Publisher: Atheneum
Publish Date: June 14th, 2011
Source: Purchased
Goodreads
Rating: 4/5 – Loving the YA/ Historical Combo.
Synopsis: As World War I ignites across Europe, political unrest sweeps Russia. First dissent, then disorder, mutiny, and revolution. For Olga, Tatiana, Maria and Anastasia, the end of their girlhood together is colliding with the end of more than they ever imagined.
At the same time hopeful and hopeless, naive and wise, the voices of these sisters become a chorus singing the final song of Imperial Russia. Impeccably researched and utterly fascinating, this novel by acclaimed author Sarah Miller recounts the final days of Imperial Russia with lyricism, criticism and true compassion. -Goodreads
Thoughts: YA Historical Fiction!! This book has made an addict out of me. I want more! Going into this book I didn’t know a lot about the Romonov’s and their history. Almost everything I did know came from the animated movie ‘Anastasia’, so so good. So for the most part, I was just getting to know these historical figures along with the book. It’s written from alternating perspectives of all four Grand Duchesses, each one putting a slightly different spin on the events that were happening around them.
At times I would have liked a little more difference in the characters voices, although I honestly don’t know how it could have been done. All four obviously had identical backgrounds and were all extremely naive. For eighty percent of the book it didn’t necessarily matter who’s perspective we were getting so it really was just a nice touch that all four girls played their part. Maria was definitely my favorite though.
Going into this book knowing how it was all going to end (not well, for anyone not up on the history) made the whole story incredibly heart breaking. I started crying randomly with still about four months of story line to go just because I really liked the Grand Duchesses and I knew what was waiting for them. It really is just such a sad and unnecessary story.
Essentially, a lot of the story has the characters going through the same day over again while under house arrest, but it never becomes monotonous. The entire story flowed beautifully, and always had me hoping for some sort of happy ending even though I knew it couldn’t happen. Overall, a great book that has gotten me searching for some other YA historical fantasy books. I will definitely be checking out Sarah Miller’s first book, Miss Spitfire, about Helen Keller and Anne Sullivan.
Second Opinions:
@ Nice Girls Read Books
@ One Book at a Time
@So Many Books, So Little Time
I do like historical fiction, but I’m not sure if I want to pick this one up or not, knowing that the ‘characters’ can never have a happy ending. I do like realistic books, but I still like my HEAs.