SicFic: The Curse of the Romanovs
I will get back into the blogging with an easier-to-write post. A SicFic! This book is one that I finished right before leaving for New York for my first trip in July, but I was procrastinating writing its review and scoring. I'm not sure why.
Hemophilia fiction (if that is a thing) will always be influenced by the wide-expanse of Romanov-stories. And that's not a bad thing. Hey, the Russian Revolution and the Romanov connection to hemophilia is how I found what I believe to be my divinely-given mission in life: hemophilia research. But sometimes it just leads to cheap fodder for bad novels. And I think this might be one of those.
The book itself was interesting and engaging. The story was fun. Until it started time-traveling. Yes, you heard me right: time-traveling. Then it got improbable and also showed that the author has approximately zero science understanding and just thinks they do. Also, why would a person whose mother spoke English to them and was fluent in Russian, French, English, Greek, Danish and knew some German time-travel and then suddenly lose the ability to speak fluent English? And then it pulled out some really weird "Luke, I am your father" and just got more bizarre and far-fetched. So, in the end, it's probably not really worth the read unless you are drawn to it by something else than its story.
As for the chronic illness portrayal:
Accuracy: 8
It is quite good, particularly before it starts time-traveling. After it gets to the modern era? It shows someone who has only read about hemophilia on a surface level, and never took the time to really deepen their research on the way hemophilia treatment works in the modern world.
Humanity: 7
This is hard to judge, because the author's characterizations are weak in general. But, I think the hemophilia of our favorite bleeding czarevitch is used as a crutch to prop up the fact that this rendition of his character is bland and inconsistent.
Permanence: 2
I'm not going to spoil it, but it was the most aggravating portrayal of hemophilia in this regard that I have ever seen. See penalties.
Encouragement: 10
For all the bad in this book, they did a good job on this. He has goals and doesn't care what the cost is because of his disability.
The Cripple-Card: 7
Faking bleeds? Really? But evidence suggests that Alexei may have done that...more than once.
The You Must Have Faith Penalty: -5
Played straight.
The Stereotype Penalty: -0
Not bad.
Bonus: +1
It tries to have another plot, but doesn't really have one that makes sense. Maybe that's just an indication of a bad book.
Final Score: 30/50
In case you wondered: The book in general is a 2 out of 5
Hemophilia fiction (if that is a thing) will always be influenced by the wide-expanse of Romanov-stories. And that's not a bad thing. Hey, the Russian Revolution and the Romanov connection to hemophilia is how I found what I believe to be my divinely-given mission in life: hemophilia research. But sometimes it just leads to cheap fodder for bad novels. And I think this might be one of those.
The book itself was interesting and engaging. The story was fun. Until it started time-traveling. Yes, you heard me right: time-traveling. Then it got improbable and also showed that the author has approximately zero science understanding and just thinks they do. Also, why would a person whose mother spoke English to them and was fluent in Russian, French, English, Greek, Danish and knew some German time-travel and then suddenly lose the ability to speak fluent English? And then it pulled out some really weird "Luke, I am your father" and just got more bizarre and far-fetched. So, in the end, it's probably not really worth the read unless you are drawn to it by something else than its story.
As for the chronic illness portrayal:
Accuracy: 8
It is quite good, particularly before it starts time-traveling. After it gets to the modern era? It shows someone who has only read about hemophilia on a surface level, and never took the time to really deepen their research on the way hemophilia treatment works in the modern world.
Humanity: 7
This is hard to judge, because the author's characterizations are weak in general. But, I think the hemophilia of our favorite bleeding czarevitch is used as a crutch to prop up the fact that this rendition of his character is bland and inconsistent.
Permanence: 2
I'm not going to spoil it, but it was the most aggravating portrayal of hemophilia in this regard that I have ever seen. See penalties.
Encouragement: 10
For all the bad in this book, they did a good job on this. He has goals and doesn't care what the cost is because of his disability.
The Cripple-Card: 7
Faking bleeds? Really? But evidence suggests that Alexei may have done that...more than once.
The You Must Have Faith Penalty: -5
Played straight.
The Stereotype Penalty: -0
Not bad.
Bonus: +1
It tries to have another plot, but doesn't really have one that makes sense. Maybe that's just an indication of a bad book.
Final Score: 30/50
In case you wondered: The book in general is a 2 out of 5
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