then head off to London to take on the Patriots. Perhaps, just perhaps we could eak out a win in the Carolina game...but I wouldn't bet on it. Our offense is doing adequately well. Better than can be expected, but our defense is giving up the long ball and letting the opposing runners gash us for long gains on the ground. Our secondary is in shambles after Tanard Jackson's suspension, the loss of Jermaine Phillips for the year with a destroyed thumb, and the realization that while Sabby Piscatelli has a nose for the ball, he has no nose for making a tackle. The entire team as a matter of fact, needs to take a class on football fundamentals and wrapping up the tackle. There is no excuse for it requiring 3-4 guys to bring down a wide receiver. The only consolation is that with this kind of a showing, the offseason will be more interesting with a high draft pick and the possibility of finding some big name free agents. We sorely need to address the Defensive Tackle position. I don't see why the Bucs don't understand that the Defensive Tackle is nearly the most important defensive position on the field. With a good tackle applying pressure in the middle, the ends don't get double teamed so much and can apply pressure to the qb who will have to get rid of the ball quicker. This allows the corners and safetys to not get as tired in coverage and not have to chase a receiver all over the field. 6 and 7 seconds in the pocket simply allows the qb to scan the field and gives the receivers time to get open. Address the DT position this offseason. Hell, make a trade and address it now. Then again, Gaines Adams is looking more and more like a bust...so even with the help of an elite DT, he might not be able to get any pressure. So it goes I suppose.

So what's next literature-wise? Well, I'm about halfway through Dan Brown's next book "The Lost Symbol". After that, "The Scourge of God" FINALLY came out in paperback and I'm eagerly waiting to devour it as soon as I finish Brown. With tons of school work and a 10 page paper coming up...that appears to be about all I'll be able to finish for a little while.