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4.05 AVERAGE
4.05 AVERAGE
dark
emotional
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
dark
emotional
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
I love anything that Sophie Lark writes, so I knew if I was going to try to venture into romantasy for the first time this might be the book to hook me. I’m officially hooked! This book was ♾️ ⭐️ for me. If you’re a romance girlie and considering fantasy I think this is a great start. I always loved the Anastasia Disney movie growing up, but this book was so much more. It’s more of a reimagining than a retelling, showing us what might have happened if things had played out differently for the Romanovs. The world building and side characters were amazing, and I love how many of them are actually real people in history. The amount of detail and research that went into making this book mostly historically accurate is amazing! I loved everything to do with magic and other beings and how Anastasia’s magic grows with her. And the SLOWBURN with Damian & Anastasia was everything! 😍😍😍 I had all the feels. It starts of a little slow because of the world building, but I devoured the last 3/4 of the book in 3 days. I’ve read over 150 books this year and this is definitely in my top 3 favorites.
adventurous
dark
emotional
medium-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:
Yes
adventurous
dark
mysterious
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
tense
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
This book gave a nice fantasy twist on the story we know about the Romanovs. It did start out very slow and I feel that the first half of the book could have been shorter. However the second half of the book was gripping and intriguing and I loved the Russian folklore and history In the story. Anastasia has great character development and I loved the relationship between her and Damien. The last 30% especially was so good and is what bounced the rating up to just over 3 ⭐
adventurous
dark
emotional
sad
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
3.5 (for storytelling)
I was sooo excited to get a fantasy retelling of Anastasia and her life story. However, I was a little disappointed by the writing (editing) and some of the stream-of-consciousness thoughts from Anastasia. There were parts of the book where I had to re-read several times to understand that we had jumped to a different time or memory, or even that we were in the same time, but it wasn't written entirely clearly. I love the Romanov history and legends, but as the story progressed, I wished that she had leaned more into the "true" legends. Maybe I'm not as familiar with it as I think, though.
(Also, I loved Damien, but it felt weird to add an overtly sexual element to the relationship, considering that Anastasia was a real person who died as a teen)
I was sooo excited to get a fantasy retelling of Anastasia and her life story. However, I was a little disappointed by the writing (editing) and some of the stream-of-consciousness thoughts from Anastasia. There were parts of the book where I had to re-read several times to understand that we had jumped to a different time or memory, or even that we were in the same time, but it wasn't written entirely clearly. I love the Romanov history and legends, but as the story progressed, I wished that she had leaned more into the "true" legends. Maybe I'm not as familiar with it as I think, though.
(Also, I loved Damien, but it felt weird to add an overtly sexual element to the relationship, considering that Anastasia was a real person who died as a teen)
It was just way too much information and while it was great to set the scene, there was just too much info dumping happening it made me lose interest.
Screaming, crying, throwing up. I loved it!
I have so much to say about this book. It was the longest book I have ever read, and yet I was having so much fun while reading it that it seemed to fly by. I loved almost everything about it!!! The magic system was well-explained and dynamic, the main character was gloriously stubborn, the love interest was all kinds of dreamy, the villain had a great reason for his villainy while also being compelling… I could go on and on about it! I loved the historical fantasy aspect of it as well— you can tell that the author did lots of research for all the characters based on real people. I would recommend this book to fans of fantasy books!
This book is available on Kindle Unlimited!
I have so much to say about this book. It was the longest book I have ever read, and yet I was having so much fun while reading it that it seemed to fly by. I loved almost everything about it!!! The magic system was well-explained and dynamic, the main character was gloriously stubborn, the love interest was all kinds of dreamy, the villain had a great reason for his villainy while also being compelling… I could go on and on about it! I loved the historical fantasy aspect of it as well— you can tell that the author did lots of research for all the characters based on real people. I would recommend this book to fans of fantasy books!
This book is available on Kindle Unlimited!
I truly loved this book. While there were some moments that felt drawn out, i was fully enraptured. The slow burn of Anastasia and Damien was everything!! The twist where she went back in time, was not expecting that. 10/10 would read again.