This was definitely an interesting book. As someone who is half-Russian, I do not really know much of Russian history but this was a fun read. I don't know how accurate it is exactly but I enjoyed the characters and the art style looked pretty cool. Rasputin was definitely an interesting character as he is an interesting historical figure who is very much shrouded in mystery as well as controversy.

This graphic novel explores the theory that the british intelligence had a hand in Rasputin's assassination. I really liked how the author and the illustrator were able to convey to the readers what was happening in Russia from all points of view. They were able to set the stage for everything they wanted to show and made us care about the outcome. And the story is fascinating; I was afraid I wouldn't like it that much when I realized the story is from the point of view of one of the british agents, but I really liked Cleary throughout the whole story. I also really enjoyed the intrigue and the maneuvers on display here, everyone had an ulterior for even the most trivial thing they said. And, as many people have pointed out, the art is beautiful.

Thank you Netgalley, author, and publisher for the ARC.

Petrograd by Philip Galett and illustrator Tyler Crook have created a really great glimpse into Russian history during WW1. Although we don't really learn anything about Rasputin, we learn about the circumstances that led to his murder and it's just as intriguing and interesting as any spy novel. We follow Cleary, a British agent from the spy agency and his eventual involvement in the plot to kill Rasputin as the UK were afraid that he was trying to establish peace between Russia and Germany. Throw in some Bolsheviks and the Okhrana (Russian secret police) and we have quite the story. Told in a clear and concise way, this graphic novel gave me just enough of a glimpse into Russian history that I'll want to do my own further reading to learn more. The artwork is stunning and detailed, it really captures the starkness of the times.

Many thanks to Oni Press and NetGalley for sending me an ecopy of Petrograd in exchange for an honest review.

This graphic novel is action packed, fast paced, and teeming with intrigues. There is not a single full moment.

To start off, the art is amazing. It is intelligently suitable for the story, so props for that.

Secondly, the story is intriguing, speculative and it offers an interesting possibility of what may have lead to the undoing of Rasputin.

Thirdly, I loved how the characters were written. Gritty and hard. Reading about bisexual cross-dressing dukes and a quirky female Bolshevik
instigator was indeed lots of fun.

And lastly, the dialogue was intense. It kept me engaged and interested in the story.

Petrograd tells the untold story of the international conspiracy behind the 1916 murder of Grigori Rasputin.

Wow. I had no idea what to expect from this underated historical spy thriller (originally printed in 2011) other than what you've just read here, but I can honestly say that this one absolutely hit all of the right notes.

Even though the book firmly and truthfully situates itself in a space between fact and fiction it's clear that the level of research done by Philip Gelatt for Petrograd is phenomenal! The details are plentiful and fleshed out making this not only a fun well thought out read but simultaneously educational.

The art is awash in a sepia toned hue that lends itself to an early 20th century magic that wholeheartedly brings the streets, shadows and characters of Petrograd to life on the page. The character designs are pretty close to the actual historical figures and Rasputin himself is aptly intimidating!

Overall, if you're a fan of history, spies and stories with their feet firmly in reality then I would NOT miss this one. This is easily a contender for best read of the year for me. Get your pre-order in for the new paperback or hunt down the hardback now. 👍🏻

If I'd enjoyed Clearly more as character, I would've liked this more, but I wasn't invested enough in him to care about this fate. The artwork of the snow scenes was beautiful, and Rasputin was fittingly terrible. A good read for history fans.

I never thought I would enjoy Historical fiction in a graphic novel format. But you just made it possible.
The story was engrossing and well-paced. Enjoyed how the book had the raw aspects while maintaining the twists to keep you hooked up with the book.

So I will recommend this book for people:
- who love historical fiction
- who think they are going in a reading slump & want to read something small but interesting
- who enjoy graphic novels
- who loved Persepolis

The year is 1916. The fate of millions of people hangs in the balance, and in Russia’s capital city of Petrograd, corruption rules the day and conspiracy rules the night. But to British intelligence officer Cleary, the Petrograd post is all about relationships and carousing. He drinks and parties with the rich and powerful; he flirts and cavorts with workers and countrymen. His life is all late, drunken nights, bleary-eyed mornings, and the occasional report back to London. Cleary is a very interesting character and we follow him through everything that happens in Petrograd in that period. We get the story from his point of view.

Petrograd is like a tinder box ready to be set ablaze, and there are dark clouds on the horizon for Cleary. We have some very interesting political and social aspects, rumors and Rasputin. The setting and the plot is very interesting. I love historical fiction that makes you want to read more about the real events. This is what this book has done for me. I am very curious now, I want to find out more and I plan to read some non-fiction on the events from this book. There is a bibliography at the end that helps with finding out some great resources (I appreciate when historical fiction books have this).

The art is very important in this graphic novel. The colours and the style are such at important part of the story. It helps with the atmosphere and the setting.

I highly recommend this graphic novel! I think it is masterfully done and I cannot wait to get to my non-fiction books.

