A review by librarianeno
I was Anastasia by Ariel Lawhon

adventurous dark emotional sad medium-paced

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

4.75

I loved this book. It's not something that I knew very much about. However, I really struggled listening to this book because it's a non-linear narrative, and the time hops sometimes got confusing. It would have been nice to be able to go back and reference where we had been. And while it's not really a spoiler on how this ends, I do have to admit that the ending was still surprising to me.  Please make sure to check the content warnings.

Most of the worst of it happens in the last few chapters. That's the main reason why this book can't have 5 stars. It's very graphic (in my opinion).

 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Police brutality, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Suicide attempt

most of the really graphic stuff happens in the second half of the book as it gets closer to the part where they get taken to be killed. Honestly, the rest of the book wasn't that bad, but the last few chapters were super graphic