The assassination of Nicolas II and his family was only in 1918 (July 17 th for those interested) so only 100 years ago. I think that’s part of where this book lost me, at least a little.

I wouldn’t go so far as to call myself an expert, I think it would be fairly obnoxious to do so, but I will say that I know a fair amount about this rather tumultuous period in history. I’ve also got quite a bit of knowledge about the pop-culture surrounding the Anastasia Romanov myth/legend/rumour such as the film and the musical (though they aren’t hugely factual they are useful for inferring what kind of stories you could tell with this kind of inspiration). I actually studied this period quite intensively during my History A – Level. I have a pretty good working knowledge of this period in Russian history. This review might contain spoilers if you don’t know your Russian history – if you do then you’ll be fine. That is, until she’s on one side of a firing squad.

Nastya’s never dabbled in magic before, but it doesn’t frighten her as much as her growing attraction for Zash. Nastya’s only chances of survival are to either release the spell, and deal with the consequences, or enlist help from Zash, the handsome soldier who doesn’t act like the average Bolshevik. But the leader of the Bolshevik army is after them. However, since my knowledge of Russian history is a little bit stronger than my knowledge of the Gunpowder Plot I thought Romanov might be a winner, I’m also more than a little bit obsessed with both the film and the musical Anastasia – though I knew this wasn’t going to have anything to do with that, except for the inspiration.Īnastasia “Nastya” Romanov was given a single mission: to smuggle an ancient spell into her suitcase on her way to exile in Siberia. I read Fawkes and, while I did enjoy it, it wasn’t a world-changing book for me. Hello Humans! Who is ready for a little Russian historical fantasy? Romanov is the latest book from Nadine Brandes, author of Fawkes – a book which felt like it was blowing up the bookish internet for a time last year.

Nadine brandes