"In a sweeping story straight out of Russian history, Tsar Alexander I and a courageous girl named Nadezhda Durova join forces against Napoleon.

It’s 1803, and an adolescent Nadya is determined not to follow in her overbearing Ukrainian mother’s footsteps. She’s a horsewoman, not a housewife. When Tsar Paul is assassinated in St. Petersburg and a reluctant and naive Alexander is crowned emperor, Nadya runs away from home and joins the Russian cavalry in the war against Napoleon. Disguised as a boy and riding her spirited stallion, Alcides, Nadya rises in the ranks, even as her father begs the tsar to find his daughter and send her home.

Both Nadya and Alexander defy expectations—she as a heroic fighter and he as a spiritual seeker—while the battles of Austerlitz, Friedland, Borodino, and Smolensk rage on.

In a captivating tale that brings Durova’s memoirs to life, from bloody battlefields to glittering palaces, two rebels dare to break free of their expected roles and discover themselves in the process."

Napoleon, Russians, based on fact! Yes please!

Found this book fun and entertaining to read. It will take you on a ride of emotions that you didn’t see coming. I highly recommend this book who wants to go on adventure.

The Girl Who Fought Napoleon was a quick read but I struggled quite a bit with it. I feel like two stars for the book is a little harsh but the negative things in it definitely dominated the few possitive ones

The book started out well enough. I really like the chapters featuring Nadezhda Durova, a girl who disguised herself as a boy to join the Russian cavalry against Napoleon. I loved Nadya's spirit and courage for running away from home and following her heart.

But there were also chapters about Tsar Alexander I. Although I liked Alexander as a character in this book, I just didn't like his chapters. I feel like the book could've done without those and the few chapters in Napoleon's POV as well. I wish the book had been more about Nadezhda and everything she did. I think then the book would've been so much better.

The writing wasn't bad but I can't say it was amazing either. The narratives could be a bit confusing, jumping from year to year. It's really too bad because I loved the author's book, House of Bathory back in 2014.

Would I recommend The Girl Who Fought Napoleon? I'm not sure. The story wasn't all bad. It has some great scenes, the history felt well-researched and it didn't take me long to finish. I just wished the focus had actually been more on the actual girl who fought napoleon—Nadezhda Durova.

Again, another story that should have been fascinating yet the disjointed telling of the tale detracts from any reading pleasure. Even the author admits that the actual biography of the subject - Nadezhda Durov - is heavy with conflicting details.

Told in narrative form by Nadezhda and the future Tsar Alexander, the constant back and forth with the timeline (1783 - 1825) makes this story even harder to follow than it should have been - even with artistic liberties being taken. Alternating narrative would have been easier to follow if timeline keep in chronological order.

I just couldn't get past about the first 10% of this book. I'd try to read it, lose it, and try to go back to no avail. Perhaps because I read too much about Napoleon and Josephine already last year (and enjoyed those books) and wasn't getting the same rhythm from this one. It just wasn't pulling me in at this time.