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1.5 stars

Reading Tsarina brought me back to when I read the Blood Rose Rebellion trilogy. It reminded me that mixing historical fiction with supernatural/fantasy elements can make or break a story. For Tsarina, it broke the story. Not because the fantasy element was bad. It was because it's hardly ever brought up, let alone explained. Combine that with a lackluster story with no rising action or climax, Tsarina is just a book with no style or substance. This makes the reading experience all the more disappointing considering this took place during the Russian Revolution, a pivotal moment in world history.

Tsarina tells the story of Natalya, a Russian noble who dreams of being with Alexei Romonav (he's alive in this one, more on that later) and maybe becoming tsarina. One day, he shows her the Constellation Egg (a real Faberge egg but with no powers; again, more on that later) which contains magic that not only helps Alexei with his hemophilia but in some ways, protects the royal family. When the revolution begins, the egg is stolen and Natalya, along with her friend Emilia and Red soldier Leo, set out to find the egg before its magic is used for chaos.

If you have any basic knowledge of the Russian Revolution, then you would know that there are a lot of historical inaccuracies. J. Nelle Patrick acknowledges this by saying she tinkered with this part of history by changing a few things. For example, Alexei is alive and a few years older than when he and his family died. The same can be said with the Constellation egg, which is real but has no magic. It's not a bad thing to change some things around for a historical fantasy story. Here's the thing, Patrick didn't do much with either the historical setting or the fantasy element for Tsarina. The story sounds good on paper, but the execution was bad.

The Faberge egg has magic in it. It can do many things such as healing and reviving dead plants. Sounds great and magical, right? Except that it's only ever brought up when the plot needs it. Otherwise, it's never brought up. I don't get why if Patrick wanted to include magic in her story, she didn't make it the forefront of the story or have it mixed well with the revolution. Take away the fantasy element of the story and you've got a heist story. A very boring heist story at that. But no seriously, nothing would change other than getting the damned egg back.

This brings up my main issue with Natalya and the historical setting. Natalya and the storytelling make it seem like what happened during the revolution can be seen through a black or white lens. You have Natalya and her constant whining about how the nobles will prevail and how they're best for Russia while Leo, who is a Red, wants to dismantle the monarchy so the people of Russia could live better lives. It's more complicated than just that, especially if you have knowledge of how the revolution happened and how it ended. There's more nuance to it but the story really piles it on with how different the Whites and Reds want Russia to be, not including other factors such as World War I. And I get it, it's a historical-fantasy story, you have to suspend your disbelief at times. The problem, however, is that the setting is a monumental moment in not just Russia's history, but world history. Had the story taken place during a moment in time when there wasn't a revolution, it might've been good or at the very least passable. But Patrick really makes the Russian Revolution so simple.

Then we have Natalya and her goal of getting the Constellation Egg back. The story makes her sound patriotic because of her loyalty to Alexei, his family, and to Russia. This is also her downfall as she is very much naive and downright ignorant to the world outside of her bubble. Many times, she is called out for her ignorance and selfish wants but to her, everything and everyone is second to Alexei and Russia. As if she could somehow save everything and everyone. She wasn't a compelling character. She's just boring.

Tsarina frustrates me with how little it takes advantage of the historical setting and the magic. Everything about this book is just shallow. You're not missing out if you skip it.