Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

Let me put this within a context that might resonate better. So, imagine if I opined that all Muslims are terrorists and that anyone who isn't heterosexual is evil and less deserving of compassion and love. How fast would it take you to flag this review? This book went from a story premised on Russian folklore to one that not only degrades Christians, but it also characterizes them as duplicitous and malevolent. Look, real-life comprises layers and nuances and not one group is completely good or bad, but to malign, for instance, an entire race because of prejudice and/or ignorance is not acceptable to me; not unless such is required to advance the story. And quite frankly, I don't believe that Arden adequately justifies this plot device; which makes it seem like a self-indulgent, deliberate, and malicious subversion of Orthodox Christianity. In the end, and by juxtaposing mysticism with Orthodoxy in a "good v bad" battle (with Christianity being all bad), Arden allowed her personal bias and prejudice interfere with the organic flow of what could have been a rather enthralling read. And I couldn't help but wonder if she would have dared insinuate this sort of drivel about the Ottoman Empire, or Islam for that matter.