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4.05 AVERAGE
4.05 AVERAGE
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
This was such a fun read! And the illustrations were so good! Over all really enjoyed the story and the book.
This book was beautiful. Sophie's writing is visionary, expressive, and just really, truly gorgeous. The magic system is very interesting and cool. I loved how Sophie wrote Anastasia. This was very character driven, starting with Anastasia as a kid. Sophie really just sucks you into the world. Everything that Anastasia feels, it definitely comes through the paper (or screen in my case) and it is easy to feel what Anastasia is feeling. This book was intricately woven and showcases Sophie's talent immensely. I really loved this story.
And the artwork? SLAPPED. It was all so freaking pretty.
As a child, I was obsessed with Anastasia, the movie and the actual person. I used to read so much about her life, and I was so excited to read this book. This book did not disappoint! I cannot wait to buy the paperback version because dang, she's going to look so pretty on my shelf.
And the artwork? SLAPPED. It was all so freaking pretty.
As a child, I was obsessed with Anastasia, the movie and the actual person. I used to read so much about her life, and I was so excited to read this book. This book did not disappoint! I cannot wait to buy the paperback version because dang, she's going to look so pretty on my shelf.
adventurous
hopeful
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:
Yes
This book was a nearly 700-page high fantasy/romantasy, so I'm breaking this review into three sections: plot, fantasy, and romance, and I will try my best not to spoil anything.
The Plot:
This book completely reimagines Anastasia, The Romanovs, and Imperial Russia in the early 1900s. I adored that we got to experience Anastasia from her childhood—it bolstered her passion, drive, desire for knowledge, and capacity for love. It also showed the blinders that a child who grows up under authoritarian rule and that tyrant just so happens to be the man she calls "Father." All of Anastasia's siblings had new life breathed into them (even though they aren't super developed), even the notoriously sickly Alexei. I thoroughly enjoyed seeing them grow and have opinions and desires. Even Tsar Nicholas was written in a way that granted him compassion and the desire to be a father even when service/title demanded otherwise. The world loves a dictator who's a good daddy.
Many in court see Anastasia as unremarkable, impulsive, and chaotic. She's not quite polished despite having the same upbringing as her siblings, and she's naughty at times, rash, stubborn, and short-sighted as a child. But her commitment to developing her powers further lands her in the lap of Grigory Rasputin, a holy man brought into the fold by the Empresses' friend. Rasputin is skilled in magic and seems to be the only person in the world with multiple powers simultaneously. He's coincidentally the only healer who can restore Alexei to good health. Still, it's clear that his fixes are temporary and must be regularly topped up. So, he is eventually granted free roam and access to the Romanov court, despite the complaints of his detractors and the rumors that circulate about him outside the palace.
At the same time, there is political intrigue within and unrest between the Russians and the Cossacks, and this is where Nicholas, being a cruel tyrant, takes center stage. The Cossacks, happy to live apart from the Russians, are constantly pushing back against Nicholas. He eventually gets the long-lasting power over them that he hoped for when the son of one of the highest-ranking members of the guard (I don't remember the official title) tries to kill Nicholas with his bare hands because he has the power of fatal touch. Due to Damien's attempted regicide, his father earns 10 years of being Nicholas' little bulldog he sends to do his dirty work, and Damien and the rest of the Cossacks fall under Russian rule once again.
The source of the Romanov's power is a powerful mineral called Charoite. Like all powerful minerals, it is mined excessively from the earth to the point that it is difficult to find, so the Romanovs keep what they have in their vault for safekeeping. However, it becomes crucial later on, and I loved how it was leveraged.
There are time jumps, but they all happened at the perfect time and weren't jarring in the way that time skips can sometimes be.
The Fantasy:
I enjoyed the magic in this book so much! Anastasia is a dark fantasy, and this was the first fantasy novel I've read in a very long time, so it was a treat to read! Everyone in the book has a power, or their power has not yet been tapped into. The heir to the throne—historically only male Romanovs—are the only ones in the world who can time walk though, meaning they can slow and bend time at will and do a bunch of things in a single second that others couldn't do in five minutes. A potent tool in war! This power, however, lives within Anastasia instead of Alexei, much to the confusion and chagrin of everyone around her.
