 Priestley contended that Walpole had fulfilled his early potential , unlike Compton Mackenzie , Gilbert Cannan and other promising young novelists of his generation . This view was not universal among critics : Walpole sometimes divided opinion . Writing of Walpole 's Russian novels the contemporary critic and novelist Douglas <unk> commented , " Russia has been the grave of many <unk> ; and our Napoleon of the drawing @-@ room novel has fared no better than other would @-@ be <unk> of that disconcerting land . " <unk> 's complaint was that Walpole 's Russian ( and English ) characters were clichéd stereotypes . The reviewer in Punch , by contrast , wrote , " I consulted a Russian , who is very much alive , and received the opinion that , if Mr. Walpole has not succeeded in drawing the real average Russian , he has given us a type whose faults and virtues sound the <unk> of the situation as it is to @-@ day . " The Observer rated The Dark Forest as " one of the finest novels of our generation " . 
