Everybody’s read about the Russian aristocracy and the Romanov family. Anyone who hasn’t read about it has seen the animated version from 1997 (Meg Ryan, John Cusack, it’s super).

Joy Preble’s debut novel uses the history and the legend of Anastasia and the 1918 murder of the last sovereigns of Imperial Russia as the background of the story that plays out in the present day. Anne Michaelson is struggling to live her everyday life after the death of her brother, and has begun having dreams where she is Anastasia, watching her family being cut down in front of her, then being spirited away by a pair of wrinkly, brown hands, saving her from being murdered. Ethan, a young monk of the Brotherhood, was among those who envoked a protective magic on the young Anastasia Romanov, tricking the witch Baba Yaga into rescuing her until the day when a girl (Anna) will be born with the power to rescue Anastasia from Baba Yaga. Ethan is still alive, frozen as the 18-year-old he was back then. He’s been searching for Anne for decades, waiting for the day when he and Anne can save Anastasia and his mortality will return to him. (This is less a driving plot point than a side note I wanted to share for the sake of the character. There was a distinct “young-in-appearance-but-old-in-years-lived guy falls in love with the teenaged girl who finds him mysterious” vibe going here, reminiscent of Twilight, and I hate it that all books are compared to Twilight now, but there you go. This is YA and if you’re going to use those elements in this particular decade, that’s what you’re going to remind me of.) The plot of the story relies heavily on the myth of Baba Yaga, discussed at length in the book. This part of the story was very interesting, and I loved the history behind this because it was so fascinating. (I’m not a history person, so making it come alive for me was a real accomplishment in itself.)

Positives: The history and the advancement of the plot were well done. I particularly liked the emphasis on the Baba Yaga myth containing the keys to saving Anastasia. I’ve always loved mythology and folklore, and I was able to enjoy the historical aspects without feeling like I was drowning in historical details. Second, I loved the way the characters’ personal struggles were just as much a part of the story as the crazy magical dilemma. The aftermath of her brother’s death (cancer, not murder) is disintegrating her family, and the way they’re dealing with that is just as important as rescuing Anastasia. The family and the life they’re living aren’t conveniently swept aside so that the magical plot line can progress. Third, the pacing was good. The book didn’t progress too fast or too slow. They got to the action points and the figure-something-out points at the right times, and the end wasn’t some crazy sequence of events that were over all of the sudden and poof! there’s the last page. You got closure, you understood what just happened. You can tell that the author is either a great outliner or planner of chapters, or had an editor who excelled at this. (I worry that if I ever release the novel trapped in my head, I will be unable to do this because I think outlines are a great idea but I HAVE NO IDEA HOW THE NOVEL GOES. I have these characters and this world and I don’t know what they’re doing or how they’re doing it.)

Negatives: Even though it made the characters seem real and 2010-y, I didn’t like the constant references to “OMG!” and texting and how cute the magical hottie’s butt was. It made the characters seem so young and shallow. (<– That is such an old person sentence. I’m sorry to any younger readers I may have. It’s nothing personal Once you graduate from college, you become “old” and stuff like this starts to bother you even though you do it too. I say like. I text. It’s hypocritical and such is life.) I realize they are young and shallow, and those traits help younger readers relate to them, but good books find a happy medium and don’t alienate one group of readers to draw in another. As I’ve mentioned before, I like my fantasies set in their own little fantasy world. The idea that the very otherworldly thing that’s happening could happen in my own world doesn’t do anything for me. Second negative: I didn’t like how the author swapped between perspectives. You got chapters from Anastasia, where she’s writing letters to her family and she’s giving you the history of the downfall of the monarchy. I liked that, except the script they used to emulate her handwriting was a little difficult to read sometimes. But the author initially had you swapping between Anastasia and Anne, and then throws Ethan into the mix. I often found myself trying to remember which perspective I was in, Ethan or Anne. There was little to differentiate them except that every time Ethan had a chapter, he thought about how much he’d like to be chain-smoking, which is pretty stupid. Yes, Ms. Preble, romanticize cigarettes, by all means. Let’s raise up another generation of children who can’t BREATHE properly by the time they’re 30. In other books, this can be well done. It was moderately well done in “Shiver,” and much less well done here. I felt Ethan’s perspective didn’t make an impact, and could’ve been left out entirely. I don’t know if this is the latest “thing” in YA and everyone’s doing it because it’s proven popular, but where I once found it clever, I now find it uninspired. If both voices are distinct, sure. Go for it. But when one or both voices are rather bland? No deal.

3 stars. I enjoyed the plot and the backstory, but the characters needed some polishing and the way they presented themselves needed adjusting as well. If you like the story of Anastasia and the Romanovs, you’ll be intrigued enough to enjoy the story without all the other negatives I mentioned ruining it for you.

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