Passage Into Light

The Russians #7

by Judith Pella

Best by enemies within and without, Russia is reeling. And Vladimir Lenin is waiting in the wings-.In 1917 Russia finds itself in a nightmare of political upheaval and violence as ruthless men clash over control of her destiny. Saddled with a devastating, unpopular war, the Provisional Government flirts with disaster while the power-starved Bolsheviks circle like wolves for the kill. Tsar Nicholas and his family have become both prisoners and pawns in this deadly game of chess.Amid the turmoil, Anna Fedorcenko's sons face the consequences of their personal and political choices. Russia will never be the same, that much is certain. But unless Andrei and Yuri are able to cast off the blinders of the past, they too may be caught in the chaos sweeping throughout the Motherland.A dark pall hangs over the Russian empire as it careens toward an unsettling future. Will the faith and love that have become the Fedorcenko and Burenin legacy shed enough light to make any difference?

Genres: Historical Fiction, Christian Fiction, Christian, Fiction, Historical, Romance, Christian Historical Fiction

352 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 1998

About the author

Judith Pella is a bestselling, award-winning author whose writing career spans two decades. Her in-depth historical and geographical research combines with her skillful storytelling to provide readers with dramatic, thought-provoking novels. She and her husband make their home in Scapoose, Oregon.

Reviews

[♥emma ۪۪۫۫ ༄ؘ ˑ · Rating 2 out of 5]

Rating: 2.5/5

Considering how much I enjoyed the first few books of this series, I wish I had better things to say about how it ended. At this point I wish I would have left well-enough alone and stopped reading after the first few books. The plot lines grew repetitive, and the characters shallow skeletons of who they were in previous books. I adore the idea of a multi-generational book series, but I feel like the execution needed a bit of work.

[Shala Self Parker · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a wonderful series. The author Judith Pella did not on a wonderful job researching Russian history but also putting us in the lives of the characters. I hated to say goodbye to all the characters especially Anna. There were some sad parts in the series, but I wept along with the family I'm everything that happened. Book 4 was a little slow and I thought of not going back to the series, but I continued on to book 5 and I was so glad that I stuck with it. It just got better from there. I would highly recommend this series to everyone.

[Sarah · Rating 1 out of 5]

OH

MY

WHAAAAAAAAAAAAT

This book made me laugh. It wasn't supposed to be funny.

No. Just no. Never in a billion gazillion years did I ever imagine such an awful ending to such a promising series. Just...HOW CAN YOU FAIL SO BADLY??????

Let's start at the beginning and work our way in. Let's start with Andrei's amnesia which is just a ripoff of Viktor's amnesia, which just adds nothing to the plot since we the readers already know who he is, which just exists so that the author can change Andrei's views from Bolshevik to Monarchist. By the way, if an author ever has to resort to using amnesia to change a character's beliefs, then they are either writing badly or they are a bad writer. Which is sad. Because Judith Pella is not a bad writer nor does she always write badly.

Also, and this is just a sidenote, the author does realize that she wrote Andrei's fear of blood as stemming from the shooting of his father, right? So if he cannot remember anything, why is he still afraid of blood? There could have at least been an interesting scene where he sees blood and flashes back to Bloody Sunday (this does happen when Andrei gets caught in a riot, however blood isn't a trigger). But no. Whenever he sees blood, he just sort of faints and nobody knows why. That added nothing to the plot.

You know what else added nothing to the plot? How about having a character flash back to the first book, with the exact wording and everything. Just...what. Just what. This book is a little under 300 pages but even then the author couldn't scrounge up enough material for an original book. Instead she had to be like, "Oh yeah, in case you can't remember, here's what happened in the first book, but it has nothing to do with this book. Just running out of ideas over here." Which she clearly is.

But this is made all the more infuriating by all the things she leaves out that she could have focused on. Let's talk about Paul for a second. Yeah, remember him? Been in every single book of The Russians ever. Shows up for a scene (ish) in this book saying that he's going with Kerensky to rally troops to defend the Provisional Government. And then he's never heard from again.

Seriously, what happened?! We know that the Provisional Government obviously falls but what happened to Paul? It's not even intentional, like that the Bolsheviks killed him secretly or that he had to flee the country. No one ever goes, "We don't talk about Uncle Paul anymore!" or anything. I mean, I know Anna had to deal with Paul randomly disappearing when he was sent to Siberia but come on. She must wonder a little bit where he is. Or maybe she just doesn't care. Even the author doesn't even mention him. After that scene, he just disappears and nobody cares.

What.

WHAT.

But hey, there's a lot more atrocities to record, so let's move on. Let's talk about Stephan (aka replacement Paul, like a Faul perhaps?). In this book, he's totally Bolshevik and evil. Wait, what? Did I miss something? When did that happen? In book 4, he's shown to be interested in anti-monarchist establishments, no word from him in books 5 or 6, and then suddenly he's here in book 7 being all evil and we're all supposed be like, "Oh yeah, that seemed like a logical transition!"

