The Curse of the Romanovs

Rabin’s story takes a while to hit its stride, but once it does it becomes a fine historical time-travel adventure. The year is 1916 and 12-year-old Alexei Romanov is the last heir to the Russian throne; he is also a hemophiliac, kept under lock and key by his reigning parents and given unconventional medical treatments by the “Mad Monk” Rasputin. The monk’s dark side emerges, and he is killed for his treachery. But he doesn’t stay dead, returning to attack Alexei; when the young heir awakens, he finds himself in New York in the year 2010, where he meets 15-year-old Varda, a young scientist working on a cure for hemophilia. While attending school with Varda, Alexei learns that his whole family will be killed in 1918; the increasingly frightening Rasputin turns up in New York, too, and Alexei and Varda jump back to 1918, just days prior to the execution of the royal family. There are only a few moments of fish-out-of-water humor, but they are priceless, if perhaps dated for the year 2010. (“Captain Underpants ? Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants ? Lots of pants. Rich Dad, Poor Dad . That one must be about revolution,” Alexei quips.) The book ends with a clever twist explaining why Alexei’s bones were never found and features a lengthy set of endnotes about Russian history, the Romanov family and hemophilia. This is a great trip for lovers of historical fiction. Ages 12-up. (July)