Anya and the Dragon

My sister and I read this together. I was really excited to read a book that I thought would be full of Russian fairy tales. There is not really much Russian folklore in this story, though. Anya’s mother is supposed to be Jewish, and her father is supposed to be Russian. in a made-up village with a “tsar” with a Polish name who never existed. So the book combines some Russian fairy tales with Jewish occult and Scandinavian fairy tales. It’s confusing sometimes. There are a few jokes that you have to know Russian to get – like the family name “Kozlov” from “kozel” goat. Maybe there are Yiddish and Swedish jokes, too, but since my family doesn’t speak Yiddish or Swedish (even though my grandpa is Swedish), I wouldn’t get those.

There are some fight scenes that are pretty boring and go on for a long time. Anya is the only girl character. No other girls except the creepy drowned rusalki! Anya’s mother and grandmother are minor characters, but I didn’t feel like they added a lot to the story. Too bad that the author didn’t include the witch Baba Yaga! I just felt like this book could’ve been so much better if the author hadn’t tried to combine so many things and instead had spent more time developing the characters.