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4.05 AVERAGE
4.05 AVERAGE
slow-paced
WOW... this was my first ever fantasy book and it is without a doubt one of my favorite reads of all time. truly a masterpiece. sophie's writing completely immersed me in the story and transported me into anastasia’s magical world and epic journey. her words painted the most incredible picture of this world and its characters. every scene was so descriptive that i could picture them vividly in my mind, almost like watching a movie. the beautiful illustrations complement the scenes so well that it brings the story to life.
all the characters felt so real to me, the writing really breathed life into them. i've gotten so attached to anastasia, seeing her grow from a bright, charming, and mischievous child to a powerful woman and a force of nature. of all the fmc i’ve read about, anastasia is the strongest one. to see her go through the most unimaginable hardships and carry the weight of the world on her shoulder, and still come out even stronger is remarkably admirable. she is the living embodiment of strength and hope. damien's love and devotion are everything. they are each other's light and they gave each other the strength to survive. their love is so strong even when they were apart. this is a slooowburn but the buildup was so worth it to see how everything played out.
anastasia and damien are meant to be. their love took the definition of soulmates to another level, it is truly cosmic love. i experienced every single raw emotion and cried a whole lot reading the last 40%. when the scene with ‘where’s my love’ came up, it made me sob nonstop. i felt like i could finally breathe again knowing that anastasia and damien have found their way back to each other.
i'm absolutely in awe of and in love with sophie's work. this book touched my heart deeply and the story will stay with me forever <3
5 ⭐️
tropes: dark fantasy, forbidden love, soulmates
thank you sophie for the arc <3
all the characters felt so real to me, the writing really breathed life into them. i've gotten so attached to anastasia, seeing her grow from a bright, charming, and mischievous child to a powerful woman and a force of nature. of all the fmc i’ve read about, anastasia is the strongest one. to see her go through the most unimaginable hardships and carry the weight of the world on her shoulder, and still come out even stronger is remarkably admirable. she is the living embodiment of strength and hope. damien's love and devotion are everything. they are each other's light and they gave each other the strength to survive. their love is so strong even when they were apart. this is a slooowburn but the buildup was so worth it to see how everything played out.
anastasia and damien are meant to be. their love took the definition of soulmates to another level, it is truly cosmic love. i experienced every single raw emotion and cried a whole lot reading the last 40%. when the scene with ‘where’s my love’ came up, it made me sob nonstop. i felt like i could finally breathe again knowing that anastasia and damien have found their way back to each other.
i'm absolutely in awe of and in love with sophie's work. this book touched my heart deeply and the story will stay with me forever <3
5 ⭐️
tropes: dark fantasy, forbidden love, soulmates
thank you sophie for the arc <3
Ran out of time with library book. Might check it out again.
Not connecting with story atm. I’ll try it again in a few months after I read other books.
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
challenging
dark
emotional
inspiring
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
I love the plot and premise, certain aspects were rushed but it wasn't story ruining.
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
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:
Complicated
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
lighthearted
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
I have very mixed feelings, it was too long and cliche but I enjoyed parts of it.
This was so so good.
Anastasia and Damien’s love story was adorable. Enemies to lovers my ass, this is devotional childhood friends to lovers and it is absolutely wonderful.
The twist of Rasputin being a vampire was totally unexpected but made so much sense. The way he wormed his way into the court and convinced people to do things, the magic he possessed, all of it being a form of vampirism was genius. He truly fed off of them, metaphorically and literally.
The memory keeper? I have no words. Such a sweet device that turned heartbreaking that turned into a clever little plot device. I loved that it kept coming up, that the idea of saving a perfect day took such turns.
