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I picked this book up with the hope of learning about how serfdom actually worked in 18th century Russia and eastern Europe, and I did learn from it, though as with a lot of academic books it seems to have been written with the expectation that only about 12 people would ever read it, all of whom are other researchers in the same or related fields. The writing is unnecessarily dense and there are a lot of unexplained references to authors that this one is apparently refuting.

That said, the author’s thesis is an interesting one: essentially, that in the early modern era, Europe wasn’t so much divided between states where workers were free and states where they were serfs, as on a continuum. Workers in England and France weren’t nearly as “free” as you might believe, and labor laws were actually getting stricter at the time. Workers were often required to sign long labor contracts (a year was common, much longer was possible), and there were criminal penalties for leaving before a contract was completed, with the result that “runaway” workers could be jailed, fined, or even in some rare cases, whipped. Meanwhile, Russian serfs had more freedom of movement than some sources have given them credit for, with some going back and forth between town and the estates, and some areas of the country not sending back runaway serfs at all. Serfs could also initiate lawsuits against landowners, and some won their freedom this way (generally it seems because the landowners as non-nobles weren’t actually qualified to own populated estates), though as always the poor winning lawsuits against the rich was quite rare.

As someone unfamiliar with the literature the author is responding to, I found the arguments related to England and France (and the general descriptions of forced labor in Eurasia and in certain Indian Ocean colonies of the European powers) more coherent than the arguments about Russia. In some places it seemed like Stanziani was being overly technical, as when he points out that the laws establishing serfdom were all really about establishing who could own populated estates rather than delineating serfdom per se. I’m unclear on why this is important. He also seems to gloss over a lot of abuses described in other sources – granted, my other reading on this topic involves popular rather than academic sources, and this book is much too technical to engage with works of that sort at all. But while he states that Russian serfdom was nothing like American slavery, he doesn’t provide much basis for this conclusion.

At any rate, I’m clearly not the intended reader for this book, but I did get some interesting ideas from it. I’d love to see a book on this topic that’s a little more accessible for the general reader.

Illuminate the Shadows by Isobel Starling
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The continuation of the story of Sam and Declan from As You Wish, Shatterproof Bond, #1)

Declan Ramsay's life was turned upside down at his brother's wedding in Scotland by none other than his new sister-in-law's younger brother, Sam Aiken. Sam took a grumpy sad bachelor who'd all but given up on love and showed Declan that love was not only possible but that he was, in fact, bi-sexual. Declan fell hard and fast for Sam and the feeling was mutual.

The thorn in their romance, though? Sam's father - Sir James Aiken (the BASTART!), head of a shadowy private covert ops organization that worked closely with MI6, who is also a raging homophobe and treats his son like a weapon, not a child. Before the Sam and Declan had a chance to fully explore their relationship Sam was ordered out of country for 3 months, not that Declan knew the reason why at the time.

When the three months were over Sam delivered an ultimatum to his father - he gets Declan or he walks. His father, surprisingly, caved, and allowed Declan to be 'read in' on the family business. Sam surprises Declan and they manage to have a weekend together, reuniting, before Declan is abducted and interrogated, tortured and pumped full of drugs by none other than Sir James (the Bastart!) his boss and Sam's father - all in the name of making sure Declan can take being an agent, and is worthy of being part of the organization.

Declan manages to surprise James and is reunited with Sam for the second time, but all is not smooth sailing for the couple. Declan's brother reacts poorly to his involvement with Sam despite Sam being his wife's brother, someone breaks into Declan and Sam's home and strange things start to happen. Declan feels inept and unready for his life with Sam but Sam is afraid of Declan losing his innocence to the shady world of espionage Sam has lived in his entire life. The two men have just found each other but the world seems primed to tear them apart.

This book is a good set up for the rest of the series as it brings Declan into the fold and establishes the dynamic between James and Sam, and James and Declan. I look forward to reading book 3!

**A copy of this book was provided for an honest and unbiased review by Lescourt Author Services**

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