Review: 'Romanov' by Nadine Brandes

Romanov brings us the February Revolution, or rather, its immediate aftermath and consequences, all through the eyes of young Nastya, better known as Grand Duchess Anastasia Romanov. Next to that we get magic and will-they-wont-they/enemies to potential lovers vibes. It's a lot and most of it is fun. Sadly I fell into the trap of already having strong feelings about this period of history and therefore I couldn't entirely follow where Nadine Brandes was leading. Thanks to Thomas Nelson and NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. My apologies for the long delay.

Pub. Date: 5/7/2019
Publisher: Thomas Nelson

My name is Anastasia. 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 either to release the spell and deal with the consequences, or to 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.

 I wouldn't really consider myself a Royalist. Growing up in the Netherlands, I had a fondness for our royal family but this was fuelled by the fact that it was very much clear they were just lucky, not somehow of "special blood" or anything. Queen Beatrix reminded me of my grandmother, from the way they dressed to their down-to-earthness, and I liked the idea of someone like my grandmother keeping an eye on the country, lending a hand to those in need, and representing us. Aside from her, however, royals don't really inspire anything in me. I have to admit, however, that the Romanovs hold a certain mystique even I cannot deny, from the various Anastasia's who have popped up over the decades to the decades-long mystery surrounding their murders. Because of this mystique I have actually read into them a bit. And, due to my own left/Socialist-leanings, the history of Russia has also always been interesting to me. My historical knowledge, however, has never before impeded me from having fun with historical fiction. Anastasia, the animated film, is a joy, even if it is fiction. So I went into Romanov assuming I was still able to separate fact from fiction and appreciate both on their own terms. Sadly, I was unable to.

Romanov begins during the Romanov family's exile in Tobolsk, which followed from the October Revolution. From there they are moved to Yekaterinburg, where they await their potential fate. But at least they are together, which is all Nastya has ever wanted. They are a loving family, who enjoys the outdoors and forgives each other their oddities. Led by the imperturbable and humble Nikolai, they try their best to find a way out of their situation. The way out may include the matryoshka doll he told Nastya to hide. It is a piece of magic, created by a great spell-master, which will reveal a spell whenever the Romanovs are in need. Having learnt the basics of magic from Rasputin, Nastya is determined to do whatever she can to help her family survive in the face of cruelty. As Romanov ticks towards the inevitable event of the Romanovs' murder, the novel also adds a romance subplot which is technically lovely and well-written, but felt a bit unnecessary to me. Equally I was really looking forward to the magic element of the story and it was the one that fell the most flat for me. In a technical sense, Romanov is a YA historical fiction/retelling. In a more personal sense, Romanov makes a lot of choices I simply couldn't quite follow. As I mentioned above, my own political leaning is more towards Socialism but even I am capable of admitting Communism has serious flaws. However, the way the book approaches this movement, the way it elevates and sanctifies the Romanov family, especially the previous Tsar, and the way it plays with the idea of the "Romanov blood", all hit me the wrong way. 

Many things Nadine Brandes does in Romanov were enjoyable. I liked her writing style and I think she had a real eye for taking a historical detail and bringing it to life. It is no easy task to take factual history and turn it into a living and breathing story again, and she does manage that. Nastya is a lovely main character, determined and loving and often insightful. I just wish this had been a fantasy novel rather than an attempt at telling a new tale about the Romanovs. Brandes mentions the mountains of research she did in order to write the book and I fully believe this in regards to the nature of their imprisonment. (Admittedly I did find all of this info on the relevant Wikipedia pages as well.) There is such a strong emotional bent to her take on the Romanov family, however, that I found it hard not to roll my eyes. While I fully believe that the family unit was strong and loved each other and that the book was written from the perspective of a loving daughter, it is quite simply not correct to pretend Nikolai was a great Tsar who didn't do anything wrong. I think Brandes was intending for a kind of naivety, perhaps, on Nastya's part, but it did not work for me. All the encounters between her and "the Bolsheviks" are marked by a combativeness which belies the very valid reasons for both the February Revolution and the later October Revolution. It was also only the latter which saw a Bolshevik take-over and which triggered the Russian Civil War, but this isn't apparent from the novel. I could go on, but it feels besides the point. Romanov is, at its core, a historical fiction novel which aspires to fantasy. It is a shame that the fantasy elements, which control the narrative in the last third of the novel, didn't really work for me and felt a bit like an afterthought. There is a certain responsibility to historical fiction writers, I believe, to present a nuanced view and this also felt like it was missing or needed another edit. However, I did have fun reading Romanov and I liked what the novel could have been.

I give this novel...

2 Universes.

While my rating may seem harsh, it is based solely on how I felt after reading the book. Romanov has many elements that work and Nadine Brandes writing is largely solid. Had I known less of the history it covers I perhaps would have enjoyed it more, or felt less disappointed in the choices made. If you'd like to read a stunning fantasy story set in Imperial Russia, which works with real history but focuses on fantasy, I would recommend the Winternight Trilogy by Katherine Arden, starting with The Bear and the Nightingale.