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4.05 AVERAGE
4.05 AVERAGE
dark
hopeful
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Longer read but worth it
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
slow-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:
No
Wow, I’ve always loved the fictionalized story of Anastasia since I was kid. This book, it was NOT was I was expecting in such a good way! First of all- I did realize what a BIG BOII this book was. 850 pages?? WOW. So much story and beautiful imagery (what a nice surprise!!!) was packed into those 850 pages. I loved watching the love story of Anastasia and Damien unfold, the magic and darkness that surrounded the Romanovs, and just the beautiful story. What a wonderful and happy ending Sophie Lark wrote for Anastasia.
I very nearly DNFed this but I had bought the audio so I wanted to get the most of my money
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Stunning beautiful retelling of Anastasia’s story. Damien.. SWOON. The slow burn was incredible.
5⭐️
This book was slow moving and definitely a long one, not at all what i had expected, but I fell in love with it! I adored Anastasia and Damien and their bond and their love was so beautiful as it developed throughout the story. Watching Anastasia grow and mature and overcome made me feel so attached to her and I loved every second. Having her lose her family and then gain Damien only to lose him and get them all back fucked with my heart and made me want to sob both times. But the ending was absolutely beautiful and perfect, and I’m just so in love with this story!! And the artwork was everything!! It’s so beautiful and just added such a perfect touch to the story! I’ll be thinking about this book for a long time to come ❤️
“What?” She smiled. “Do I look strange?”
“You look like my best friend.”
This book was slow moving and definitely a long one, not at all what i had expected, but I fell in love with it! I adored Anastasia and Damien and their bond and their love was so beautiful as it developed throughout the story. Watching Anastasia grow and mature and overcome made me feel so attached to her and I loved every second. Having her lose her family and then gain Damien only to lose him and get them all back fucked with my heart and made me want to sob both times. But the ending was absolutely beautiful and perfect, and I’m just so in love with this story!! And the artwork was everything!! It’s so beautiful and just added such a perfect touch to the story! I’ll be thinking about this book for a long time to come ❤️
“What?” She smiled. “Do I look strange?”
“You look like my best friend.”
This was a very chonky book, clocking in at 849 pages, but I didn't mind. It let the story do a lot of things that it wouldn't have been able to, had it bee a more standard 200-400. Plus, I think as a large standalone it works better than if it had been sliced into pieces in a more "serial" format like a lot of Kindle series tend to do.
Before I begin though, l did notice the author reading and interacting with reviews, and I do want it known that I am a believer that review spaces are for readers, not authors, and that my reviews are written for readers.
With that out of the way...
While I overall thought the writing was nice and the story decently crafted, a prevailing thought throughout my read was: why wasn't this a pure fantasy, why is it a historical fantasy AU retelling?
I mean, I know fan fiction is quite popular, and that the inherent notoriety of the fairy-tale like story of Anastasia in the cultural zeitgeist is a great hook for getting potential readers interested, but all in all, so much of the story felt like the author's own thing, that trying to tether it back to real history didn't strike me as especially worth it, since that opens it up to a variety of ethical debates.
Like, Russia has long been a conquering nation with a long and often brutal, bloody history with things like serfdom, subjugating other nations, and mistreating/ignoring different social and ethic groups (for example, a lot of Russians are ethnically Central Asian, not European).
So, inherently, there's going to be some back and forth about Anastasia and Damien's relationship and the portrayal of their respective cultures by an author hailing from neither, due to the reality of a lot of very real and sad histories. Anastasia is a white royal from the ruling class and Damien is a dark skinned commoner from a group that was subjugated by Anastasia's nation--there's debates in that I'm not personally equipped to handle.
On top of that there's the larger question of whether it's okay to essentially write fanfic of a historical figure who died tragically as at 17 and is now being aged up in a fictional story where she's placed in several sexual scenes and given what has to be a plethora of ideas and opinions we couldn't possibly know if the real person would have agreed with (and also there was absolutely some influence from the Don Bluth movie in all this).
I don't feel like I have the appropriate knowledge or position to analyze these debates in depth or make any definitive statements; I'm still working things out in my own head. I just know that, as a whole, stories of this nature can come with particular pitfalls and I try to keep those in mind whilst consuming such media. I saw a few other reviews that were unhappy about several aspects like the way historical facts were misused/misrepresented/etc or the inaccuracies with the Cossack people and went into more depth and had more expertise on those matters, so I encourage you to seek out more insight on those matters to make an informed call yourself.
