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 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. Nastya’s never dabbled in magic before, but it doesn’t frighten her as much as her growing attraction for 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.
Jan’s Review
A Romanov story that entrenched in the facts with a twist of fantasy and some stretched truths. The brutal reality of the Romanov story is one full of heart ache and you can feel it in every inch of this story. The movie is a fixture in a lot of Anastasia fans with the magic and mystery. The reality is a lot more brutal then what you see in the Disney movie, they were exiled, they were murdered and we can only hope that Anastasia and her brother really did survive for a time.
What made this story for me was it was so close to truth but it gave you heart with the dash of fantastical magic that is woven into the story. The desperate hope that you cling to that this magic will heal and will fix all the heartache that is inflicted on this family life. I really loved the solution towards the end that Anastasia really stuck to her family belief that you have to forgive those who done you harm in order to move on.
The ending was as beautiful as it could be in the trenches of all that had transpired. I almost which their were more story to tell that we get too see Anastasia fulfill her dreams of becoming a Spell Magister. That we get to see Alexei become the solider for the people that he truly wanted to be. I really enjoyed this historical fiction tale mixed with just a bit of fantasy.