You know, when Paul went from naive peasant boy to hardcore revolutionary, it didn't just happen by having him disappear for books at a time. There was development of his character through the first two books so that when he got to the third one it made sense why he was so hardcore. Yeah, it was still kind of disturbing that he totally wanted to kill himself in a suicide bombing, but we could understand where he was coming from. Here, we have no idea what Stephan's journey was through his off-page time and so it is almost like we are meeting a completely new character with no investment at all.

Same goes for Dmitri. After book 4, he almost completely disappeared and then in this book, he shows up in a letter, in a letter, saying that, oh yeah, he's married now and has kids, has kids, and yeah, life sucks because the Bolsheviks are in power and that's all we ever hear from him. THAT IS THE FIRST TIME WE ARE TOLD ANY OF THIS INFORMATION AND THAT IS ALL WE EVER HEAR FROM HIM. EVER.

Breathe. Breathe. Breathe.

And even the characters who are still around act weirdly. Like Talia having "I'm in love with Andrei because he's dead even though I hated him in life" syndrome. Also, Andrei himself dealing with the fact that his mother and Misha, aka the man who shot innocent workers like his father on Blood Sunday, are now married. Actually he doesn't deal with anything. He's totally okay with it. Just don't show him ketchup though, or else he might faint.

Another really annoying thing about this book is that the Romanovs are given such a huge focus. I guess I shouldn't be so surprised after the Rasputin plotline, but really? The Romanovs aren't interesting, I know how their story ends, history has already spoiled that ending. The characters within this book, these fictional characters, are what I am interested in because I don't know how their story ends and I desperately want to find out. Too bad that's never happening.

Of course, all of this is just peanuts to the real problem in this book: the ending. The main struggle in this novel is trying to help the Romanovs escape from the evil Bolsheviks. Well, as I already mentioned, history spoils this ending by having them die. So there's another 100 pages wasted on what we already knew was going to happen. And then after they die and their bodies are taken away, this happens:

Andrei and Stephan meet up. Andrei gets a gun and points it to Stephan's head. Stephan knows Andrei is afraid of blood and calls him out on it and says that he doesn't have the guts to kill him and Andrei agrees. AND NOTHING CHANGES BECAUSE OF THIS CONVERSATION. Stephan, come on man, the guy just said he won't kill you and you're still going to follow his orders with a gun to your head?

That's when I started giggling uncontrollably. Well that and the stilted dialogue of, "You won't get away, Andrei," and then Andrei being like, "I'm already away," and then Stephan being like, "For now. But I'll find you. I'll get you." And guess what? I didn't change a single word of that dialogue.

Just...wow kapow meow. I could write a book bigger than this book detailing everything wrong with this book. Maybe one day I will. For now I will cry tears of sadness. And maybe giggle a little.

[Sabrina L · Rating 5 out of 5]

I had no idea I would love this series so much or read it so quickly. I missed Michael Phillips in these last books, but loved how Pella continued the story.

[Nadine Keels · Rating 3 out of 5]

Political upheaval. An unpopular war. Tsar Nicholas and his loved ones in exile. And another phase in the Fedorcenko family saga in Passage Into Light by author Judith Pella.

I toyed with the idea of "saving" this last book in The Russians historical ChristFic series, to prolong the experience. But I decided to just dive on in sooner and see how all of this would wrap up.

On one hand, I'm glad the series ends here. A multigenerational saga can sometimes become stale or predictable if it draws out too long, and in this series, at least a couple of aspects of the plot unfolding in the younger generation are situations that already happened to the older generation.

On the other hand, I can't help wishing the main characters had added time to realize more satisfying outcomes. They spend much of this book working on a major mission that will utterly fail (that isn't a spoiler—it's history), and the somewhat abrupt ending the novel crashes to is hopeful but still rather uncertain and heartbreaking.

Gee.

All in all, though, the series was quite a ride. I do plan on returning to Russia at least once more with this historical fiction author, at the start of another series.

[Karen B · Rating 3 out of 5]

This seemed to be the weakest book in the series, but my judgment may be affected by the fact that it has been several years since I read the first 6 books in the series, and I had forgotten some of the previous storyline / plot, making it a bit hard to follow.

The plot seemed forced (especially Andrei's amnesia). One of the strongest and most edifying sections of the book concerned Sergei's journals, and yet that section felt rushed, too short.

So, not Judith Pella's best work, but still I'm glad to have finally read the final book in the series, and I loved the series as a whole.

[Rachel · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a well-written and truly interesting historical subtly Christian novel, which is part of a series set in Russia. This is the last book in the series, and it ends shortly after the execution of the Romanovs. Even though I felt that this book had a better, more complete ending than the previous two in the series, this book also felt a little rushed. All of the characters are still well drawn, however, and most of them are also likeable. All things considered, I really loved the series and wish there were more books about the families they followed so closely.