Rasputin was genuinely SCARY! I loved how awful he was! I won't spoil how he came to be so powerful and contain so much magic because it made me so excited when I read it, and I hope everyone who takes a chance on this story gets to experience that feeling. Rasputin was developed as much as Anastasia was, more than Damien even was, and, just like in the movie, he is the most interesting, compelling villain of all time. Rasputin is power-hungry and dangerous and takes Anastasia under his wing at her insistence—she wants to learn to do multiple forms of magic like him, and he trains her in secret for quite some time.
Damien's power was very cool a lot of the time, and I did love how Anastasia learning to contain and control and develop her magic during her time with Rasputin resulted in Damien learning from her. Anastasia was the only person who could withstand his touch because of how her own time-bending powers worked, and that could have been seen as very romantic if I cared anything for the romance between these two.
The Romance:
Damien, a Cossack rebel, and Anastasia are like oil and water initially. He thinks she's stubborn and naive and delusional, and she thinks he's hot. You know, a normal dynamic for a sheltered princess and a man being oppressed by her father. The most magical part of their relationship is the trick where they go from enemies to friends to lovers almost entirely off-page. When they got to the point where feelings were being developed and expressed, I said, "Wait, what?" several times because I could not believe my eyes.
I do not understand what they saw in each other, but Damien seemed to fall harder and faster, which I know is a favorite in these types of books. But it just...didn't make sense. Anastasia falling for Rasputin would have been juicier and more believable solely based on their time together and how intimate and raw their relationship got at times, but that also would have been disrespectful.
The "you're mine/I'm yours" dynamic did not work for people who were strangers in my mind because I never got to see how their closeness came to be. I wanted to tell Anastasia to stand up a lot of the time! I did enjoy that we were privy to their privately written letters, as sometimes authors choose to omit what secret letters entail, and then it's five years later in real life, and I'm wondering what the letter said at four in the morning. If their love had a better on-page exploration, I would have enjoyed the "spice" in the book's last 30% or so a lot more!
My Rating:
I really, really enjoyed this book. Whenever I felt overwhelmed or bored by descriptions and scenes that didn't move the story along, Lark made the switch at the perfect time to focus on character development or some juicy action. About 200 pages in the middle could have been cut out, around said development and action, and nothing would have been lost from the overall story. Like I said before, the magic in this book is unique and fun, making the action-packed scenes easy to imagine and enjoy.
I was not buying the romance, so I found it unnecessary (although I understand why romance was included in this tale). I appreciate that it wasn't super raunchy—considering Anastasia died brutally, I feel like making this super spicy would be disrespectful for some reason—but I also did not feel anything for Damien and Anastasia's love.
I read this book in paperback, then I switched to Kindle Unlimited, then I switched to audiobook. This book is denseeeee, but I was rarely afraid to pick it back up again despite it taking longer to read than I typically average (to be fair, this book is nearly 300 pages longer than what I usually read). I do not recommend the audiobook if you're like me and get thrown off by hearing the narrators take sharp breaths while narrating.
4 ⭐️s The artwork within is stunning! If you have Kindle Unlimited, I recommend using the Kindle app on your phone or tablet to view the art in color; it'll take your breath away. I love this book because of the fantasy and plot, but I don't think someone should expect some epic love story from this. I'd never read Sophie Lark before and would love to read more from her!
The book nods a lot to the movie and history. I am not a historian and barely know where states are in my own country, let alone the presidents we've had, so I wasn't thrown off by historical inaccuracies in Imperial Russia, of which I know less than nothing about. How the music box, given to Anastasia by her paternal grandmother, was written into the story was so cool! There is a nod to Bartok, Rasputin's notorious reliquary with a skull on top is replaced by a raven's skull worn around Rasputin's neck. Pooka is replaced by a worthy companion who is cool in their own right. Even the way that Rasputin appears grayish purple in the film is included in this story in such a cool way I couldn't focus on what I was reading after. There are so many cool, thrilling moments in this story, and it was very well-written for the large part, but there needed to be some diversity in words used at times. For such a long book with hundreds of thousands of words, "Cried" appeared nearly 80 times, and it became a word I got tired of seeing very quickly every time Anastasia started yelling about something.
