A review by readwithchey
Anastasia by Sophie Lark

adventurous dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated

5.0

This was such an incredible, sweeping, magical, lush and engrossing dark fantasy. 

It’s long as hell, but it really helps to envelop you in the story fully. It was a whole ass experience. I felt like I was racing toward the finish line, but didn’t want it to end. Damien was perfect and I wish we’d had more scenes with him and from his POV; Artemis the falcon was of course another of my favorites; and while the book was about Anastasia, I will admit I didn’t fully like her up until she started making some… tough decisions. There’s so much growth in this novel and it’s a central factor of the story; relationship growth, self growth, magical growth. Growth is the theme.

Key word in this review is fantasy; this is a fantasy first, romance second. It’s not a fantasy romance, it’s instead a fantasy with a romance element. Please don’t go into this thinking it’s a “smutty Anastasia” - there is minimal spice and it happens closer to the end of the book, the majority of the plot focuses on the magical and political elements. It’s still incredible, but don’t be tricked by any BookTok hype. If you’re reading JUST for the spice, I don’t think this lives up to her other books in terms of sex scenes, but it was a decent payoff for like 500+ pages of build up.

Basically, I loved this. Those twists GOT ME. I was quite literally screaming, crying, and throwing up. It gets dark. Check Storygraph for CW. This book really chewed me up and spit me out, but I wouldn’t want it any other way. I’m interested to see what Sophie does next!