Dreaming Anastasia - Joy Preble

Summary: (from amazon.com)

What really happened to Anastasia Romanov?

Anastasia Romanov thought she would never feel more alone than when the gunfire started and her family began to fall around her. Surely the bullets would come for her next. But they didn't. Instead, two gnarled old hands reached for her. When she wakes up she discovers that she is in the ancient hut of the witch Baba Yaga, and that some things are worse than being dead.

In modern-day Chicago, Anne doesn't know much about Russian history. She is more concerned about getting into a good college—until the dreams start. She is somewhere else. She is someone else. And she is sharing a small room with a very old woman. The vivid dreams startle her, but not until a handsome stranger offers to explain them does she realize her life is going to change forever. She is the only one who can save Anastasia. But, Anastasia is having her own dreams…

Info:

Publisher: Sourcebooks Jabberwocky
Pages: 320
Buy: Amazon / Indiebound

Grade:

Originality: 19/20
Characters: 10/15
Writing: 12/15
Plot: 9/10
Ending: 9/10
Entertainment; 10/10
Recommendation: 9.5/10
Cover: 8/10

Total: 86.5 or B+

Review:

This book took a long time for me to read. The story that the author was trying to convey wasn't really that bad, it was just the way the author conveyed that story. The beginning started out very slow. I wasn't to the point where I HAD to read the book to find out what was going to happen until around page one hundred. Honestly, I almost gave up on it because it was that slow in the beginning. However, after it picked up, it picked up and I didn't want to set it down. The story really picked up and developed from there.

The characters were very blah. Nothing really poped out and made them unique besides their powers. I felt like Anne could've been described lots better than she was. I felt like I could see her, because the author described her well, but I didn't know the kind of person she was. I didn't know those quirks about her that everyone has that I like authors to talk about when writing their characters.

I also feel that the ending could've been done a little better. I got the general gist of what was going on, but a lot of it was happening so fast, I felt lost reading. It would've been a lot better if it was explained better and if the author tried to slow it down a little bit.

On the other hand, the writing and the idea were very good. Besides the slow beginning and the rushed ending, I really have no complaints about the actual writing. It was very nice and descriptive and at certain points, but not all, I felt like I was there with Anne and Ethan while the story was going on.

I also think that the story, which is told in alternating viewpoints of Ethan and Anne, wouldn't have worked any other way. The author definitely wrote the book in the right way by using this alternating viewpoint.

hope.