1.5
The Plot:
This book completely reimagines Anastasia, The Romanovs, and Imperial Russia in the early 1900s. I adored that we got to experience Anastasia from her childhood—it bolstered her passion, drive, desire for knowledge, and capacity for love. It also showed the blinders that a child who grows up under authoritarian rule and that tyrant just so happens to be the man she calls "Father." All of Anastasia's siblings had new life breathed into them (even though they aren't super developed), even the notoriously sickly Alexei. I thoroughly enjoyed seeing them grow and have opinions and desires. Even Tsar Nicholas was written in a way that granted him compassion and the desire to be a father even when service/title demanded otherwise. The world loves a dictator who's a good daddy.
Many in court see Anastasia as unremarkable, impulsive, and chaotic. She's not quite polished despite having the same upbringing as her siblings, and she's naughty at times, rash, stubborn, and short-sighted as a child. But her commitment to developing her powers further lands her in the lap of Grigory Rasputin, a holy man brought into the fold by the Empresses' friend. Rasputin is skilled in magic and seems to be the only person in the world with multiple powers simultaneously. He's coincidentally the only healer who can restore Alexei to good health. Still, it's clear that his fixes are temporary and must be regularly topped up. So, he is eventually granted free roam and access to the Romanov court, despite the complaints of his detractors and the rumors that circulate about him outside the palace.
At the same time, there is political intrigue within and unrest between the Russians and the Cossacks, and this is where Nicholas, being a cruel tyrant, takes center stage. The Cossacks, happy to live apart from the Russians, are constantly pushing back against Nicholas. He eventually gets the long-lasting power over them that he hoped for when the son of one of the highest-ranking members of the guard (I don't remember the official title) tries to kill Nicholas with his bare hands because he has the power of fatal touch. Due to Damien's attempted regicide, his father earns 10 years of being Nicholas' little bulldog he sends to do his dirty work, and Damien and the rest of the Cossacks fall under Russian rule once again.
The source of the Romanov's power is a powerful mineral called Charoite. Like all powerful minerals, it is mined excessively from the earth to the point that it is difficult to find, so the Romanovs keep what they have in their vault for safekeeping. However, it becomes crucial later on, and I loved how it was leveraged.
There are time jumps, but they all happened at the perfect time and weren't jarring in the way that time skips can sometimes be.
The Fantasy:
I enjoyed the magic in this book so much! Anastasia is a dark fantasy, and this was the first fantasy novel I've read in a very long time, so it was a treat to read! Everyone in the book has a power, or their power has not yet been tapped into. The heir to the throne—historically only male Romanovs—are the only ones in the world who can time walk though, meaning they can slow and bend time at will and do a bunch of things in a single second that others couldn't do in five minutes. A potent tool in war! This power, however, lives within Anastasia instead of Alexei, much to the confusion and chagrin of everyone around her.
Rasputin was genuinely SCARY! I loved how awful he was! I won't spoil how he came to be so powerful and contain so much magic because it made me so excited when I read it, and I hope everyone who takes a chance on this story gets to experience that feeling. Rasputin was developed as much as Anastasia was, more than Damien even was, and, just like in the movie, he is the most interesting, compelling villain of all time. Rasputin is power-hungry and dangerous and takes Anastasia under his wing at her insistence—she wants to learn to do multiple forms of magic like him, and he trains her in secret for quite some time.
Damien's power was very cool a lot of the time, and I did love how Anastasia learning to contain and control and develop her magic during her time with Rasputin resulted in Damien learning from her. Anastasia was the only person who could withstand his touch because of how her own time-bending powers worked, and that could have been seen as very romantic if I cared anything for the romance between these two.
