Judging from how it seems at first glance, it is easy misunderstanding this as a typical shoujo in which love prevails over every circumstance, even more so when the setting is about nobility and the difficulties that come with it. While this is partially the truth, this work focuses on a more realistic aspect of how things were dealt with in Russia back in the early 19th century and is based on real life events, which assures the reader that there are no magical turnarounds or happy endings out of nowhere.

The story is centered on Alexander Pushkin and consequently, the important people around him who on their own right become a main character and each has their own problems. Romance plays a huge role and is the key to everything progressing, but the realistic take of the environment then, the maturity of their actions and the focus on the workings of that time, make this a really refreshing read. There is not exactly a right and wrong side, because everyone has their reasons and the best thing is, that the characters themselves understand that and granting that there is over-dramatization to enhance the experience, it has a good balance on things. All the while, the reader is introduced to numerous of Pushkin’s works that are intertwined with the development and add to the atmosphere that it has created. One of the drawbacks is that the pacing can be very abrupt with time skips here and there, people coming and going in a blink, just so we can only see the key parts of events so we can understand the line the story is moving on.

The ending is also successful in delivering a conclusion that fits this tale, without betraying everything that happened to each of the characters. It might not be the ending most people would like, but it stays true to its original story and its own rules to the end.

The characters at first seem very plain and one dimensional and despite the fact that not everyone becomes a fleshed out three dimensional character, their personality and thinking expands, discovering new sides to themselves and how far they are willing to go for the things they want. They are slowly starting to look more like a human, though unfortunately as this is focused on the romantic development with added drama and the pacing can be pretty bad at times, the development still lacks to provide enough to make them whole, especially the ones being secondary to the plot. However, they give insight to the environment and the actions they are taking based on it. Maybe they are not as relatable for modern day and age because of that, but they manage to get through the message of their struggles and the logic behind them.

Unfortunately, the art is not as good as the rest of the content, but it has nice little details to compensate for that; giving Pushkin a darker skin tone to show the racism against him, the details on the various dresses noble women wore to balls and such. The main characters are easily distinguishable and they have their own style to separate them from the rest and at least the main cast’s expressions have a richness to them. It is not memorable in any way, other than maybe some pages that the creator has taken a more symbolic path to narrate the events.

I sincerely enjoyed this and I was glad to be proved wrong of its quality. I do admit that this resembles a soap opera, but it tackles on some things so much better than one, which is why I got impressed and why I gave it a high score. Thankfully (or not) for me, I did not know Pushkin’s life so how some things turned out were a big surprise, but it made me so much more interested in finding out more about his poems, as his life seemed not too happy. Anyone interested a bit in Russia’s “history” (loosely used, since it contains a lot of events that are historically checked, but can hardly be considered a good source) in a time when freedom was born in people’s heart, it is a fun read.

Fun fact: This started just as a Russian series called "My poor Nastya" was ending, which is a true soap opera with a similar setting and seeing the same historical characters in both, it feels as though they are loosely connected and was even more fun for me.