Rating: 
Summary: Almost better than mediocre...
Review: After reading and enjoying the author's earlier novel, "War of the Rats", I looked forward with much anticipation to this novel. The bottom line - I was sorely dissappointed! For all of the reasons why the "War of the Rats" was a good novel, this lastest effort fell short. Although the historical scope or event of this novel - Citadel (Kursk) Operation - was similar in size to Stalingrad, this story never seemed to find it's proper context against the big picture. Unlike the "War of the Rats", where the story-telling of 'common' characters caught up in the big event seemed plausible and provided a compelling microcosm, these new characters and their stories failed to suspend disbelief and illuminate. Further, lacking their proper context and integration, the poor development of these character's failed to provide an adequate substitute. This reader could never really begin to care about any of the main characters, hero or villain. Last, the structure of the novel and subsequent writing seemed disjointed, and nowhere close to the tightly woven story of the earlier novel. My best recommendation for interested readers of the genre, time period, or this historical event, would be to wait for the paperback edition. This might soften the potential for a poor return on your investment.
Rating: 
Summary: As good as it gets
Review: Before this book, I had given up on military adventure novels. Granted, they can be exciting when things go "BOOM!", but to get to that you gotta wades through chapters upon chapters of bland dialogue, blander characters, hackneyed prose and jingoistic posturings. Last Citadel is welcome discovery for me. It features nuanced and interesting characters from both sides, well-written scenes of the tense preludes to battle, followed by visceral and breathless scenes of unimaginable violence. Robbins successfully evoked the epic scope of the Battle of Kursk, while also let the readers experiences the titanic battles in the cramped and smoke-filled interior of tanks. The books is meticulously researched, from the technical specs of tanks to the lives of the soldiers. These details are incorporated in a mostly unobstrusive way that enrich our understanding of what it is like to be Russian/German soldiers shut in the belly of steel beast trying to kill or be killed in a battlefield of millions. This is a book written by a WWII buff for WWII buffs.
Rating: 
Summary: A good idea
Review: David Robbins adeptly showed different perspectives of the battle of Kursk that taught and entertained me, especially the descriptions of the daunting Tiger tank versus the Russian T-34. His technical information about war machines and equipment including Russian and German aircraft used in the campaign is educational. A novel written about the largest tank battle in history is a compelling topic, at least for a military history buff like me, and I confess that I expected a clash of armored warfare throughout the story. But tank battles are not what the majority of this book is about. I found the focus of the story too broad. The reader sees the battle from the perspective of the German high command, Russian Partisans, a Russian "Night Witch" pilot, and tank crews. Perhaps such a wide-ranging overview of the battle could have focused only on frontline combatants; for example, various German tank perspectives besides the Tiger, or German pilot experiences such as Stuka pilots. Seeing the inner workings of Hitler's conferences or how partisans waged war behind the lines were for me a distraction. I gave this book two stars which might be unfair due to my biased expectations, but I wasn't enticed away from those expectations by the story. But based on the comments of a previous reviewer, I would like to read another of his books.
Rating: 
Summary: Brilliant novel
Review: David Robbins' Last Citadel is one of the most compelling, exciting and impressive novels I've read in years. I can't remember the last time I read a book like this, one I literally couldn't put down. The epic backdrop of the battle for Kursk - where Soviet Russia and Nazi Germany engaged in history's largest and bloodiest battle - serves as an unforgettable stage, meticulously researched and panoramically rendered. Amazingly, the intense conflicts of the novel's characters exist larger than the titanic clash playing out behind them. Dimitri Berko, once a Cossack, now drives a Russian tank alongside his Communist son, still trying to teach a young man who no longer thinks he needs the wisdom of his father, hoping for one final chance of communion before the two of them face almost certain death. At the same time, Dimitri's daughter, Katya, guides Russian bombers to German targets, a "Night Witch" circling overhead. The stakes couldn't be higher for this family at war. Luis De Vega, the Spanish bullfighter commanding Germany's invincible Tiger tank, rolls closer and closer to Dimitri and Valentin, seething from past wounds, more dangerous than the stabbed bulls he once drove to the ground. The complexity of Abram Breit, a Nazi SS officer turned spy for the Russians, is particularly striking - a man who sees his apocalyptic world reflected in the work of the Cubist painters of his time, broken down into key universal elements that transcend both war and politics. The last battle scene is absolutely riveting, in itself worth the price of admission. The Last Citadel is a grand-slam novel, perfect.
Rating:
Summary: A Magnificent Work!
Review: I applaud the author for this work. It is evocative and exciting. Robbins is writing some of the best WW II fiction in the business. He is a master.
Rating:
Summary: great book but not technically accurate
Review: I loved the book. The writing is captivating and the plot isn't formulaic. A lot of the technical and historic details were not correct however (and I'm allowing for fictional characters of course). The russian tank forces were much more varied than just a horde of t-34's, for example. Half way through the book, the author gets mixed up and starts referring to the t-34's cannon as a 75mm one. Turrets with 2 separate hatches were in production by 1943, and so on. However, unless you're extremely picky or are reading the book just for the technical detail, this is still a great piece of writing.
Rating:
Summary: not in the same league
Review: I would rank "Last Citadel" way behind Robbins' "War of the Rats" and way, way behind "End of War". Hard to beleive the Russian and German armies had so little to do in the first 100 pages. If you haven't read Robbins before, begin with either one of the other two, and maybe by the time you're done those two, a new fourth book will be available.
Wouldn't "End of War" make an excellent Speilberg movie?
Rating:
Summary: What it must have been lke.