The Romance:
Damien, a Cossack rebel, and Anastasia are like oil and water initially. He thinks she's stubborn and naive and delusional, and she thinks he's hot. You know, a normal dynamic for a sheltered princess and a man being oppressed by her father. The most magical part of their relationship is the trick where they go from enemies to friends to lovers almost entirely off-page. When they got to the point where feelings were being developed and expressed, I said, "Wait, what?" several times because I could not believe my eyes.
I do not understand what they saw in each other, but Damien seemed to fall harder and faster, which I know is a favorite in these types of books. But it just...didn't make sense. Anastasia falling for Rasputin would have been juicier and more believable solely based on their time together and how intimate and raw their relationship got at times, but that also would have been disrespectful.
The "you're mine/I'm yours" dynamic did not work for people who were strangers in my mind because I never got to see how their closeness came to be. I wanted to tell Anastasia to stand up a lot of the time! I did enjoy that we were privy to their privately written letters, as sometimes authors choose to omit what secret letters entail, and then it's five years later in real life, and I'm wondering what the letter said at four in the morning. If their love had a better on-page exploration, I would have enjoyed the "spice" in the book's last 30% or so a lot more!
My Rating:
I really, really enjoyed this book. Whenever I felt overwhelmed or bored by descriptions and scenes that didn't move the story along, Lark made the switch at the perfect time to focus on character development or some juicy action. About 200 pages in the middle could have been cut out, around said development and action, and nothing would have been lost from the overall story. Like I said before, the magic in this book is unique and fun, making the action-packed scenes easy to imagine and enjoy.
I was not buying the romance, so I found it unnecessary (although I understand why romance was included in this tale). I appreciate that it wasn't super raunchy—considering Anastasia died brutally, I feel like making this super spicy would be disrespectful for some reason—but I also did not feel anything for Damien and Anastasia's love.
I read this book in paperback, then I switched to Kindle Unlimited, then I switched to audiobook. This book is denseeeee, but I was rarely afraid to pick it back up again despite it taking longer to read than I typically average (to be fair, this book is nearly 300 pages longer than what I usually read). I do not recommend the audiobook if you're like me and get thrown off by hearing the narrators take sharp breaths while narrating.
4 ⭐️s The artwork within is stunning! If you have Kindle Unlimited, I recommend using the Kindle app on your phone or tablet to view the art in color; it'll take your breath away. I love this book because of the fantasy and plot, but I don't think someone should expect some epic love story from this. I'd never read Sophie Lark before and would love to read more from her!
The book nods a lot to the movie and history. I am not a historian and barely know where states are in my own country, let alone the presidents we've had, so I wasn't thrown off by historical inaccuracies in Imperial Russia, of which I know less than nothing about. How the music box, given to Anastasia by her paternal grandmother, was written into the story was so cool! There is a nod to Bartok, Rasputin's notorious reliquary with a skull on top is replaced by a raven's skull worn around Rasputin's neck. Pooka is replaced by a worthy companion who is cool in their own right. Even the way that Rasputin appears grayish purple in the film is included in this story in such a cool way I couldn't focus on what I was reading after. There are so many cool, thrilling moments in this story, and it was very well-written for the large part, but there needed to be some diversity in words used at times. For such a long book with hundreds of thousands of words, "Cried" appeared nearly 80 times, and it became a word I got tired of seeing very quickly every time Anastasia started yelling about something.
1.5
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
the first half of this like 800 page book was a bit of a struggle to get through tbh.
the writing was truly beautiful and lyrical at times. I would highly recommend this to people who like Broadbent's pacing (i.e. lots of world building and character development before horn dog time). I’m PUMPED about the ending and the last 25% of the book was *chefs kiss* to me.
a random complaint is that when the FMC/MC finally got all hot and bothered, it didn’t make a lot of sense to me… like the timing and the escalation of the intimacy was weird… just, you’ll see when you read it :]
the writing was truly beautiful and lyrical at times. I would highly recommend this to people who like Broadbent's pacing (i.e. lots of world building and character development before horn dog time). I’m PUMPED about the ending and the last 25% of the book was *chefs kiss* to me.
