Romanov by Nadine Brandes

Synopsis (from Goodreads)

The history books say I died.

They don’t know the half of it.

Anastasia “Nastya” Romanov was given a single mission: to smuggle an ancient spell into her suitcase on her way to exile in Siberia. It might be her family’s only salvation. But the leader of the Bolshevik army is after them . . . and he’s hunted Romanov before.

Nastya’s only chances of survival are to either release the spell, and deal with the consequences, or enlist help from Zash, the handsome soldier who doesn’t act like the average Bolshevik. Nastya’s never dabbled in magic before, but it doesn’t frighten her as much as her growing attraction for Zash. She likes him. She thinks he might even like her . . .

That is, until she’s on one side of a firing squad . . . and he’s on the other.

My Review
2 out of 5 stars

I received a complimentary copy of this book from Thomas Nelson through NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

Retellings of the 1998 20th Century Fox animated musical Anastasia are always going to be a little tricky due to the fact that the musical is a complete work of fiction set against a true story of a family’s execution. Don’t get me wrong, I love the animated film and have even seen the live Broadway adaptation (which I own on CD). But at the end of the day I can recognize that it is a complete fairy-tale in relation to what actually happened. Mrs. Brandes takes a slightly more historically accurate approach to the tale, as the first 60% of this story follows the captivity of the Romanov family under the Bolsheviks. The problem with following that storyline is that it doesn’t allow for very exciting things to happen. Pretty much Anastasia (Natsya) and her family are miserable but getting by and hoping the White Army will come and save them. They don’t have a lot of food and keep having to mend their clothes over and over, but they have each other’s love, company, and support. It does have a flaw of painting Tsar Nicholas II as a good leader, which, given the fact that he was overthrown, history says otherwise. I guess it doesn’t help that it’s told in Natsya’s perspective and she probably loved her father a lot and may not have seen many of his flaws. This first part overall may have been more exciting if the magical aspect of the story was used earlier, but all it really was in the beginning was a bit a of intrigue. You know that Natsya has a spell in a nesting doll available to her but you don’t know when or how she is going to use it, or what it will do.

The later 40% is where the book picks up a bit; things are moving and happening. But it just takes such a long time to get to this point, I found myself not caring all that much. I think part of this is that this retelling doesn’t particularly add that much new content or original spin. It’s still the very same person, Anastasia. It’s still a Russian setting, though focused during the revolution itself and not 10 years later. Sure, it incorporates some magic and Nastya is interested in its craft (the movie just had the villain using magic), but it’s really not a large component to the story. It adds a Bolshevik soldier in as a love interest, but it is incredibly forced and cringy, especially after you read what happens. (Just give me back my conman love interest, please). There wasn’t anything to really hook me.

It’s still very well written (even if it could have perhaps been better researched). And I think the way it resolves itself is interesting; it certainly is a take on the tale of how Anastasia could have possibly survived.

I still enjoyed my time reading this, but I can’t find any way to say that it is more than okay. Thus, 2 stars.

See this review on Goodreads.