Anastasia herself was a joy to read. One thing I really liked was that when the narration starts and she’s a child, she’s arrogant and so sure of her family’s power and status. It’s so much more realistic to have a royal child truly believe in the power of her family’s monarchy. Princesses in YA fantasy tend to have the liberal rich and powerful people suck attitude of someone who spent their entire lives doing hard labor and it’s just not realistic. Anastasia starting out believing in her family’s power and wealth and then growing and realizing exactly what her family was like and understanding and learning as she grew and turning into someone with a more realistic and healthy view of the world was a much more satisfying character arc. She changed, a lot, and it made it all the more satisfying to see her on the throne.
And Damien was wonderful. Such an unexpected turn to have the Cossack prince be Anastasia’s childhood friend and the love of her life. The fact that their powers worked together and they became powerful only with each other? Genius spectacular amazing no notes.
I loved that Damien had a whole arc too. So much time spent reading other authors (cough SJM cough) had me forgetting what it was like when the MMC gets a full character arc as well. His arc with his powers and being a Cossack soldier indentured to and in love with a Romanov was so interesting to read. His life was so difficult but he was such a strong person it made for a great character.
His powers making him unable to touch anyone, and then him finally getting to touch Anastasia? Incredible.
All in all I loved it, definitely a fantastic book. My only critique is that I wish I’d seen more of Anastasia and Damien earlier on, a lot of their story is backloaded, and the beginning is more about her family.
Also the ending? God I can’t put into words how lovely that ending was. It made me so happy. The story was so tragic, and then the ending was just absolutely perfect and lovely in every way.
I also loved having the music be interspersed in the text, it was a new experience for me but it was great because it gave my reading theme music like a movie. Also the art— I can’t say enough good things about the beautiful art. Going to be devastated when all the other books I read don’t have art throughout their entirety from now on
Anastasia and Damien’s love story was adorable. Enemies to lovers my ass, this is devotional childhood friends to lovers and it is absolutely wonderful.
The twist of Rasputin being a vampire was totally unexpected but made so much sense. The way he wormed his way into the court and convinced people to do things, the magic he possessed, all of it being a form of vampirism was genius. He truly fed off of them, metaphorically and literally.
The memory keeper? I have no words. Such a sweet device that turned heartbreaking that turned into a clever little plot device. I loved that it kept coming up, that the idea of saving a perfect day took such turns.
Anastasia herself was a joy to read. One thing I really liked was that when the narration starts and she’s a child, she’s arrogant and so sure of her family’s power and status. It’s so much more realistic to have a royal child truly believe in the power of her family’s monarchy. Princesses in YA fantasy tend to have the liberal rich and powerful people suck attitude of someone who spent their entire lives doing hard labor and it’s just not realistic. Anastasia starting out believing in her family’s power and wealth and then growing and realizing exactly what her family was like and understanding and learning as she grew and turning into someone with a more realistic and healthy view of the world was a much more satisfying character arc. She changed, a lot, and it made it all the more satisfying to see her on the throne.
And Damien was wonderful. Such an unexpected turn to have the Cossack prince be Anastasia’s childhood friend and the love of her life. The fact that their powers worked together and they became powerful only with each other? Genius spectacular amazing no notes.
I loved that Damien had a whole arc too. So much time spent reading other authors (cough SJM cough) had me forgetting what it was like when the MMC gets a full character arc as well. His arc with his powers and being a Cossack soldier indentured to and in love with a Romanov was so interesting to read. His life was so difficult but he was such a strong person it made for a great character.
His powers making him unable to touch anyone, and then him finally getting to touch Anastasia? Incredible.
All in all I loved it, definitely a fantastic book. My only critique is that I wish I’d seen more of Anastasia and Damien earlier on, a lot of their story is backloaded, and the beginning is more about her family.
Also the ending? God I can’t put into words how lovely that ending was. It made me so happy. The story was so tragic, and then the ending was just absolutely perfect and lovely in every way.
I also loved having the music be interspersed in the text, it was a new experience for me but it was great because it gave my reading theme music like a movie. Also the art— I can’t say enough good things about the beautiful art. Going to be devastated when all the other books I read don’t have art throughout their entirety from now on