The Doctor from Nowhere: Book 1

By: Anatoly Drozdov, Nathan Klausner - translator

Narrated by: Paul Boehmer

We've all seen stories about parallel worlds where history has taken a somewhat different turn. In The Doctor from Nowhere, Russian army doctor Igor Ivanov finds himself in just such an alternate universe. After a fatal mine explosion, he awakens in late 1914 where World War I is raging and his home country is on the brink of destruction.

Igor does what he's always done: he starts saving people's lives using scientific advancements that were inconceivable over a hundred years ago. In addition to his uncanny knowledge of futuristic medicine, he also amazes his colleagues with his combat skills—having served in twenty-first-century war zones, he knows how to handle a gun.

As time goes on, Igor starts making connections and climbing the social ladder, driven by a single ambition: to change the course of world history.

©2025 Anatoly Drozdov (P)2025 Tantor Media

Pretty good book

This book did a very good job of putting you in the mindset of the main character. This is a book about a Russian written by a Russian. He Doggedly believes things about history that the rest of the world does not. Found it to be an interesting take made for an interesting character.

Well, written story

You will like this book most likely if you can get over the very strongly Russian nationalistic views and rants. Eventually, I could not. Make up new history, but don’t blame all the other countries for the sins that your country did in the real timeline.

so good.

A great take on the isekai/rebirth genre that deserves to be given a chance, particularly if you enjoy WWI or Saga of Tanya the Evil type series.

Fun Belarusian Time-Travel Novel, Book 1 of 3

Fun time-travel story about a middle-aged Russian army surgeon killed by rocket/mortar in Syria and time transported to a WWI Russian front-line hospital. He is transformed to a 23-year old assistant doctor and surgeon and puts his medical skill and military knowledge to work performing what are viewed as miraculous surgical feats and war-changing design of military devices and tactics. Naturally, all the young beautiful women fall in love with him. It’s a tough job….but a heroic Russian army doctor does what he can. His novel ideas and brash interpersonal skills and snappy comments eventually get him in trouble and sent back to the front. When explaining his apparent punishment to his superior officer, he quips, “I barked when I should have licked.” What a plucky hero.

Standard Russian Isekai

Well done Russian isekai, using a modern doctor who travels back in time to an alternate Russia, and apparently he’s got healing powers but no one else has magic just him. It’s well written and entertaining. The only negative is that the author is very nationalistic and has drank the kool aid. He goes on 3-4 rants against the west where I rolled my eyes so hard they almost popped out. For example, he claimed American soldiers raped German women when we took over Berlin in WW2, where its actually well documented that it was the Russians who went on a raping spree for nearly 2 weeks (accounts vary from 100k to 2million women!). Naturally the Russian media dismissed the western accounts as myth, but this guy went further and literally put the blame on Americans. This and other rants are lightly sprinkled throughout the book. I’ve studied history, so I know BS when I see it, but I feel I have to warn my fellow Americans who may not have studied WW2 history. The book is otherwise pretty good for an isekai.