Book Review: The Girl In The Tower; Katherine Arden.

I thought, seeing as I read 'The Bear & The Nightingale' at the beginning of the year, reading the second in the trilogy at the end would be a nice way to begin the winter months! I adored the first but wasn't prepared to love the second even more!

SOURCE: Netgalley
TYPE: E-Read

TITLE: The Girl In The Tower
AUTHOR: Katherine Arden
SERIES: The Winternight Trilogy (#2)
PUBLISHER: Del Rey
PAGES: 384
GENRE: Fantasy, Historical Fiction, Retelling, Young Adult

RATING: 5/5 Stars

Blurb:
For a young woman in medieval Russia, the choices are stark: marriage or a life in a convent. Vasya will choose a third way: magic...

The court of the Grand Prince of Moscow is plagued by power struggles and rumours of unrest. Meanwhile bandits roam the countryside, burning the villages and kidnapping its daughters. Setting out to defeat the raiders, the Prince and his trusted companion come across a young man riding a magnificent horse.

Only Sasha, a priest with a warrior's training, recognises this 'boy' as his younger sister, thought to be dead or a witch by her village. But when Vasya proves herself in battle, riding with remarkable skill and inexplicable power, Sasha realises he must keep her secret as she may be the only way to save the city from threats both human and fantastical...

What I Liked:

• Vasya has grown up from a feisty, inquisitive girl to a strong heroine! I loved her so much! She didn't make too many stupid decisions, was strong in her beliefs and seems to have a much better hold over her own feelings and powers. I also really enjoyed reading POV chapters from her family members - Sasha and Olga were both characters I wanted to hear more from. Great character development from all to be found here, and that was my favourite thing about the book!
• Once again I was amazed by Katherine Arden's world-crafting ability! She really knew the time period and culture well, and it was interesting to have such a glimpse into Russian history. But the folklore was the best inclusion of all. This book, and it's predecessor, gives a nod to Russian fairy tales of course but the mythology is deeply entwined into the story. The spirits that inhabit houses and bath rooms and ovens are often comical and do a great job of adding to the plot!
• Let's not forget the plot itself! It was certainly interesting, full of plenty of action, twists and turns. I liked the battles, I liked the romance and I liked the elements of mystery solving. This is definitely Fantasy done right and I want more. Much more.

What I Disliked:

• Personally, I didn't struggle so I won't say this is a dislike per se. However, Russians on the Medieval era really liked nicknames. They assign hundreds to the same character and Arden incorporates that well into the story meaning that if you aren't paying attention, you might lose track!

Overall Conclusion:

What a wonderful read. If you like magic and adventure set in a historical time period, you'll love this. There's great fantastical elements to be had, I loved recognising some of the stories and fairy tales, and above all I am so glad this wasn't just a filler book. The plot really helped to develop the characters which is important in the second book of a trilogy. I can't wait for book three!

Book Review: The Bear & The Nightingale; Katherine Arden.

So for my first read of the year, this was the perfect choice because it was wintery and a 2017 debut and based around Fairy Tales and folklore, my favourite kind of story! I really liked it too! I'm also entering this into the Monthly Motif challenge!

SOURCE: Netgalley
TYPE: E-Read

TITLE: The Bear & The Nightingale
AUTHOR: Katherine Arden
SERIES: The Winternight Trilogy (#1)
PUBLISHER: Del Rey
PAGES: 336
GENRE: Historical Fiction, Fantasy, Adult, Retelling

RATING: 5/5 Stars

Blurb:
In a village at the edge of the wilderness of northern Russia, where the winds blow cold and the snow falls many months of the year, an elderly servant tells stories of sorcery, folklore and the Winter King to the children of the family, tales of old magic frowned upon by the church.

But for the young, wild Vasya these are far more than just stories. She alone can see the house spirits that guard her home, and sense the growing forces of dark magic in the woods...

What I Liked:

• The characters were really well constructed. The MC was obviously Vasya who was kind, independent and a pretty badass heroine, but other characters were given a turn of revealing backstory and complex character qualities too. Anna Ivanovna was a prime example of this, as she would have only been considered a wicked step-mother archetype if she had not been given a couple of POV chapters towards the beginning of the story. I also loved some of the mythical characters, especially Morozko, the Rusalka and the Domovoi because they were given such interesting personalities.
• Speaking of the magic and mythical lore, there was so much of this in 'The Bear & The Nightingale'. I'm not overly familiar with Russia's culture and Slavic mythology: the extent of my knowledge is having heard of Baba Yaga and barely knowing what a Rusalka is. So, it was so much fun to learn new things about another country's stories and legends. It was done in such an enchanting and magical way too, Arden really does write beautifully and has a knack  for both storytelling and building a rich world. 

What I Disliked:

• Towards the end, I did feel like the pacing became a little too fast in that it felt rushed in some areas. So many events happened at once that it was a little hard to process everything after such a slow build over a number of years. This was really only a minor quibble however, because there was just so much good in this story!

Overall Conclusion:

This book was such a great read, and gave me all the feels. There was some really interesting character work that played to archetypes and yet felt fresh, and I adored the visual imagery and rich world. Arden deserves all the credit for this debut and I'm seriously so happy to find out that Arden is creating a three part series set in this world because there were a few unresolved plot-lines that I'd like to find out the conclusion of!