Author: Paulina Simons
Published: September 2009 by William Morrow (first published July 17th 2000)
Pages: 810
Genre: Historical Fiction, Romance
I am generally not a romance reader. I find them unrealistic and usually over the top. To me, romance novels try to hard, and it's usually not particularly my thing.
I decided to pick up The Bronze Horseman anyway. It is a fairly hyped book in the BookTube community and like many books I own, I just wanted to see what the hype was all about. It has a crazy high rating on Goodreads and after reading so many heartbreaking fantasy novels, I thought I would give myself a break and read this. A nice love story.
No.
Although I went into this without any expectations, I don't think anything could have prepared me for what I was about to read.
The golden skies, the translucent twilight, the white nights, all hold the promise of youth, of love, of eternal renewal. The war has not yet touched this city of fallen grandeur, or the lives of two sisters, Tatiana and Dasha Metanova, who share a single room in a cramped apartment with their brother and parents. Their world is turned upside down when Hitler's armies attack Russia and begin their unstoppable blitz to Leningrad.
Yet there is light in the darkness. Tatiana meets Alexander, a brave young officer in the Red Army. Strong and self-confident, yet guarding a mysterious and troubled past, he is drawn to Tatiana--and she to him. Starvation, desperation, and fear soon grip their city during the terrible winter of the merciless German siege. Tatiana and Alexander's impossible love threatens to tear the Metanova family apart and expose the dangerous secret Alexander so carefully protects--a secret as devastating as the war itself--as the lovers are swept up in the brutal tides that will change the world and their lives forever.
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I also don't have much experience reading historical fiction, and this story makes me want to read more. The story starts off on the very first day of war in Leningrad, where 16 year old Tatiana Metanova can't fathom anything other than her safe and uneventful lifestyle. To her, the declaration of war means excitement and possible evacuation. It's something to look forward to, plus, the start of the war is the day she meets Alexander Belov. They quickly become swept up in each other and the siege that is over taking the city.
I loved how the main characters' relationship developed. They didn't start out mushy and romanic. They started out with an instant attraction that slowly built into something more. It was believable and magical and it felt real.
Beyond that, there were relationships thoroughly developed between Tatiana and her family. You get to see exactly where she falls into place and the roll she plays in her family. She has a unique relationship with each character that is well developed which I found very refreshing compared to other romances where the only development happens between love interests.
Times are hard and you get to follow a young teenage girl face the most fatal siege in a devastating war and you get to watch her conquer and fail. You see heartbreak and you see love and that barely scratches the surface to what you should expect from this book.
As I said earlier, I'm not a big romance reader, but if more of them were like this, maybe I would be.
Overall, this book was a solid:
I loved how the main characters' relationship developed. They didn't start out mushy and romanic. They started out with an instant attraction that slowly built into something more. It was believable and magical and it felt real.
Beyond that, there were relationships thoroughly developed between Tatiana and her family. You get to see exactly where she falls into place and the roll she plays in her family. She has a unique relationship with each character that is well developed which I found very refreshing compared to other romances where the only development happens between love interests.
Times are hard and you get to follow a young teenage girl face the most fatal siege in a devastating war and you get to watch her conquer and fail. You see heartbreak and you see love and that barely scratches the surface to what you should expect from this book.
As I said earlier, I'm not a big romance reader, but if more of them were like this, maybe I would be.
Overall, this book was a solid:
Although I really enjoyed this book, and the setting and the characters, there were a few issues I had with the main character's relationship that prevented me from giving it the full five foxes. Don't let that sway you away from this read though, I still highly recommend this if you're like romance, WWII historical fiction, or being super attached to your characters.
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