The Diamond Secret: A Retelling of Anastasia in Once Upon a Time

Feb 04, 2009 Allison rated it liked it

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. Cute book- great addition to the series, although I'm not sure I'd count the story of Anastasia as a "Once Upon A Time" fairytale. Since the legend itself is clearly based on historical events that occurred only a century ago, and is devoid of magic, or anything that would typically classify it as a fairytale, I had issues accepting this as a part of the series. Sure, it was a good book, but I had a few problems:

CONS:
1) The story is essentially a retelling of the story 1997 animated feature. It' Cute book- great addition to the series, although I'm not sure I'd count the story of Anastasia as a "Once Upon A Time" fairytale. Since the legend itself is clearly based on historical events that occurred only a century ago, and is devoid of magic, or anything that would typically classify it as a fairytale, I had issues accepting this as a part of the series. Sure, it was a good book, but I had a few problems:

CONS:
1) The story is essentially a retelling of the story 1997 animated feature. It's a good movie, and it certainly alters ones perception of the story, but this really did seem like a reimagined version of the movie with a few new twists.

2) The "conflict" with the main antagonist was over far too quickly. Although he followed the group for the entire book, his confrontation with the party was brief and over within a few pages.

3) The afterword. The fact that we now know what happened to Anastasia sort of ruins this story. In fairy tales, we are able to suspend our disbelief, to pretend miracles happen, and that good can triumph. But the real story of the Romanovs is too real. We have DNA evidence, government papers, and even bodies. And in the end, that hard, cold reality ruins the fairytale.

4) As in many of the more recent books, I felt there was little chemistry between Nadya and her love interest. If the romance had been more believable and built up more, such as in Water Song, I do believe I would have liked it better.

5) The title, in connection with the evil villain's demands and Nadya's dreams, gives away most of the story pretty early on. A pretty small complaint, I know, but I hate when the plot twists are given away by a dramatic title.

PROS:

1) The author did a great job of showing us Bolshevik Russia and incorporating history in the story. It wasn't too heavy handed, and the pieces of "fact" were incorporate cleverly and seamlessly. Bravo!

2)I enjoyed that the story was told from three viewpoints of the three main characters. I also enjoyed the fact that the story incorporated a third character- Sergei, instead of just focusing on the girl and her boytoy. It made things more interesting.

3) As many goodreaders mentioned, the story is almost a complete rip off of the movie. However, that movie is one of my favorites, and a solid story. And the book certainly pays the movie homage, if nothing more. It's a solid story and an ultimately satisfying one.

All in all, Diamond Secret was a good read, but due to the subject matter and the way it followed history and a fairly recent and popular film, I simply did not enjoy this one. My score of three reflects both my disappointment in the final product (a 2) and the overall quality of the book (around a 4). I'm hoping the next will be better! ...more

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