Date: August 28 2020 2:39 AM Title: Usurping the Throne
More giantess gentle stuff , like fulda and her husband , do
the same here .
Author's Response:
I have quite a bit of gentle stuff coming down the pipe, and expect that it'll keep coming for a bit.
[Report This]Date: August 27 2020 8:27 PM Title: Usurping the Throne
I really enjoyed this. I haven't pursued enough historical Russian fiction, so I don't know what's out there, but this was like a rich meal. Watching Yekaterina establish herself, both in the narrative and among her staff, was impressive. I could only imagine what it would be like to be in the presence of someone so powerful and assured, and I read that in the guards and everyone around her. It was exciting to listen to her list all the countries and regions under her jurisdiction, and when Peter cocked off at her, what happened next was very satisfying.
Personally, I appreciate that Yekaterina didn't simply snuff him out under her shoe. That would have been obvious, and it's far too common a finishing move. To store him with his beloved lead soldiers was a finesse, a small gesture of poetry. (My mind naturally wanders to the near future, as she explores ways to play with him, but that's low and common of me and what happens here is enough.) I look forward to rereading this and studying up on the era.
Author's Response:
Thank you! I was originally going to do something related to the Decembrist uprising, but changed my mind at the last minute, and it seems like that was a good choice. Yekaterina Velikaya (though she wasn't yet the Great at this point) is an incredibly interesting woman, and for a time was the most powerful woman, maybe even person, on the face of the planet, giving fertile ground to explore this material with her. There's still some dispute of how exactly she deposed Peter III, so I figured why not have him be shrunk? It's no less fantastical than some of the other accounts surrounding historical figures (Constantine XI, Aleksandr I, and others).
Peter III was universally regarded as a brute and boor, and insisted his wife played toy soldiers with him even while emotionally abusing her. I thought it would be appropriate for that to be his punishment handed down by her - simply stepping on him would be letting him off easy.