"If everyone fought for their own convictions there would be no war.”
― Leo Tolstoy, War and Peace

Sometimes It's funny to me, to review books about a subject I probably know more than the author.
Let's make things clear here, my family is from Russia. I was raised in the myths and traditions from Mother Russia, Russia's History is mine.
And even if I can salute the work and research conducted by Philip Gelatt, I can only blame the lack of development of the true and only point of view that matters and that nobody seems to have the shoulders to carry on, the royal's family point of view.

I understand that this graphic novel, with an interesting and well-adapted illustrative style, is centred around the British involvement in the Russian revolution, the events and facts that led to Rasputin's assassination.
But talking about him without analyzing his place and impact at the tsar and tsarina's level is almost nonsense in my opinion.

Also, I'm sorry to disappoint you, but I don't think the members of the secret service of Great Britain were really that affected, on an emotional level, by the missions they had to accomplish.

This book is brilliantly drawn and really interesting. It is a full length graphic novel in the style of 1984.. The story of Rasputin is very complex but here it is well explained and engaging. This would be great for GCSE students looking at Russia.

Very well recreated story and wonderfully selected art for it. I think I recently saw "1984" in the same style.
Although the story of Rasputin is extremely complex to recreate in a comic book version, as it requires too much additional information, both authors have done an excellent job with this experience. It was a little strange to feel like you were reading something that was Russian in its entirety, but in English. But there is a charm in this as well - here that they have preserved its Russian essence to the end.

The original opinion is in Bulgarian, sorry for the translation errors.

This has all the vibes of a political/diplomatic/spy thriller but in graphic novel form. This graphic novel holds a lot of potential to illustrate the death of Rasputin, but I admittedly found it a bit hard to follow. I'm not sure I had quite enough background knowledge to fill in the gaps and couldn't always trace characters throughout. For more serious fans of Russian history and politics, this will be a fantastic read I'm sure!

An intriguing and epic length visual story. The art is consistently well done, and the story is well-developed.

Stellar historical-fiction, this re-release of the 2011 graphic novel is just visually engaging and well written as remembered. This version of the murder of Rasputin takes some historical liberties with British involvement but pulls it off by typing the invented characters in closely with the real historical figures involved and its all worth it for the gorgeously drawn assassination sequence and darkly disturbing Rasputin.

An interesting telling of the story of the assassination of Rasputin, though there are sections that are a bit difficult to follow because many of the characters look very similar to each other, art style-wise.

This is definitely a graphic novel for someone who is already familiar with the Rasputin plot and the revolution in general. I've studied this time period for years and still found it slightly difficult to follow at the beginning. That said, it's a great and compelling story and the artwork feels very Russian. I will definitely recommend this to history lovers!

Thankyou to Netgalley, Oni Press, the author and the illustrator for allowing me to read this advanced copy.
I wanted to read this as I've always been interested in Russian History, especially surrounding Czar Nicholas II and also the speculation and theories surrounding the assassination of Rasputin.

This is a very interesting read surrounding 1916 Russia and the assassination of Rasputin. You can really tell how much research went into this, as it's not only entertaining but very interesting to read. There are many theories surrounding the death of Rasputin. Although, the book has changed things for drama and for entertainment, I would say that the assassination reasoning and outcome is very convicing and plausible.

The atmosphere created in the graphic novel is brilliant, it really captures the cold, depressing, suffering of Petrograd at the time.
The illustrations are done in black, white and a shade of sepia which again helps empathise the atmosphere.
The dialogue and plot are brilliant, each section ties together nicely providing a full picture for the reader of what was happening at the time around the world.

I would highly recommend this for anyone who enjoys Historical Fiction, Russian History, History, Theories and Graphic Novels.

I really enjoyed Petrograd, a comic on the last months of the Romanovs, showing their influence as well as the overall feeling in the country, particularly towards Rasputin.

While it is based on real facts, we follow a fictional main character, Cleary, a British spy that is actually Irish.
I would have actually liked the book to be longer, covering more time, as the perspectives of the different countries and their implications in the war and Russian Revolution were pretty interesting.

A note on the art style: the colors used are red, black and white. That's it. In some scenarios the coloring is used as an accent, while in others it colors nearly all of the page, adding an ominous feeling.

Unfortunately it would not download to the netgalley app. I could only download it as a pdf file. I had not realised it was as a comic strip which made it laborious to read so unfortunately gave up on it.

Russian history, particularly that of the revolution and end of Tsarist Russia, is messy and complicated. The assassination of Rasputin really epitomizes this, and it is this event that is the main part of Petrograd. By this point in WWI, many Russians (and foreign delegates) have begun to see Rasputin as a blight on their country, a man whose tainted the Tsarina and bringing the country down with him. In desperation, an assassination plot is hatched to take him out in hopes of saving the country. Prince Felix was indeed one of the main conspirators, what's less clear is the extent of British involvement. Due to the chaos of the revolution and the war, there's no clear records that state definitely what happened that night or if the British were involved, the author has deviated from the historical record and made his main character a British spy who aided in killing Rasputin. While not wholly accurate, there is a good amount of good, factual historical information, with the author making an effort to provide context for why the events depicted were happening. I thought it was a little slow to get going, and almost seemed to gloss over the actual assassination of Rasputin, but the art was decent and overall it was a good read.