Romanov

Romanov by Nadine Brandes
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I received an ARC of this book.
I was very excited to read this book, but unfortunately it just fell flat for me. As someone who has always been interested in the last Tsar of Russia and the assassination of his family, this retelling of their last days sounded like a great read. Focusing on Anastasia and her brother, the plot seemed to drag right out of the gate. The book began long before the family's assassination, which to me created a pall and feeling of impending doom over everything. It caused me to not want to invest to much in Anastasia's family, knowing what would soon happen to them. That was not really much of a problem, however, because most of the secondary characters felt very one-dimensional and uninteresting.
The magical aspect of the story was not well-explained, and I never got a good grasp of it. It was barely brushed upon through most of the book and then at the end all of the plot elements completely revolved around magic, so it seemed uneven and tacked on. The conclusion felt very rushed and too much like the author was trying to give everyone a happy ending. This book disappointed me and I considered not finishing it, but ended up skimming most of it.


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