[Jeni Enjaian · Rating 1 out of 5]

I read this book many years ago as either a middle schooler or underclassman in high school. I adored the book and entire series then. This remembered adoration helped me make the decision to skip these books when reading through my collection four years ago. I read many books by both of these authors since then and gradually became aware of the glaringly obvious shortcomings of their authorship. These shortcomings infected every book I read by them. I had no hope that these books would survive a second read. As I supposed, they did not.

[Taryn Spearey · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a great conclusion to this series. The war is still going on, and Anna is still concerned about her sons. Andrei and Yuri are on different sides of the political side of things in Russia, and this causes a lot of conflict between the brothers.

There is also Talia between them. They both love her, but Talia's heart belongs to Andrei. The two decide to wed before he leaves for the war. Talia worries about her love constantly during the war.

This was an amazing series( except i'm missing 2 of the books!)

[Beverly · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found myself wishing that this series would continue, at least through the end of WW II. However, I will always be thankful that Judith Pella was inspired to write this series. I learned so much about this large and complex country reading these books, and appreciated the faith journeys of each family member.

[Kristelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

Even though this is the end of the series I don't feel like there was a lot of closure. I enjoyed reading this one and learning about how Andrei was able to grow and develop. A good book but I would have liked more to end the series.

[Diena Riding · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love historical fiction and how it brings the past to life. I enjoyed learning about the changes in Russia with the fall of the monarchy and the Bolsheviks take over. I learned many things about that time period in Russia.

[Jane · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this series and liked it quite a bit, but the library didn't have this book when I finished the 6th one, so I ended up going out and buying this one.

[Amanda Kay · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bought this one cause I got the one before it for free and liked it so much that I bought this one to find out the end!

[Dana · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this over 15 years ago. Judith Pella was one of my top 3 authors of the time. Christian historical fiction - a wonderful genre!

[Kw · Rating 4 out of 5]

A worthy finish to a very interesting series. Glad I stumbled upon it!

[AnnaLee Conti · Rating 5 out of 5]

I hope the authors write another book in the series.

[Sharilyn Walters · Rating 5 out of 5]

The End

This is the end of a wonderful series. I loved every book and even the end was satisfying inspire / of the tragic end of the Romanovs

[Elle · Rating 5 out of 5]

Finishing this series was bittersweet. I read the first book years ago and only recently purchased the whole series so I could finish it. At one point I grew so frustrated with the series I almost quit it, but I’m glad I pressed on because this book was a fairly satisfying conclusion.
I think this series would have probably been phenomenal had it only consisted of 3-4 books (and all authored by both Phillips and Pella). The Russian history is fascinating if tragic, and the families this series revolved around were compelling.
As others have said because it stretched on so long certain plot devices were repeated with the younger generation. There were also so many characters there was not a real chance for character development like in the earlier books. I would have followed different story lines than the author did rather than give such detailed political descriptions, but all in all I would recommend this book and series!

[Ruth · Rating 4 out of 5]

This has been a great series. The author did a lot a research in order to put so much history into it. That history made the series particularly interesting. We followed one family through years of incredible change in Russia and how their faith carried them through much horror and hardship. It is a series well worth reading.

[Flewts · Rating 5 out of 5]

The long-awaited conclusion to this 7 book series. Very readable, gives a personal understanding of the turmoil of the revolutionary time period in Russia, starting back in the late 1800's and continuing through the assassination of the tsar and family, told by following a family and its many ties with others. My description is dry, but the book isn't!

[Wendi (_readingismylovelanguage_) · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this series! I loved the stories and the characters and their journey through the generations. Anna and Katrina reeled me in and the tears continued to the very end. I will miss them. It’s hard to shut the book on The Russians. I feel enriched and blessed!!!

[Angela · Rating 4 out of 5]

I absolutely loved this series and highly recommend! It has great character development, action, heart and is full of faith. I loved seeing all their relationships develop as they grew through their trials together with their faith in God. It was a delightful surprise to find this series.

[Meagan | The Chapter House · Rating 5 out of 5]

An incredible conclusion to one of my favorite book series of all time. Wow. I grew up with these characters and was so sad to see the series end!

[Lynne]

I have read this entire series and loved it. Only wish it had continued as I wanted to know what would happen next.

[Tunes · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a very emotional book. I felt one or the plot points was resolved a little too quickly and easily to be realistic. I did enjoy reading it, though.

[Lori Young · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this series and following the different members of this family.

[Nell Smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was a good series and jogged my memory about Russian history.

[Jessalyn Plant · Rating 5 out of 5]

*exactly* my cup of tea.

[Jacob · Rating 2 out of 5]

it was very detailed in a good way