a random complaint is that when the FMC/MC finally got all hot and bothered, it didn’t make a lot of sense to me… like the timing and the escalation of the intimacy was weird… just, you’ll see when you read it :]
challenging
dark
hopeful
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
what a journey.
let me start by saying that if you’re a fan of, and only a fan of, like 200-400 page pure romance books where it’s about the couple only, this isn’t for you.
but, if you’re a fantasy fan, a long series fan, an excruciatingly slow burn fan, this one’s for you.
this is a dark, fantasy, anastasia retelling. it takes place in our world but back in old world russia so there’s not world building but the story starts from stassie as a child and it’s an 850~ page journey about her family and her romance with damien, the boy from the wild russian cossacks who’s as much her opposite as he is her mirror.
this is an intense, epic story and damien and anastasia are like cosmic soulmates. most of the story is dark and intense but there’s levity to it and plenty of funny moments. it’s like watching a movie while you read because it’s incredibly detailed.
i think everyone can identify with anastasia. she’s imperfect but brave and ever positive and damien is just the hero we all deserve, truly. he’s perfect.
if you can handle an excruciatingly slow burn and a book that has more of an epic story with romance mixed in, pick this one up.
let me start by saying that if you’re a fan of, and only a fan of, like 200-400 page pure romance books where it’s about the couple only, this isn’t for you.
but, if you’re a fantasy fan, a long series fan, an excruciatingly slow burn fan, this one’s for you.
this is a dark, fantasy, anastasia retelling. it takes place in our world but back in old world russia so there’s not world building but the story starts from stassie as a child and it’s an 850~ page journey about her family and her romance with damien, the boy from the wild russian cossacks who’s as much her opposite as he is her mirror.
this is an intense, epic story and damien and anastasia are like cosmic soulmates. most of the story is dark and intense but there’s levity to it and plenty of funny moments. it’s like watching a movie while you read because it’s incredibly detailed.
i think everyone can identify with anastasia. she’s imperfect but brave and ever positive and damien is just the hero we all deserve, truly. he’s perfect.
if you can handle an excruciatingly slow burn and a book that has more of an epic story with romance mixed in, pick this one up.
adventurous
challenging
emotional
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This was such a looooong book. Some parts I liked, some parts I didn’t. I’m mostly just happy that I finished it.
This book is so different from anything else Sophie has written in the past. I went in to this expecting a romance book with the magic of the disney movie Anastasia that I loved as a kid. That is not what this book was at all.
The first 65-70% of this book is a high fantasy novel with a little bit of a romance subplot. The romance is in no way the main storyline in this. This book follows a young princess as she is brought up in a world she doesn't necessarily fit in, while becoming friends with a rebel who is trying to teach her that the way the world works and the way her family rules is wrong. It is a battle of what you have been taught vs what you know to be right.
Then there is a love story for about 20% of the book. I did enjoy this part of the book and it did feel like the Sophie Lark that I know and love. It was strange how the tone of the book just shifted though. I enjoyed both aspects, but I can also understand how this may not be for everyone.
This book was a wonderful work of art. I could feel the passion that went in to telling this story. I enjoyed every aspect of it, but it was in no way what I was expecting going into this novel.
"Anger fades. Love only grows."
The first 65-70% of this book is a high fantasy novel with a little bit of a romance subplot. The romance is in no way the main storyline in this. This book follows a young princess as she is brought up in a world she doesn't necessarily fit in, while becoming friends with a rebel who is trying to teach her that the way the world works and the way her family rules is wrong. It is a battle of what you have been taught vs what you know to be right.
Then there is a love story for about 20% of the book. I did enjoy this part of the book and it did feel like the Sophie Lark that I know and love. It was strange how the tone of the book just shifted though. I enjoyed both aspects, but I can also understand how this may not be for everyone.
This book was a wonderful work of art. I could feel the passion that went in to telling this story. I enjoyed every aspect of it, but it was in no way what I was expecting going into this novel.
"Anger fades. Love only grows."