Elena the Brave - Julie Mathison

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Author: Julie Mathison

Series: Old Rus #2
Genre: Fantasy
Rating: 3 stars.

In a Nutshell: I might have liked this better had I not kept comparing it with the first book in the series. Both the books are very different in style and focus and because I loved the first one so much, this one ended up falling short of my expectations.

Story:
1942, Edenfall, Pennsylvania. Fifteen year old Elena is a strong-willed girl who feels her parents, especially her mother, doesn’t quite get her. Only her beloved great-grandma Babka and her godmother Evelyn understand her feelings. While she sees visions of Old Rus, she has no idea of their relevance, until one day, she figures out how to go there with her magical pet rock.
Mitya, the son of the bogatyr (knight) Dobrynya, knows Old Run is in danger, a dragon has made an appearance, and he can’t trust most people around him. When he finds a strange maiden in his stables, he isn’t sure what to think.
How will the appearance of Elena in Old Rus change Mitya’s plans? Will he be able to make his father proud of him? Will Elena succeed in having a better connection with her mother after her adventure?


Vasilisa, the first book of this series, was one of my favourite reads of this year. It was also YA in its approach but it had a steady pace throughout, plenty of fantastical elements, and lots of action on almost every page. In contrast, ‘Elena the Brave’ takes a long while to get things going. There’s hardly anything happening until the 20% mark and even after that, the adventurous parts are sporadic. A lot of the content has just general interactions between the characters and their internal thoughts/uncertainties. This book is also quite tame in comparison when it comes to fantasy. Most of the book is like a journey in which nothing much happens. This left me greatly disappointed and even a bit bored at times.

Several key characters from Vasilisa have a minor role to play in this story. But the main narrative focusses on Elena, Mitya and many new characters in Old Rus. Elena’s character is quite unlike that of typical heroines. She is not your goody-goody type of girl who nods along politely to everything her parents say. As the story progresses, Elena also grows in maturity. I enjoyed the layers to her character but she wasn’t as complicated or interesting as Vasilisa was. Also, the sparks (as in personal connection, not steaminess) between Elena and Mitya weren’t as strong as that between Vasilisa and Ivan in the first story.

The writing style is also very different from that of the first book, though both are well-written. The first book also had a complex storyline but the Russian mythical elements flowed naturally from the story. In contrast, Elena the Brave seems forced and cluttered with too many Russian terms. There is a glossary at the end, but in a Kindle copy where there is no hyperlink between the word and its meaning, the glossary was tough to use. The magical elements and creatures/people of Russian lore are there to a much smaller extent.

Having read the first book will provide you a better background of Vasilisa’s and Ivan’s decision to keep Elena sheltered but otherwise, won’t make a difference to your understanding of this story. This is more like a companion book than a strict sequel and I think it can be read as a standalone. But the way you learn about Old Rus and its wonders from the first book doesn’t happen this time.

As you can see, my disappointment stems from comparison. I might have enjoyed this better had I not read ‘Vasilisa. I guess my expectations were unrealistically high and also I had assumed both books to have a similar approach towards fantasy. But Elena seemed quite ordinary (as in, non-fantastical) in comparison. I wanted more of pace and fantasy and less of romance and casual conversation.

All in all, you might enjoy this book if you are looking for a YA Romance with shades of fantasy. But as a YA fantasy, this didn’t quite hit the mark at least for me. I will still look forward to the third and final book of this series but will reduce my expectations to more realistic levels.

My thanks to Starr Creek Press and NetGalley for the DRC of “Elena the Brave”. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the book.


To know more about ‘Vasilisa’, Book 1 of the Old Rus series, click HERE. This was a 4.5 star book for me.

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