2 1/2 stars. It flowed too slowly for my taste. I liked the overall story, but there were plenty of segments that could have been shorter. The narration for the audiobook was good, if you don't mind all the dialogue being in a Russian accent (I assume a fake one, I can't say I've heard a real Russian accent before). ( )

(I am using this book for the "Book with a Red Cover" Category of Extreme Book Nerd. Because let's face it, it has some red in it. ;))

I really really wanted to love this book. It came on the recommendation of a library user who I greatly respect. I also grew up in LOVE with the movie "Anastasia." I loved Dimetri; I can still quote Bartok. I sing the songs sometimes in the shower. I knew that the animated film was nothing like the real story of Anastasia. My brother also had a fascination with Russian history and the Romanov family. We all wanted to believe that somehow Anastasia had avoided the slaughtering of her family.

"Romanov" did a great job following the historical facts that we know. And the storylines of some soldiers learning to care for the Romanov family? That even seemed plausible. It was the parts of the story AFTER the assassinations, the fantastical elements, that made the book get really REALLY weird. A Russian nesting doll with spells? Anastasia and Alexi alternating between living and dead souls? The love angle even when we thought Anastasia was a ghost? Uh uh.

I get what the author was trying to do. She, like all of us, wanted to share a happier tale. That Anastasia and Alexi really did survive--which in the mid 2000's the world found out that was not the case. Still. I would have preferred more of a realistic fiction angle as opposed to a fantasy angle that just did not make sense. I really skimmed the final chapters due to its plotline (which felt all over the place)

The book had so much potential when I started. I hate that this was the outcome. ( )

The history books say I died.

They don’t know the half of it.

Anastasia “Nastya” Romanov was given a single mission: to smuggle an ancient spell into her suitcase on her way to exile in Siberia. It might be her family’s only salvation. But the leader of the Bolshevik army is after them, and he’s hunted Romanov before.

Nastya’s only chances of saving herself and her family 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. Nastya has only dabbled in magic, but it doesn’t frighten her half as much as her growing attraction to Zash. She likes him. She thinks he might even like her.

That is, until she’s on one side of a firing squad . . . and he’s on the other.

Y'all. I cried. I literally sobbed. Maybe it's because I'm melodramatic and hopelessly sentimental? But I know that if I were Nastya, I know I wouldn't have been able to control myself. I would have killed Yurovsky, and the fact that she didn't wrecked me. ( )

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I'm fascinated by history, everyone can tell that from the many historical books I read throughout the years. I'm also fascinated by countries or places n this world that have their own tradition and centuries of folklore and myths. One such country is Russia. No person can deny that Russia has inspired so many authors starting from Naomi Novik and "Uprooted" to Leigh Bardugo and "Grishaverse". Apart from Russia's folklore, their tsars have always been something of the talk of the town. And of course I would be so interested as to read about the Romanov family, even if this was just a retelling of their ending and what might have happened to that missing Romanov daughter, Anastasia. Therefore, I picked "Romanov" by Nadine Brandes.
The Romanovs have abided the throne and are send away by the Bolsheviks. They are now located in Tobolsk, Siberia, but not for long. In Tobolsk they had gotten to know their guards and exile was bearable. Until one day the Bolsheviks come again, new ones this time. They are there to take tsar Nikolai and his family away. But not all of them can move. Alexei is too sick to travel. So the family gets separated, without knowing when and if they will see each other. As the former tsar is about to leave he puts upon his daughter Anastasia the family's salvation. She is to find and protect the magical matryoshka doll, the one that holds an ancient spell that could be their only hope. But the leader of the Bolshevik army that requested their transfer is after all magical items and the matryoshka doll specifically.
If Nastya wants to save her family she needs to camaraderie to a Bolshevik soldier, one that seems to be a bit different than the rest. But, can she really trust him with something so important as the salvation of her family? He is a Bolshevik after all. And, as if that is not enough, Alexei gets worse by the day and she has so little knowledge of magic, not enough to give him his health back or to take her beloved family pout of this nightmare.
Since this is a historical fiction with a magical twist it is pretty certain that it cannot be that much different from the actual story. So, if one knew the story of the Romanov family, they pretty much know what to expect. As soon as the whole family is transferred to Ekaterinburg the reader waits for the inevitable to happen. In the meantime we get to know more of the balance between the members of the family. We get to know some little details as to what their capture would mean to them or the differences that Brandes put in the story to make it more magical and justify the actions to come in the future.
I really liked how magic is incorporated in the story. Nastya (Anastasia), who's story this actually is, wants to become a spell maker but she didn't have enough time to advance on her studies. Rasputin is portrayed as a spell maker himself and her tutor, one that would only give her glimpses of spell making. Until he is arrested and everything is lost. For me though the magical part was not enough. I did enjoy the historical part, as well as the love and relationship between the siblings, that is Nastya and Alexei, the little tsar. And given that I like reading Russian tales the whole story was very good for me. I just wanted more of the magic that wafts in the air. That being said, I did like the hopeful ending, even though we all know how that turned out to be. ( )