To be honest, i understood the messages of sacrifice, redemption and all, but i was never really too invested in the book, i see the appeal but the story and why people may like it, but for me the story went a little too fast from exiting the home of the family straight to freezing to death it felt kind of rushed, though there were some parts i found to be good, like Vasili contemplating if he should abandon Nikita or not (p. 104) .
But thats really all there is that i could find good, the chapter lengths were also incredibly inconsistent. The first four chapters being 3-4 pages and then theres only one page between page 7 and 8, this inconsistency makes the added chapters just feel like filler to add more chapters for the sake of it, and makes the books pacing horrible.
Another issue i had with the book is that there was no explanation or story development for the family at the village, the oldest son wanted to sell something but the family was objecting. I really think that story arc could’ve been interesting and thought they would so something with it, but it never happened so why even add it at all if your not going to expand on it??
The story itself was also very confusing, some things just happened that did nothing even slightly important, like the peasants before they arrived at the Kashino Village, why we’re they there?? It was extremely confusing and unnecessary.
One last issue i felt is that Nikita felt like a side character, Vassili has this entire arc about selfishness and redemption meanwhile Nikita’s story is basically just him refusing a drink, it felt like Vassili was the main character and Nikita was just there to be someone Vassili could sacrifice himself for.