Not sure why it was read in a Russian accent...
Because Russian accents are
awesome?
Seriously though, for me this was a fun, engaging listen. Mostly due to the alternate-history angle, and secondly due to the interactions between Fyodor and Grigor. The fantasy element felt a little flat, being a sub-plot that mostly happens 'off-screen.' But the interesting take on an playout of world events, and the way the author and narrator evocatively portrayed the protagonist and his uncle made up for that, to me anyway.
The real interesting part of this story, to me, is how little the existence of magic seems to affect the world. We're all used to settings where magic defines the life and times, but here it's just another fact of life, not even as interesting as politics. Why is this - is it an all-but-lost art? Is it just generally not very useful? Is it so commonplace that it's all over but not even mentioned in the rest of the story?
Whenever you have a story set in the "real world," but with an added fantastic element, it's fascinating to see how that thing affects the rest of reality that we know and take for granted. To re-explore the known world in the context of some new variable in the equation. I thought it was interesting how this story downplays the role of magic, until the end when it catches everyone by surprise.