The plot is also a master class in weaving theme into action. All the subplots reflect the main theme of ‘performance vs. reality’. So the political conspiracy to pretend to establish democracy while actually setting up an autocracy is mirrored in the attempts to pretend to be in love for strategic reasons in the romance plot. Even the descriptions of devastated cities being rebuilt with freshly painted façades serve to drive home this central theme. Every scene is working on two levels to develop the plot and explore the writer’s philosophical ideas. The result is rich and dense and is never just plot for plot’s sake.
In serialized stories, each installment is read one by one. But once a story is a volume, that is where the real artist expression is. ‘Codename Anastasia’ is 28 chapters of rising action and growing character development. The first chapter introduces the reader to Anastasia in mid-op. Immediately the reader understands the high stakes and is also introduced to the main character’s rules, her fears, and her mission. Each subsequent chapter builds on what has already been introduced. The last chapter of the first mission is not only thrilling, it is also a huge shift in the story as a whole for our main character. It is a great lesson in how to write the first volume of a long series of stories. And the chapter count was a natural byproduct of how the story was written.
I finally found Wattpad search for published novels to be completely useless, so I looked up Libby through my library card and voila! It’s free to borrow. This novel is so worth paying a few dollars for if you can’t wait to read it.
We should make it normal to ask for books as gifts. Put that on your birthday list, your holiday list. Make it known that you would much rather have an ebook gift card than physical items. People want to give you things but have no idea what to get. Telling them that there’s a specific book you’d like to read makes it easy for them. You get to read the book for free, they get to give you something, and the author gets paid for the book. It’s a win for everyone.
I have no idea what Codename Anastasia is. All I can gather from this searching high and low for it is that it must be some good story, perhaps even a romance, perhaps even a thrilling spy story. Codename Anastasia, after all, sounds like espionage to me. I shall have to go to the official website and read the blurb for this one.