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toastyghosty13's review
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
i liked this more than i thought i would. i originally read this as part of a book club read from the app fable, and was interested because i love the disney movie of the same title; the movie was a staple for me growing up.
the book is definitely different from the movie but a lot of the same parallels like rasputin and the male lead character being somewhat similar, at the very least in name (dimitri vs damien). i really enjoyed having a deeper dive into all of the characters of the book, especially anastasia’s family. the movie doesn’t really show much about her family members besides her grandmother, and i liked that this focused on her immediate family more.
i really enjoyed the magical aspect of it and how it played into the war, and being able to learn more about this system. it was also cool seeing how these powers can range a lot and not just be one ability to another.
one critique i have is from the end withthe time walking sequence, where anastasia travels back 2 years. i think it was cool how she was able to do that, but goddamn did that tear me apart that damien was not able to remember any of those 2 years, only anya and rasputin could. anya and damien’s love had grown so much, plus the relationships she had built with all of the cossacks while preparing to fight rasputin the first time, disappeared and that was pretty gut wrenching to me.
my main criticism on the romantic front of this is that, when anya traveled back, damien didn’t take super long to immediately trust and lover her like he had before the time traveling; it felt rushed to me and like it needed some more time to rebuild that level of a relationship.
i saw some reviews that were saying things along the lines of anya becoming a power hungry dictator that would stop at nothing the seize the throne. i did not feel this way at all, and if anything felt that she was just doing her due diligence to save her people as well as being justice to countless deaths and torturous conditions. she showed maturity through it and did everything she could to prevent any more losses.
i also LOVED the epilogue, i thought it really tied together a lot of loose ends with various characters and made for a good happy ending. i didn’t feel like anything had been missing from the epilogue.
overall i enjoyed this and thought it was a fun read to expand on a childhood favorite. reading about anya growing up and the other characters was cool and i feel like it bridged a huge gap in the movie i loved so much as a kid. i def recommend this if you like the movie!!
the book is definitely different from the movie but a lot of the same parallels like rasputin and the male lead character being somewhat similar, at the very least in name (dimitri vs damien). i really enjoyed having a deeper dive into all of the characters of the book, especially anastasia’s family. the movie doesn’t really show much about her family members besides her grandmother, and i liked that this focused on her immediate family more.
i really enjoyed the magical aspect of it and how it played into the war, and being able to learn more about this system. it was also cool seeing how these powers can range a lot and not just be one ability to another.
one critique i have is from the end with
my main criticism on the romantic front of this is that, when anya traveled back, damien didn’t take super long to immediately trust and lover her like he had before the time traveling; it felt rushed to me and like it needed some more time to rebuild that level of a relationship.
i saw some reviews that were saying things along the lines of anya becoming a power hungry dictator that would stop at nothing the seize the throne. i did not feel this way at all, and if anything felt that she was just doing her due diligence to save her people as well as being justice to countless deaths and torturous conditions. she showed maturity through it and did everything she could to prevent any more losses.
i also LOVED the epilogue, i thought it really tied together a lot of loose ends with various characters and made for a good happy ending. i didn’t feel like anything had been missing from the epilogue.
overall i enjoyed this and thought it was a fun read to expand on a childhood favorite. reading about anya growing up and the other characters was cool and i feel like it bridged a huge gap in the movie i loved so much as a kid. i def recommend this if you like the movie!!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Self harm and Violence
Moderate: Torture, Slavery, Sexual content, Death, Terminal illness, Blood, War, and Murder
Minor: Chronic illness, Animal death, Fire/Fire injury, Classism, Infidelity, Death of parent, Child death, Pregnancy, Colonisation, Police brutality, and Gun violence
ka_ke's review
Couldn’t go any further.
I LOVE the story of Anastasia and the Romanovs, but this version had too many unnecessary characters, conversations and details.
It did not need to be 600+ pages.
I LOVE the story of Anastasia and the Romanovs, but this version had too many unnecessary characters, conversations and details.
It did not need to be 600+ pages.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Colonisation, Religious bigotry, Police brutality, Chronic illness, Cursing, Gaslighting, Grief, and Misogyny
Moderate: Body horror, Fire/Fire injury, Body shaming, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Blood, War, Sexism, Gore, Gun violence, and Xenophobia
Minor: Suicide
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