Elena the Brave by Julie Mathison

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Elena the Brave brings magic and myth to life. An absolutely jam-packed adventure from start to finish!
 

Elena the Brave, by Julie Mathison, is the second novel in the Old Rus fantasy time travel series aimed at young adult readers. The story opens in 1942 with Elena and her family managing wartime life in a steel town in Pennsylvania. Elena thrives on listening to her grandmother tell the stories of Russian folklore heroes, princes, and dragons. She feels that these stories are so alive when she closes her eyes and runs her fingers over her smooth pet rock. Little does she know that this stone is a portal to the old world where those heroes and princes in folklore tales are flesh and blood and dragons are real.

It is so hard to write a review of this book without giving some of the story away because it is absolutely jam-packed with adventure as Elena and Prince Mitya gallop across the steppe to save Mitya's father. I could easily picture all of the locations in my mind as they travelled across Old Ru and the scenes with the dragon are well written. That said, I would love to see the dragons take centre stage in future books.

I enjoyed how Julie Mathison intertwined Russian folklore within the story while propelling Elena and Mitya through a host of scrapes, risky situations, battles and celebrations. She brings the magic and myth of the tales to life. The characters were well developed and age-appropriate for the most part. The epilogue is relatively predictable, and at first, I wasn't sure how I felt about it. However, now that I have had some time to absorb the story, I can see how it fits with the way that Elena grows and matures over the book.

Elena the Brave can easily be read as a stand-alone novel. I had not read the first in the series, but I had no difficulty grasping who the characters were and what role her parents had played in the first book. I would recommend this book for young adults (and adults!) who love to read fantasy dragon-related adventures, like Eragon or Seraphina.

I want to thank the author and Reedsy for providing me with a review copy of this book. It was a joy to read!

This review was first published on Reedsy Discovery on March 1, 2022

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