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A review by smart_girls_love_trashy_books
Angel on the Square by Gloria Whelan
3.0
-POTENTIAL SPOILERS-
Here's another book on the Russian Empire I surprisingly waited this long to read. And honestly? It was a mixed-bag, but luckily it had more good things going for it than bad.
First of all, let's start with the good stuff, since there actually are a lot.
The descriptions in the first half of this book are BEAUTIFUL. Being a childrens' book, they are simple, yet the saying' less is more' truly reigns supreme in this book. I could perfectly picture everything that was gong on-the lacy ball gowns, the pretty dolls, the bejeweled palace.
I also liked the main character! I think she's one of the only girl characters in a book taking place in the Russian Empire who actually LIKES her status! She loves going to balls and wearing fancy gowns, and even though she doesn't think about the peasants very much, she's not selfish or spoiled. She's naive in her attempts to help the populace, and the author shows that even though things don't always work out for her, her heart's in the right place.
However, you will notice that this book has three stars, because unfortunately, this book has a lot of problems.
For starters, the pacing is WAY too fast-paced. Normally I prefer books with a faster pace, but this was just annoying. I felt like someone was constantly grabbing my arm and pulling me at a running pace, never letting me catch my breath and just admire everything.
Another thing is that the gorgeous descriptions just kinda stop in the second half of the book, when the war starts. It's really....boring. Not to mention the fast pace makes everything come across as being super dry, as if the author suddenly lost interest in what she was talking about. I don't really get invested in what the royal family is sacrificing for the war effort since the story doesn't care what they're sacrificing either!
The latter part is also incredibly glossed over and rushed. There's so much one could do with both WW1 and the Russian Revolution, and everything here was so watered-down calling it watered-down would be an insult to watered-down things. And I know it's a childrens' book, but that is NOT a good excuse. I've read some dark historical novels written for children, so there's no excuse why she couldn't go in deeper with this.
Some of the historical descriptions aren't very accurate either, which isn't good, especially in a childrens' book. Let's start with the fact that Rasputin is portrayed as being basically evil, and even the Romanovs, with the exception of Tzarina Alexandra, don't like him. In my opinion, Rasputin was a lot of things, and did a lot of questionable things, but he wasn't evil. If you wanted to make him mysterious, there were way better ways to do that than by making him almost rape a maid. Plus, in real life, ALL of the Romanovs liked him, including the children. Anastasia and Maria were excited for his visits so they could tell him about their days and grievances, and never once did he lay a hand on any of the Romanova sisters.
Speaking of the siblings, their descriptions were pretty much glossed over. When the main character first meets them, she just quickly runs through their personalities, but in the remainder of the book, we never see any of their supposed quirks. Anastasia is a bit of a trouble-maker, but not enough to make her stand out, and the other three sisters were incredibly one-note, you could've smashed them all into one character. Also, Maria is described in the book as having golden curls, but in real life, Maria was described as having dark brown curls, like her older sisters. Anastasia, on the other hand, had bright golden curls.
The names are also really weird. Anastasia's nickname is Stana. Ummmm.....okay. In real life, she was referred to as Nastya, or Nadya, or even more common, 'imp' due to her personality. Maria is referred to as Marie, which was her nickname, not her real name. Plus the main character's name is pretty stereotypically Russian, which isn't a good sign.
Her name is Katya Ivanova, which is short for Ekatrina, although I almost always have seen that name spelled Yekatrina instead. Yes I know she's named after Catherine the Great, but so was every other girl back then. Ivanova implies her father was named Ivan, another common Russian name. Other than that, however, all the other Russian names in this were surprisingly accurate for both the nation and time period! And a lot of them were really uncommon! Props for that.
Despite all my hate, I actually really enjoyed reading this, and the positives actually outweighed the negatives. It was a mixed-bag that I was glad I read, and it actually was very enjoyable.
Here's another book on the Russian Empire I surprisingly waited this long to read. And honestly? It was a mixed-bag, but luckily it had more good things going for it than bad.
First of all, let's start with the good stuff, since there actually are a lot.
The descriptions in the first half of this book are BEAUTIFUL. Being a childrens' book, they are simple, yet the saying' less is more' truly reigns supreme in this book. I could perfectly picture everything that was gong on-the lacy ball gowns, the pretty dolls, the bejeweled palace.
I also liked the main character! I think she's one of the only girl characters in a book taking place in the Russian Empire who actually LIKES her status! She loves going to balls and wearing fancy gowns, and even though she doesn't think about the peasants very much, she's not selfish or spoiled. She's naive in her attempts to help the populace, and the author shows that even though things don't always work out for her, her heart's in the right place.
However, you will notice that this book has three stars, because unfortunately, this book has a lot of problems.
For starters, the pacing is WAY too fast-paced. Normally I prefer books with a faster pace, but this was just annoying. I felt like someone was constantly grabbing my arm and pulling me at a running pace, never letting me catch my breath and just admire everything.
Another thing is that the gorgeous descriptions just kinda stop in the second half of the book, when the war starts. It's really....boring. Not to mention the fast pace makes everything come across as being super dry, as if the author suddenly lost interest in what she was talking about. I don't really get invested in what the royal family is sacrificing for the war effort since the story doesn't care what they're sacrificing either!
The latter part is also incredibly glossed over and rushed. There's so much one could do with both WW1 and the Russian Revolution, and everything here was so watered-down calling it watered-down would be an insult to watered-down things. And I know it's a childrens' book, but that is NOT a good excuse. I've read some dark historical novels written for children, so there's no excuse why she couldn't go in deeper with this.
Some of the historical descriptions aren't very accurate either, which isn't good, especially in a childrens' book. Let's start with the fact that Rasputin is portrayed as being basically evil, and even the Romanovs, with the exception of Tzarina Alexandra, don't like him. In my opinion, Rasputin was a lot of things, and did a lot of questionable things, but he wasn't evil. If you wanted to make him mysterious, there were way better ways to do that than by making him almost rape a maid. Plus, in real life, ALL of the Romanovs liked him, including the children. Anastasia and Maria were excited for his visits so they could tell him about their days and grievances, and never once did he lay a hand on any of the Romanova sisters.
Speaking of the siblings, their descriptions were pretty much glossed over. When the main character first meets them, she just quickly runs through their personalities, but in the remainder of the book, we never see any of their supposed quirks. Anastasia is a bit of a trouble-maker, but not enough to make her stand out, and the other three sisters were incredibly one-note, you could've smashed them all into one character. Also, Maria is described in the book as having golden curls, but in real life, Maria was described as having dark brown curls, like her older sisters. Anastasia, on the other hand, had bright golden curls.
The names are also really weird. Anastasia's nickname is Stana. Ummmm.....okay. In real life, she was referred to as Nastya, or Nadya, or even more common, 'imp' due to her personality. Maria is referred to as Marie, which was her nickname, not her real name. Plus the main character's name is pretty stereotypically Russian, which isn't a good sign.
Her name is Katya Ivanova, which is short for Ekatrina, although I almost always have seen that name spelled Yekatrina instead. Yes I know she's named after Catherine the Great, but so was every other girl back then. Ivanova implies her father was named Ivan, another common Russian name. Other than that, however, all the other Russian names in this were surprisingly accurate for both the nation and time period! And a lot of them were really uncommon! Props for that.
Despite all my hate, I actually really enjoyed reading this, and the positives actually outweighed the negatives. It was a mixed-bag that I was glad I read, and it actually was very enjoyable.