I am an avid history buff. I love anything Russian, WWII, and the monarchs. Seriously, I could just gobble it all up. I picked up this particular book because I do not know much about the Romanov family. All I knew was that there is mystery surrounding how exactly they died. I know that they couldn't find all of the family member's remains. I know about communism because I did a paper about Kruschev in college. But other than that, I know very little about Russian monarch history.

Even though this book is a biography or whatever you would like to call it, it reads like a narrative. It helps that the author has included journal entries, letters and other ways to bring the Romanov's to life. I am amazed that Tzar Nicholas managed to remain Tzar as long as he did. Clearly, his father did not prepare him to run a giant country. Maybe if he had taken the time to do that, Tzar Nicholas would have been a much better ruler. I felt that particular thought throughout the course of this book.

With biographies and books like this, there is a possibility of information overload. You know, where the author just throws out so much info it gets overwhelming? That was not the case with this book. The author gave the information in a way that it wasn't overwhelming. I felt like I was living with the Romanovs.

I even liked that the author included information that wasn't about the Romanov's but it still pertained to them in some way. It makes for a much better read. Like the rise of Communism. Tsar Nicholas might not have known about it or cared to do anything about it, but it was still happening and it still pertained to him.

The Romanov's were brought to life in such a great way. I had no idea how any of the children were or just how sick the boy was. It's amazing that the author was able to fit so much information in this book. I loved reading about how Nicholas met his wife and I loved learning about his childhood. This was just a tremendously amazing book. I couldn't get enough of it.