Brought up among the Gentry, Jude has never felt at ease, but after a decade, Faerie has become her home despite the constant peril. Human Jude (whose brown hair curls and whose skin color is never described) both hates and loves Madoc, whose murderous nature is true to his Faerie self and who in his way loves her. Jude-broken, rebuilt, fueled by anger and a sense of powerlessness-has never recovered from watching her adoptive Faerie father murder her parents. However, the second half of Nastya’s story is a noticeable departure from the well-paced beginning it feels almost like a separate story with a forced romance and a focus on Nastya’s internal turmoil.Ī promising retelling that misses the magical mark.īlack is back with another dark tale of Faerie, this one set in Faerie and launching a new trilogy. Brandes’ ( Fawkes, 2018, etc.) accuracy in this retelling-the majority of the characters and events are true-and the bits of Russian sprinkled throughout are highlights. Then the unimaginable happens-and Nastya must find a way to save her family. As the Romanov family adjusts to their new life, Nastya and Zash grow closer even though they know only pain can come of their relationship. She commits to following his example by befriending one of the Bolshevik guards watching the family, Zash, a young man from an unspecified semi-nomadic Siberian ethnic group who has his own reasons for hating the Romanovs.

The family is relocated to Ekaterinburg, and, throughout their confinement, Nastya’s Papa stresses the importance of kindness and forgiving their captors. With no clue as to what the family’s fate will be, her Papa, the deposed Tsar Nikolai, gives Nastya the mission of finding the magical matryoshka doll created by Vasily Dochkin, “Russia’s most respected and skilled spell master,” which could save the family. It's 1918, and Nastya and her family are in exile in Tobolsk, Russia. A fantasy that reimagines the fate of Anastasia Romanov and her family.

Nadine brandes romanov