As a whole, I'm of a mind that it would have felt better if this had just been an original fantasy because I did overall enjoy the essentials of what was given and liked a lot of the ideas. It was done well enough that I got through 800+ pages in about 12 total hours of reading time. P
Personally, I found the inclusion of things like vampires and werewolves a bit jarring and not my most favorite route the plot could have taken, as I was anticipating a fantasy that was all mortal beings with magic and possibly like... inhuman demonic creatures, not other humanoid fantasy races, but it overall played out decently. The time traveling aspect towards the end also wasn't my favorite plot device, because it is a little sad to know that Damien didn't experience all the romance and closeness and relationship development he had with Anastasia that she still remembers.
Overall, it was engaging enough for a full day of reading and I don't come away with any particular frustrations beyond feeling a little iffy and unsure regarding elements I mentioned above. I liked the characters on their own and round the romance to be fairly enjoyable. Not my absolute favorite but it had decent emotional beats and had development, which is more than I can say for a lot of romances I've read.
The heavy inclusion of colorful art was also a really lovely touch. I enjoyed seeing those as I read. I think it's really wonderful when books include art; we all experience storytelling with pictures as kids and then one day we just stop, thinking it's childish for some reason, but illustrations can be incredible tools to enhance a story and show things in a way words simply cannot, so it'd be wonderful if it happened more often.
Before I begin though, l did notice the author reading and interacting with reviews, and I do want it known that I am a believer that review spaces are for readers, not authors, and that my reviews are written for readers.
With that out of the way...
While I overall thought the writing was nice and the story decently crafted, a prevailing thought throughout my read was: why wasn't this a pure fantasy, why is it a historical fantasy AU retelling?
I mean, I know fan fiction is quite popular, and that the inherent notoriety of the fairy-tale like story of Anastasia in the cultural zeitgeist is a great hook for getting potential readers interested, but all in all, so much of the story felt like the author's own thing, that trying to tether it back to real history didn't strike me as especially worth it, since that opens it up to a variety of ethical debates.
Like, Russia has long been a conquering nation with a long and often brutal, bloody history with things like serfdom, subjugating other nations, and mistreating/ignoring different social and ethic groups (for example, a lot of Russians are ethnically Central Asian, not European).
So, inherently, there's going to be some back and forth about Anastasia and Damien's relationship and the portrayal of their respective cultures by an author hailing from neither, due to the reality of a lot of very real and sad histories. Anastasia is a white royal from the ruling class and Damien is a dark skinned commoner from a group that was subjugated by Anastasia's nation--there's debates in that I'm not personally equipped to handle.
On top of that there's the larger question of whether it's okay to essentially write fanfic of a historical figure who died tragically as at 17 and is now being aged up in a fictional story where she's placed in several sexual scenes and given what has to be a plethora of ideas and opinions we couldn't possibly know if the real person would have agreed with (and also there was absolutely some influence from the Don Bluth movie in all this).
I don't feel like I have the appropriate knowledge or position to analyze these debates in depth or make any definitive statements; I'm still working things out in my own head. I just know that, as a whole, stories of this nature can come with particular pitfalls and I try to keep those in mind whilst consuming such media. I saw a few other reviews that were unhappy about several aspects like the way historical facts were misused/misrepresented/etc or the inaccuracies with the Cossack people and went into more depth and had more expertise on those matters, so I encourage you to seek out more insight on those matters to make an informed call yourself.
As a whole, I'm of a mind that it would have felt better if this had just been an original fantasy because I did overall enjoy the essentials of what was given and liked a lot of the ideas. It was done well enough that I got through 800+ pages in about 12 total hours of reading time. P
Personally, I found the inclusion of things like vampires and werewolves a bit jarring and not my most favorite route the plot could have taken, as I was anticipating a fantasy that was all mortal beings with magic and possibly like... inhuman demonic creatures, not other humanoid fantasy races, but it overall played out decently. The time traveling aspect towards the end also wasn't my favorite plot device, because it is a little sad to know that Damien didn't experience all the romance and closeness and relationship development he had with Anastasia that she still remembers.
Overall, it was engaging enough for a full day of reading and I don't come away with any particular frustrations beyond feeling a little iffy and unsure regarding elements I mentioned above. I liked the characters on their own and round the romance to be fairly enjoyable. Not my absolute favorite but it had decent emotional beats and had development, which is more than I can say for a lot of romances I've read.
The heavy inclusion of colorful art was also a really lovely touch. I enjoyed seeing those as I read. I think it's really wonderful when books include art; we all experience storytelling with pictures as kids and then one day we just stop, thinking it's childish for some reason, but illustrations can be incredible tools to enhance a story and show things in a way words simply cannot, so it'd be wonderful if it happened more often.
adventurous
dark
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No