The Death of Achilles
11 hrs. 7 min.
Language
Russian
Author
Boris Akunin
Author
Boris Akunin
Narrator
Alexander Klyukvin
Narrator
Pyotr Krasnov
Narrator
Igor Yasulovich
In 1882, Erast Fandorin returns to Moscow after four years of diplomatic service in Japan. There he learns that his friend from the Balkan campaign, the celebrated “white general,” the “Russian Achilles,” hero of Plevna Mikhail Sobolev (prototype — Mikhail Dmitrievich Skobelev), has died of a heart attack. Suspecting that the general’s early death may have been caused by other reasons, Fandorin begins an investigation during which he will have to meet his old enemy face to face. The time of action is 1882. Erast Fandorin is 26 years old.
Boris Akunin’s novel “The Death of Achilles,” a detective story about a hired killer, is a solid detective novel, pleasant for undemanding reading and not irritating, unlike most of its modern counterparts, with stupidity or vulgarity. This book describes investigator Erast Fandorin’s inquiry into the circumstances of the death of the nation’s favorite, General Sobolev, and also provides an extensive biography of the general’s killer: the story of the transformation of the boy Achimas into a hardened scoundrel and contract murderer. The novel takes place at the end of the nineteenth century, and the main events unfold in the summer of 1882, from June 25 to June 29.
One senses that the author has done serious work studying the realities of that time: the fabric is dense, the narrative is kneaded out of credible details (means of transport, gas tariffs, the size of tips). The laws of the genre are observed: there is a dashingly twisted plot (with a somewhat disappointing denouement, admittedly—too simple from too complex), numerous episodes of spying and eavesdropping, disguises and concealment, chases and murders, as well as the inevitable triumph of justice in the finale. “Because—how could it be otherwise?” as one mystical anarchist at the beginning of our century rhetorically asked. It is written in clear literary language that, as people sometimes aptly say in discussions of online prose, “does not get in the way.”
Boris Akunin’s novel “The Death of Achilles,” a detective story about a hired killer, is a solid detective novel, pleasant for undemanding reading and not irritating, unlike most of its modern counterparts, with stupidity or vulgarity. This book describes investigator Erast Fandorin’s inquiry into the circumstances of the death of the nation’s favorite, General Sobolev, and also provides an extensive biography of the general’s killer: the story of the transformation of the boy Achimas into a hardened scoundrel and contract murderer. The novel takes place at the end of the nineteenth century, and the main events unfold in the summer of 1882, from June 25 to June 29.
One senses that the author has done serious work studying the realities of that time: the fabric is dense, the narrative is kneaded out of credible details (means of transport, gas tariffs, the size of tips). The laws of the genre are observed: there is a dashingly twisted plot (with a somewhat disappointing denouement, admittedly—too simple from too complex), numerous episodes of spying and eavesdropping, disguises and concealment, chases and murders, as well as the inevitable triumph of justice in the finale. “Because—how could it be otherwise?” as one mystical anarchist at the beginning of our century rhetorically asked. It is written in clear literary language that, as people sometimes aptly say in discussions of online prose, “does not get in the way.”
1.
The Winter Queen
(narrated by
Yuriy Zaborovskiy)
2.
The Turkish Gambit
(narrated by
Yury Zaborovsky)
2.
The Turkish Gambit
(narrated by
Yegor Beroyev)
3.
Leviathan
(narrated by
Alexander Klyukvin, Sergey Chonishvili, Daria Moroz)
4.
The Death of Achilles
5.
The Jack of Spades
(narrated by
Alexander Filippenko)
6.
The Decorator
(narrated by
Sergey Chonishvili)
6.
The Decorator
(narrated by
Vladimir Zaytsev)
7.
The State Counsellor
(narrated by
Alexander Klyukvin)
7.
The State Counsellor
(narrated by
Alexander Yatsko)
8.
Valley of Dreams
(narrated by
Sergey Chonishvili)
8.
The Coronation, or The Last of the Romances
(narrated by
Alexander Bordukov, Alexander Klyukvin, Alexander Kotov)
9.
The Lover of Death
(narrated by
Igor Knyazev, Natalia Knyazeva)
10.
The Prisoner of the Tower
(narrated by
Alexander Klyukvin)
10.
The Lover of Death
(narrated by
Mikhail Gorevoy)
11.
The Diamond Chariot
(narrated by
Sergey Chonishvili, Alexander Klyukvin)
12.
The Jade Rosary
(narrated by
Vladimir Zaytsev)
12.
The Jade Rosary: One Tenth of a Percent
(narrated by
Sergey Shakurov)
12.
The Jade Rosary: Table-Talk of 1882
(narrated by
Sergey Shakurov)
12.
The Jade Rosary
(narrated by
Alexey Borzunov, Alexander Klyukvin, A. Mikhailov, Veniamin Smekhov, Mikhail Gorevoy, Sergey Garmash, Sergey Chonishvili, Tatiana Bondarenko, Alexander Filippenko)
12.1.
Valley of Dreams: Prisoner of the Tower
(narrated by
Mikhail Gorevoy)
12.2.
Before the End of the World
(narrated by
Alexander Klyukvin)
13.
The World Is a Stage
(narrated by
Sergey Kirsanov)
13.
All the World's a Stage
(narrated by
Dina Korzun)
14.
Black City
(narrated by
Sergey Chonishvili)
15.
Planet Water
(narrated by
Mikhail Roslyakov)
15.1.
Where Shall We Sail?
(narrated by
Mikhail Gorevoy)
16.
Not Saying Goodbye
(narrated by
Alexander Klyukvin)
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