Book Review: Anastasia: The Last Grand Ducess (My Royal Story) by Carolyn Meyer

Amazon description

In 1914 Grand Duchess Anastasia, youngest daughter of the Tsar, leads a privileged life in the grand palaces of Russia. The First World War and the Bolshevik revolution are just about to erupt. With the royal family arrested and exiled to Siberia, the life Anastasia knows is swept away forever. Spanning the last four years of Anastasia's life, My Royal Story offers a fascinating insight into her life.

Review

The diary starts when Anastasia is thirteen and enjoying a life of luxury as a Grand Duchess. She is the joker of the family and is always looking for ways to make people laugh. I thought the diary bought her to life well as a fun loving girl growing up in early twentieth century Russia with her thoughts and feelings told clearly. It was easy to relate to and sympathise with Anastasia and get inside her world as the book progressed.The beginning the diary is happy but when Russia become involved in WW1, Anastasia's life becomes harder and sadder as her privileges are taken away. I really liked the distinction that can be seen between these two periods of time and thought the author handled Anastasia's tragic fate very well.

What I liked about the diary format was that it showed that despite being a Grand Duchess, Anastasisa and her siblings had lots of fun escapades, some imagined by the author and others historically documented. There are the typical complaints from a tween and later on teen girl about school work and dreams of a coming out party fit for a Princess that provide a reminder that Anastasia had the same thoughts and feelings as any other teenager commonly experiences whilst growing up.

I read this book almost straight after Anastasia's Secret by Susanne Dunlap, which I loved, and I think that this affected my reading experience because it portrayed Anastasia in a more naive and immature way than in Anastasia's Secret. I also felt that she wasn't as complex a character even though I liked her distinctive  personality filled voice in the diary.

Whilst offering a fascinating insight into the life of the Romonov family, I found it was written in simpler language than other books in the My Story series and this was a bit of a disappointment. Having found out a lot about the Romonov family before, the special bond and closeness that they had especially amongst Anastasia's sisters didn't have the same effect on me as the first time I read about it. Though, this shouldn't be a concern for those who haven't learnt much about Anastasia and the Romonovs before.

One of my favourite parts was the detailed epilogue which included historical notes, the family tree, a glossary of characters in the Romonov household, information about the Russian language and a section on the Russian calendar. This back section was a lovely addition to the story and was very helpful.

Despite some of the pitfalls, I still enjoyed reading it and would particularly recommend it to middle grade readers who want to find out about the Romonov family through the first hand voice of Anastasia if they haven't read much about her before. If you're looking for a more developed YA book about Anastasia with a more mature narrator then I suggest Anastasia's Secret by Susanne Dunlap. You can read my review for that by clicking on the link.

Rating: 3 stars

What I Got For Christmas!

This is a bit late but I wanted to share what books I got for Christmas to wrap up the All I Want For Christmas meme hosted by Danya @ A Tapestry Of Words that I participated. If you would like to see the books I feature in my posts that were on my wish list you can find them here (1) and here (2)

I was a very lucky girl this Christmas to find that I received nearly all of the books on my wish list . I certainly didn't expect this so thank you so much to my family!

My family were sitting around opening presents to exclamations of 'not another book!' whilst I looked at the pretty covers excitedly. What book lover doesn't love getting books for Christmas?!? After all, as the famous quote says, 'A book is a present you can open again and again.'

Here's what I got:

All of these covers are gorgeous, I couldn't decide a favourite!

I loved some of the surprise books- I've read two of the books in the Royal Diaries series by Carolyn Meyer and I'm very happy to be able to read the next two now. I'm also a fan of the My Story Diaries, written by various different authors as they introduced me to historical fiction. They've recently redesigned the covers and I have to admit that they are a lot more appealing although the old ones have more of a historical feel. I'm very intrigued as to reading Queen Victoria's fictional diary as (as some of you might know!) a favourite of mine since I was very little.

The surprise books :)

I also got 2 Jane Austen DVDs. I have only read Pride and Prejudice so far (I didn't do very well in the Austen challenge I joined a few months ago!) but I'm planning to read the other Austen's in 2011. Until then, I can enjoy the adaptations :D

I'm really looking forward to reading these new books- they should take me a while to get through!

What books did you get for Christmas?