Reviews

Anastasia, by Sophie Lark

audreyc543's review

adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad tense medium-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

4.5

victsangaris's review against another edition

5.0

“whatever else is taken from you, never lose hope. even if you see how dark the world can be, choose to believe it could be better.”

lia_heart7's review against another edition

adventurous dark slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

lemonlyman23's review

adventurous emotional mysterious tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

kkloosterman's review

I realised that maybe we shouldn’t be romanticising a historical character that had such a traumatic end to their life

scribe391's review

adventurous emotional mysterious 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

3.25

Set in a fantasy version of Russia, Lark’s plot draws inspiration from the animated version of: Anastasia.

julesscanno's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring mysterious sad tense medium-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? It's complicated

5.0

libraryofgrey's review against another edition

3.0

I liked the premise of Anastasia in an alternate world with magic. The first half of the book was really slow and hard to get through, it starts with Anastasia as a child and you get to watch her grow. I liked the second half a lot more, once she's grown up and has a little bit more of a personality. I liked some of the twists that it had but I think it got a bit too twisty and a lot was going on by the end. It was a good read for what it was but I probably won't read it again.

thebookishboymom's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional inspiring sad 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? It's complicated

4.0

 At 686 pages, this beauty was a commitment. However, there are stunning illustrations that make up about 100 pages or so. And these illustrations make the story that much more immersive so be sure to read the physical copy of this one.

Are you familiar with the Romanov family? Anastasia is youngest daughter and in real life her and her family were murdered when Anastasia was 17. However in Lark’s novel, we get a mix of truth and fiction, making way for a life and HEA for Anastasia had her family not be murdered by a group of Bolsheviks in 1918.

This isn’t a retelling of Anastasia’s life as much as Lark’s imagination at play with real people, places, and events. So I guess you could say it’s based loosely on actual events tied to the Romanov family. “Anastasia” is a mix of historical fiction, magic, and romance.
 

zerosixjune's review against another edition

5.0

Rating: 4.5/5

Well, I’m not in a place to judge the accuracy of some things in this book, so I’m just gonna talk about the story.

I had a good experience reading Anastasia. I loved that I got to see many conflicts here, which covered several areas like politics, war, even family issues, and romance. I also liked the pace. The slow burn was great! I feel like I grew up with Anastasia and Damien. AND NO LOVE TRIANGLE. Yaaas!