Reviews with content warning for Medical content - Романовы

It's one of the few books that I've read in quite a while to almost not follow the Hero's Journey at all. Quite a bit of this is due to Brande's decision to stick with the historical context of the actual events almost entirely. This whole story could be described as Reality Ensues: The Book. In fact, it's written with such dedication to the history that the magic itself is barely developed. This book is a fantasy book only in the sense that it's really a historical fiction novel, and only when it's absolutely not possible to be just a historical fiction novel anymore, the magic comes out to play. It's almost as if the magic serves only as deus ex machinas, though this lessens somewhat in the second half of the book. I enjoy the author's dedication to try to stick to what really happened at Tobolsk and Ekaterinberg.

That being said, the view of history itself is somewhat questionable. We're constantly told that Nicholas II was a wonderful leader, that everything being said about him and his wife is merely propaganda and....it just isn't. Obviously, it's from the point of view of his daughter, and she also doesn't have all of the pieces to the puzzle, but as good of a man he may have been, there's no doubt that he was a weak leader. That being said, I don't expect any book/story about the myth of Anastasia's survival to be historically accurate, and I've read quite a few of the non-fiction books on the matter. Her survival itself is already going to alter the historical canon as soon as it's written, and there are certain liberties authors take. Russian history is not my history, but I have researched it a great deal. It's handled quite clumsily at times, but if you can put aside that, then it's an alright book.

(Also I digress here but the cover? Is gorgeous. Beautiful. Has nothing to do with what actually happens in the story. My expectations were totally wrong.)

I enjoyed Anastasia and her family, their relationships was one of the best parts of the book. Well explored, and her relationships with her father, Maria, and Alexei in particular are very sweet.

Onto the relationship with Zash....sigh. First of all, I just have to say why does every adaptation of the myth of Anastasia need to give her a love interest? I've only read one book that hasn't given her one. Secondly....I feel like I have to sit down with them and just say to them, "Listen. You are not Dmitri. You will never be Dmitri."

Okay, I wanted to like them together. However, the setup to me is very difficult to swallow and the end of it felt a little contrived as well. Zash is a Bolshevik soldier, even if he's not really a Bolshevik (whatever that means), and that alone made it hard for me to get into him and Nastya working. I'm really just not into the enemies-to-lovers trope, and though this is kind of set up as a Romeo and Juliet situation, it just still didn't really work for me. Also I hesitate to say this, as I'm 100% not a Russian name expert but is Zash.....even a Russian name? Granted, he's mentioned to be from a semi-nomadic tribe (and that's about all we get about his background. Sigh. Literally the words "seminomadic tribe" in the text.), and they may not follow the same kind of Russian naming traditions as, say, the Imperial family, but he has no patrynomic or family name, and Zash (as far as I know) does not happen to even be a real name. It was...distracting.

Furthermore, at the moment of the family's execution, Zash is the one to point the gun at Nastya and shoot. Which. Is a little complicated. His reasons for doing so feel a little bit convoluted and contrived, but it did make for much of the plot of the second of the book, so there's that, I suppose. Nastya survives due to the magic ex machina, and spends so much of that time trying to decide whether to forgive him or not, and eventually decides to, but it feels so back-and-forth.

The ending, where it's implied eventually Zash buries Anastasia and Alexei with their family feels.....odd. Firstly, they (Alexei and Anastasia/Maria, it's unknown which, in real history) were buried at a different location to confuse anyone looking for the full number of people who were killed, as they would be two bodies short. And it's true that they were buried somewhat near their family, but.....why wouldn't Zash put them right with their family? It's confusing.

Major points to keeping Joy alive. I was rooting for that dog the whole time.

The writing itself managed to propel us forward, even though nothing happens for the longest time. I'm unsure of how interesting the book would be to people who don't know the history of it as well as I do, but it's an enjoyable enough read. I have to criticize Brande's lack of sensory details, though some of it can be excused from the first person POV, but not all. Very little imagery for any of the senses, which was such a shame. I was also expecting more from the magic, as I've said before, but for me, it was still quite enjoyable. The plot was good and kept moving forward, and the characters and their bonds really made the book work. Particularly the familial ones - loved Nastya and Alexei and their "imagine this" game in particular.

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