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A review by nairam1173
Anya and the Dragon by Sofiya Pasternack
2.0
I was so excited when I heard about this book. It sounded like an amazing combination of Jewish culture, Russian/Jewish history, and folktales.
And maybe it is--but the plot doesn't serve it. It sets up and ends like it wants to talk about a lot more things--religious persecution in particular--but the middle is a slog of chase and action scenes that, most of the time, fundamentally don't result in significant change for the story or the plot when they end. Because of that, they feel repetitive and unnecessary.
The villain feels cartoonishly evil, with constant added powers that should raise the stakes--but again, since the battles rarely change something significant, they don't really. I think a more interesting route could have been taken with Ivan's family being people we liked that were ultimately also a bit of an antagonist, but this book sidesteps that in the end. I also may have misunderstood something, but the finale seems to also fake-out a moral dilemma it had been trying to build, and then doesn't get into the ramifications Anya's final decisions have on her. After fighting through the repetitive middle, the ending feels oddly rushed and thematically thin.
I am still mildly interested in the sequel, depending on reviews, because some of the issues could be learned from and improved on. This is a debut. I also think it might have been a little too concerned with being exciting and setting up the cast/world/magic. I think there really could be depth here, if explored properly, and that it might have a better chance in a second book.
And maybe it is--but the plot doesn't serve it. It sets up and ends like it wants to talk about a lot more things--religious persecution in particular--but the middle is a slog of chase and action scenes that, most of the time, fundamentally don't result in significant change for the story or the plot when they end. Because of that, they feel repetitive and unnecessary.
The villain feels cartoonishly evil, with constant added powers that should raise the stakes--but again, since the battles rarely change something significant, they don't really. I think a more interesting route could have been taken with Ivan's family being people we liked that were ultimately also a bit of an antagonist, but this book sidesteps that in the end.
Spoiler
Also, the village, which as far as we know, has always ostracized Anya's family for being Jewish (to the point of her repeatedly talking about not having friends), suddenly stands up for them against the magistrate in the end? huh?I am still mildly interested in the sequel, depending on reviews, because some of the issues could be learned from and improved on. This is a debut. I also think it might have been a little too concerned with being exciting and setting up the cast/world/magic. I think there really could be depth here, if explored properly, and that it might have a better chance in a second book.