Romanov

Cover retrieved from
Goodreads page

Romanov is a YA magical retelling.

My Goodreads review can be found here.

My Amazon review can be found here..

Note: I originally got this as an e-ARC from Netgalley. However, I later bought this book as a hardback so that is why my Goodreads review has the Netgalley requirement but this does not.

As per usual, anything that does not directly relate to the topic at hand will be written in this color.

So I originally had not planned on reading this book for quite some time. I had a lot of Goodreads friends who knew of Nadine Brandes and had enjoyed her books, so Romanov was on my radar; since I added other books of hers on my TBR, I thought I should read those first.

However, I was looking through NetGalley and saw that it was available. Since I had never used NetGalley before, I thought I would put my name in just to see how NetGalley works. I honestly thought I wouldn't get it because it was my first time. Four hours later, I got an email stating that I had been approved for e-ARC.

This ended up being one of my favorite reads of 2019.

The interesting thing about this story is we know how it ends, so the reader goes into the story in this weird juxtaposition of knowing that they know everything and nothing because of the magic in the story, thereby making in an alternate universe (AU)/retelling, depending on how you want to the story to be classified. Because of this, the anticipation towards seeing how the ending will go and if it is any different than what the “real” ending was is much more prominent, thereby making the reading experience unique.

While reading with the ending in mind, it brings about a sense of anticipation in how this particular story is supposed to end. The reader has one eye in the present but also has an eye towards this end as the anticipation of already knowing what is in store for the characters. Each decision that the characters make feel as though it could lead towards the end and if/when it doesn’t the reader can also experience the relief along with the characters; if/ when it does lead to the end the reader then experiences the fear and defeat along with the characters.

There is also anticipation with learning about the magic that supposedly surrounded the family. In the “real” story, it has been debated for years what exactly Rasputin had on the Tsar/Tsarina to become the ‘healer’ for Alexei and what he did that would bring about the confidence of the Tsar/Tsarina to say that Alexei’s condition was being managed. The rumors surrounding Resputin and his supposed magic have led to many different theories as to what that magic was, ranging from an extreme heightened religious control all the way to hypnosis and everything in between. Each story told about the family has their own theory about it, and this one is no different in that regard. However, as someone who has been following Ms. (Mrs.? Not sure if Brandes is her maiden, pen, or married name) Brandes for quite a while, I knew going in that magic was going to play a bigger part in this story than it had in previous ones, and that it would also change the outcome of the story as it was previously known.

As someone who had read the Royal Diaries version of Anastasia and owns the DVD of the animated movie, I was interested to see what the magic system was and how it could change the story. Every time one of the characters mentioned magic, a part of the reader’s brain will perk up and the anticipation will come back into play. Then, the reader will be more engaged to the story and that will keep them reading.  

Side note: There is no higher irony than me getting angry every time someone called it the Disney version only for Disney to buy out 20^th Century Fox in 2019.

Another thing that stands out about this book is the characters, both original and new. (Note: as this is an AU/retelling, I will be referring to the historical characters as original characters for the sake of clarity).

It is always a difficult line to walk when writing about the original characters. Because they were actual people, it is important to reflect their personalities as the readers can always go look up writings about them. If it’s wrong, then the reader could claim that the author had no respect for the characters; but on the other hand the reader could complain that the author has focused more on the authenticity of the story’s timeline, which in turn made the original characters feel flat.

Because of how difficult this can be, it is always great to find a story that can balance both. Brandes has done well with this. Each one of the characters has their own personality so that there is more to the story than just a restating of the timeline, but there is also respect given to the historical narrative that Brandes is following. The new characters that Brandes has created allow for a deepening of story she is writing yet at the same time reflects situations and people that could have happened in real life.

Finally, I also appreciate that there is a section at the end of the story about what is true, what is based on truth, what is based on rumors, and what is made up by Brandes. This is a personal preference of mine, but I like to know what is based on truth in stories like this and to have an author’s note that breaks down the history and what the author has created. This allows for me to be able to look up something if it piques my interest and also determine how much skill the author has with making information interesting and also their skills in traditional storytelling with plot, characters, worldbuilding, etc.

Even though I really liked this story, I did feel that the magical aspect of the story was downplayed and led to possible confusion from the other readers.

On one hand, it made very clear from Brandes that this was going to be an AU/magical retelling. As someone who followed Brandes on social media before reading this story, I knew what to expect going into the story. However, if one looks at the book’s description on Goodreads and Amazon there is only a passing mention of magic and (Goodreads especially) downplays the possibility of the magic being a bigger part of the story than what we had seen in other stories.

The magic is explained as something to be explored, but not used in a practical way by the characters. It is given as a mysterious object that brings history to life due to the Romanov family being known for believing that Rasputin held magical secrets that could heal Alexei, and not as something that will be a “living” thing that the characters .

Because of this lack of description, I found that a few people were confused (and some were annoyed) about what the magic was supposed to be. If there had been a bit more focus in the marketing about the magic, even just a sentence in the Goodreads blurb, everything could have been clearer and readers would have a better understanding about what could happen without actually having the new part of the story spoiled for them. By being a little more specific in how the characters felt about the magic or how they believed the magic would help them, the blurb would be more well rounded and also give readers a better expectation as to what they could find in the story.

With that being said, if you like historical retellings I would suggest that you read this as it is a wonderful retelling.

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July is Camp NaNoWriMo! You can find my NaNo page by searching 'Bailey Marissa.' I hope you'll join me. :)

Because of this, my next book review will be in September. See you then!