 His historical novels, including "Yury Miloslavsky", were open imitations of Sir Walter Scott, and were immensely popular.Zagoskin attempted to Russify his characters and provided authentic descriptive detail; his "contribution lies in his innovative of language to create an illusion of antiquity.The dramatist in him shows through in the preponderance of dialogue over description or exposition, and in the use of colloquial speech, and the oral speech of the common people."