A review by megsbookishtwins
Revolution by Jennifer Donnelly

5.0

"Let them bluster. Let them threaten. If they want me dead, they will have to make me so. I will not do it for them."

What a fantastic novel!

Andi lost her brother and she blames herself. She is spiralling out of control, and she does not know how to help herself. In Paris, she finds the diary of a young girl called Alexandrine from 18th Century France during the revolution. Andi becomes attached to the girl on the pages, but also to the young prince she cares for.

I don't really know what I was expecting when I went into this, I had fairly high expectations when pestered by Lauren who loved it. It was a very different book from what I had expected, but I loved it nonetheless.

Alexandrine. What a character! She is right up there fighting Julie Beaufort-Stuart for the top place in my heart. She starts as a naive and selfish young girl but she meets the young prince Louis and she forms a strong bond with the boy and wishes to make him smile always. Even when he is locked away she risks her life to remind him that he is not alone. She was brave and clever and her development throughout her diary astonishes me. She really does have a way with words.
I am not afraid of beatings or blood anymore. I'm not afraid of guards or guillotines. There is only one thing I fear now - love. For I have seen it and I have felt it and I know that it is love, not death, that undoes us

Because God loves us, but the devil takes an interest.

She is an excellent character who has a secure place in my heart. She is by far one of the best characters in the book, whose story I loved reading, just like Andi did. Andi is a very relatable character. She has so many great qualities, she is very strong, and she is a fighter. She is depressed, yet she fights everyday, and she eventually gets better. That is something which I admire. She also has some great character development through the novel. Andi found a connection to Alex which she did not find any where else. They both had a passion for something, Alex for performing and Andi for music. They had also lost someone close to them, family, a friend, a brother. They were not the only great characters though. Amade, Virgil, Louis and many many more. They all were vital to the story, and to our characters Alex and Andi.

I found myself so engrossed in the story. I wanted to know if Alex survived, did she manage to save the boy. This is also said for Andi. She felt a connection, one so strong she felt she needed to finish Alex work, knowing that Louis was still imprisoned. Donnelly wrote Andi as going back in time, but was that real? was it the drugs? was it the fall and the hit to the head? I guess we will never know.

If you love historical fiction, if you love romance, if you love mystery, if you love a good contemporary, then I would definitely recommend you pick this one up. It demands to be read.