Acknowledging its limits as a historical document, critics invariably praised the way it "imbued the readership with the ideas of justice, honesty, nobleness and human dignity.

"[4] Aleksey Tolstoy had been for years intrigued by the theme which became the book's leitmotif: that of a struggle between Ivan the Terrible, the most cruel of all Russian monarchs, and boyarstvo, a community of high-ranked aristocrats who opposed the Tsar and his tyranny, largely carried out by the Oprichniki.

In a February 4, 1859, letter to his friend and translator Boleslav Markevich Tolstoy wrote: "I've been working upon Serebrenny but failed to finish it, too restless my mind was."

[4] Aleksey Tolstoy himself was a scholar in the history of Old Russia's folklore; this enabled him, according to biographer Kuleshov, to create a totally plausible panorama of 16th-century Russian life.

Critics praised Tolstoy's novel language, a complicated, composite thing built up according to archaic linguistic structures, on the one hand, but laconic and accessible on the other.

The author was much worried by future editors' ways of treating his colourful stylings and implored them never to change, say, old 'bogatchestvo' into modern 'bogatstvo' (riches, in Russian) or 'petchalovatsa' into 'petchalitsa' (to mourn or be sad).

Another plotline involves Yelena Morozova, the wife of Medvedevka landlord whom the Prince helped out; she turns out to be his own loved one of the old times, who had to marry the old man in order to thwart another vile oprichnik, Vyazemsky, with his unwanted passes.

Further on his way, Serebrenni helps out the outlaw named Persten (the latter would repay the Prince by leading him out of Grozny’s jail) and encounters the much feared Tsar himself.

Appalled by Boris Godunov's cynicism (the latter suggests that the two should join forces in the anti-Grozny alliance) and torn apart between his righteous hatred towards the Tsar with his corrupt oprichnicks, and his own oath of allegiance, Serebrenni, all kinds of adventures behind, chooses to go to war, to fight for his country (not its amoral ruler), and die the death of a noble man.

[4] According to the Soviet scholar V.Kuleshov, one notable quality of Aleksey Tolstoy's novel is its artful and concise construction with an elaborate plot, masterfully built and developing dramatically, a host on intrigues intertwining.

It is this all-embracing net of logic that creates the feel of inevitability of things to come and makes one ponder on the fragility and illusory nature of man's life in a troubled world, argued the critic.

Before Tolstoy, Tsar Ioann was mostly idealized as a builder of "the new Russia", both writers and historians highlighting his victories and rarely focusing on darker sides of his rule.