It's a funny old world...

You never want to make too much of co-incidence. Even when everything seems to line up in a perfect line that could only have been designed by a higher intelligence, chances are some other, less magical mechanism is at work.

And yet... It is a puzzler. When the new novel Rasputin's Bastards came out in June, there was a nice raft of generally disparate reviews that carried it through early August. And then the blogosphere got pretty quiet. Maybe one or two notices showed up, but in general, it seemed that the reviewing community had moved on to other things. Even the voracious bibliphiles at Goodreads kept their powder dry.

Until this past week. As I write this, four more reviews showed up within a space of days. It's not like they were written by the same writer--there was a fair diversity of opinion. Indeed, the only thing that they all agreed upon was that Rasputin's Bastards is quite long, hellaciously complex, and as such might prove a bit difficult for casual readers.

But they are good, smart reviews. Here is D.F. McCourt's take, at AEscifi. Adam Shaftoe at The Page of Reviews had this to say about Rasputin's Bastards, putting it in the newly-created Classic Russian Film category of novels. Martin Rose at Shroud Magazine recommended readers of spy fiction check out the book, right here.

And today,  the blogger who writes Mountaineer ina Flat Land offered up this review, here.

Like the subject line says: it's a funny old world.