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4.05 AVERAGE
4.05 AVERAGE
adventurous
emotional
inspiring
mysterious
medium-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
First of all, almost no book needs to be 850 pages. I think this one could have been pared down to like 500-550 and kept the same essence.
I went into this book expecting a story similar to the 1997 animated movie with Meg Ryan. This book was nothing like that movie. If I was at all disappointed about that fact, that’s on me. Nowhere did the author promise a “retelling”.
And here’s where I have opinions. Part of the reason that I enjoyed the 20th Century Fox movie is that it took this really sad historic event, used it as a starting point, and told a story that fit into the narrative of Anastasia Romanov. Yes, it was chockfull of historical inaccuracies, but it felt like the liberties taken were to create a nicer, HEA for Anastasia. I understand that the real Anastasia died with the rest of her family in 1918, but the animated movie at least felt loosely based off of what could have been her story.
This book, on the other hand, did not. Especially with the fantasy elements, I don’t understand why the author didn’t just straight out write an original fantasy book with original characters. There was so much unnecessary fudging of history that I felt it took away from the story. The “historical” basis actually lent itself to somewhat of an uncomfortable reading experience at times. Which is unfortunate because if I put aside the concept that these were real people who met tragic ends in real life I was reading about, I actually liked this book a considerable amount. But I kept having this repeated internal dialogue of "oh man this is a great fantasy book" and "but why is it Anastasia".
With its unnecessary historical basis, I’d give this book 3 stars.
If I remove that factor and read it as completely original characters in a fantasy setting, I’d give it 4 stars.
If it weren’t so goddamn long, it could have been 5 stars.
I went into this book expecting a story similar to the 1997 animated movie with Meg Ryan. This book was nothing like that movie. If I was at all disappointed about that fact, that’s on me. Nowhere did the author promise a “retelling”.
And here’s where I have opinions. Part of the reason that I enjoyed the 20th Century Fox movie is that it took this really sad historic event, used it as a starting point, and told a story that fit into the narrative of Anastasia Romanov. Yes, it was chockfull of historical inaccuracies, but it felt like the liberties taken were to create a nicer, HEA for Anastasia. I understand that the real Anastasia died with the rest of her family in 1918, but the animated movie at least felt loosely based off of what could have been her story.
This book, on the other hand, did not. Especially with the fantasy elements, I don’t understand why the author didn’t just straight out write an original fantasy book with original characters. There was so much unnecessary fudging of history that I felt it took away from the story. The “historical” basis actually lent itself to somewhat of an uncomfortable reading experience at times. Which is unfortunate because if I put aside the concept that these were real people who met tragic ends in real life I was reading about, I actually liked this book a considerable amount. But I kept having this repeated internal dialogue of "oh man this is a great fantasy book" and "but why is it Anastasia".
With its unnecessary historical basis, I’d give this book 3 stars.
If I remove that factor and read it as completely original characters in a fantasy setting, I’d give it 4 stars.
If it weren’t so goddamn long, it could have been 5 stars.
on pause for now but i guess i'll add my initial thoughts/reasons for soft DNFing
i struggled to get invested in this story. i don't have any personal ties or investment to the original cartoon movie really... i remember watching as a kid but i wasn't thinking "yeah but what if her and the floppy hair dude BONED" ya know? but that wasn't that big of an issue, i think my problem was the writing.
firstly, if i pick this book up again i stand by my opinion that it is entirely too long. i think this story could have an entirely satisfying story arc at 350 pages. (i stopped reading at 20% in and Anastasia is still only 13??)
secondly... there were too many damn characters and too many scenes that felt superfluous or overly descriptive. it's clear that sophie lark really enjoyed being in this setting and probably did some research and formed her own attachment to the real life story she wanted to fictionalize. but as a reader, i felt like i was swimming upstream a lot of the time. drowning in name after name of characters that i assume won't be important later on down the road because this is a romance... right?
lastly, i feel like it did too much and too little. sooo much description. added magic. and yet a passing sprinkle of imo, important politics. this is one of the most interesting/sad times in Russian history so i kind of wanted a little more of that.
idk, i will consult with my friends/subscribers on this one. if people really really ate this shit up i might pick it back up. but i'm not feeling really compelled to finish it out. definitely not a bad book. just not what i'm craving right now.
i struggled to get invested in this story. i don't have any personal ties or investment to the original cartoon movie really... i remember watching as a kid but i wasn't thinking "yeah but what if her and the floppy hair dude BONED" ya know? but that wasn't that big of an issue, i think my problem was the writing.
firstly, if i pick this book up again i stand by my opinion that it is entirely too long. i think this story could have an entirely satisfying story arc at 350 pages. (i stopped reading at 20% in and Anastasia is still only 13??)
secondly... there were too many damn characters and too many scenes that felt superfluous or overly descriptive. it's clear that sophie lark really enjoyed being in this setting and probably did some research and formed her own attachment to the real life story she wanted to fictionalize. but as a reader, i felt like i was swimming upstream a lot of the time. drowning in name after name of characters that i assume won't be important later on down the road because this is a romance... right?
lastly, i feel like it did too much and too little. sooo much description. added magic. and yet a passing sprinkle of imo, important politics. this is one of the most interesting/sad times in Russian history so i kind of wanted a little more of that.
idk, i will consult with my friends/subscribers on this one. if people really really ate this shit up i might pick it back up. but i'm not feeling really compelled to finish it out. definitely not a bad book. just not what i'm craving right now.
slow-paced
Book is wayyyyyy too long. There was tons of stuff that could have been cut to still get the point across
I stayed up all night to finish this book and that hasn’t happened to me in months!! Loved the slow burn that wasn’t as slow as people were saying…perfection
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
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:
No
4.5 stars!! I knew a little bit of Anastasia’s story going into this book but not a whole lot. It was slower in the beginning but the book was so interesting and so good the entire time!
I very nearly DNFed this but I had bought the audio so I wanted to get the most of my money
It was too long and drawn out to me.
Would have been better as a duet tbh.
Would have been better as a duet tbh.
IF YOU LOVE THE ROMANOV FAMILY AND THAT HISTORY READ THIS BOOK!!!!!
It was slow in the beginning more non fiction ish then when Anya and Damien met us started to pick up. After Rasputin was exposed as a bad guy it started picking up. Wedding scene was just…. more emotion than the red wedding in GOT.
I kinda hate that Damien forgot all what happened in the previous timeline but I’m happy everyone is alive. These was just something special about her living amongst his people. I just wish there was something to merge the Damien’s together so they have the memories of those 2 years. But I’m happy with the ending.
I love Anastasia and the Romanov family. I knew I needed to read this as soon as I knew it existed. Once again I’m glad they are alive.