Review: If you are looking for something with buxom blondes and ridiculous heros, then try something else. This is a novel about the Battle of Kursk - the largest tank battle of the second world war and until the first Gulf War, the largest tank battle ever.
Mr. Robbins gives us both perspectives (Red Army and Nazi). How the little T-34s were basically rolling coffins and the massive, cumbersom Tigers that dominated the battlefield. What went through their minds as these two armies clashed? This book gives us a glimpse at what it must have been like.
If you like military history, then this is a must read.
Rating:
Summary: Götterdämmerung amidst the sunflowers
Review: In a previous historical novel, THE WAR OF THE RATS, author David Robbins took us to the 1942 siege of Stalingrad on World War Two's Eastern Front, one usually paid scant attention by American readers who perhaps believe that U.S. won the European war single-handed. It didn't, you know. Now, in LAST CITADEL, Robbins returns to the Eastern Front for history's greatest tank battle. It's July 1943, and Hitler throws one last roll of the dice against the USSR with a major armored offensive designed to capture the city of Kursk. America is about to invade Italy, and Germany must knock the Soviets out of the war, or at least stabilize that front, before having to withdraw some of its forces from the East to reinforce the Mediterranean theater. Whereas in THE WAR OF THE RATS, the confrontation in Stalingrad's rubble was between two master snipers, one German and one Russian, the LAST CITADEL evolves into the ultimate confrontation in a field of sunflowers between two tank crews, one German in the awesome Tiger tank and one Russian in the smaller but faster T-34. The Tiger is commanded by SS Captain Luis Ruiz de Vega of the 1st SS Panzergrenadiers, one of three SS armored divisions spearheading the German assault. De Vega originally came to fight for the Nazis with the Spanish Blue Division, lent to Hitler by Franco in 1941. Having lost half his stomach to a Russian sniper during the siege of Leningrad, de Vega was rewarded with a commission in the SS. Now, bitter, constantly hungry, increasingly emaciated, and emotionally dead, Luis dreams only of returning to Spain a war hero. The T-34 is commanded by Sgt. Valentin Berko, but its soul is its driver, Cpl. Dimitri Berko, Valentin's father. Dimitri is an old Cossack who's fought against the Czar, Trotsky's Red Army, and now the Germans. The elder Berko loves his son dearly, but is disgusted with the latter's unquestioning dedication to Communism. But the two together make a formidable fighting team. In THE WAR OF THE RATS, a five-star novel, subplots added to the overall storyline, especially as military sniping involves a lot of waiting for the perfect shot. In contrast, several subplots in LAST CITADEL only serve as unnecessary distractions. Dimitri's daughter, Katya, is a bomber pilot attached to the Night Witches, who fly biplanes so slow and flimsy that they can only operate at night. Her boyfriend, Leonid, also a pilot, but in a modern squadron, is shot down. Attempting a landing behind enemy lines to rescue him, Katya crashes, and subsequently falls in with a group of Russian partisans, which has an unidentified traitor in its midst. In the meantime, SS Colonel Abram Breit, is spying for the Soviet's Lucy network. Had Robbins focused entirely on the tank engagements of the Kursk battle, his book, in my opinion, would have been leaner, meaner, and better. In any case, his description of going to war in the Tiger and T-34 makes for an absorbing and informative read.
Rating:
Summary: flawed, but entertaining reading
Review: Kursk 1943 -- Time and place of the German summer-offensive, codenamed "Citadel". And the Berko clan has gone to war according to its Cossack tradition, as a family. Father Dimitri and son Valentin rumble over the steppe in the cramped confines of their new T-34 tank. Meanwhile, daughter Ekaterina prowls the night skies in her antiquated biplane, braving searchlights and flak to bomb Nazi targets. Raiding Partisan bands strike fear in fascist and friend alike, ruthlessly recruiting men from suffering Ukrainian villages that can ill afford their loss. "Last Citadel" is the third book in Robbins' trilogy of the Eastern Front of World War ll. Like his previous novels, the latest presents the viewpoint from participants of both sides of the conflict, the Soviet and the Reich. Like the earlier novels, this one is impressively researched. The bibliography section looks remarkably like my own Amazon "Listmania!" pages; this should indicate my excitement upon receiving this book! "Last Citadel" is a tighter read than its predecessors. The narrative is much more flowing than the stilted, present-tense format of "The End of War"; and there are none of the distracting sexual vignettes of "War of the Rats". The characterizations are original and quite good. Dimitri, the Berko patriarch, is a Cossack from Tsarist times, contemptuous of the Bol'sheviks. His son Valya is an ardent young Communist and also his father's superior officer. Katya's martial motivation, whether flying her bomber or riding her Partisan steed, is simply to bring honor to her clan. SS Panzergrenadier Luis de Vega, a Spanish Fascist, is driven by his lust for vengeance against the Reds. And Col. Abram Breit, erstwhile Nazi spy, is secretly aiding the Soviets. The plot builds toward the great tank battle and an emotional climax. A sweeping saga, a rousing and entertaining read -- but marred, for me, by a few flaws. Katya is one of the main protagonists, and her inclusion in the story is a welcome one. But throughout, she is named "Witch". The historical women's Night Bomber division was dubbed "Nacht Hexxen" or "night witches" by the Germans who suffered their predation. But these women pilots never referred to themselves by the insulting epithet, nor did their male comrades ever call them that. This is a minor irritation, to be sure, but a grating one. It and a few other historical inaccuracies regarding Soviet aviation and tank operations cost the book a star, in my opinion. It's still well worth reading, and recommended.
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