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bombycillacedrorum's review against another edition
3.0
This is a 3.5 overall for me, though I waver on giving it 3 or 4 stars on the record.
I’m not the biggest fan of fairy tales and fairy tale-style narration, so this was probably never going to be a solid 4 or 5 star read for me. I do like bizarre/“exotic” worldbuilding in books, however, and a medieval Russia with literal spirits is pretty good in that sense. (You can tell, even without reading the supplementary material that explicitly describes her academic connection to Russia, that the author is borderline fetishistic of Russian culture and folklore, for good or for bad.) Vasya is also my kind of spirited tomboyish heroine with magic animal friends, and I quite liked the handling of the stepmother trope and the evil priest figure, among others. I’m curious enough about the second book in the trilogy, which might push it more toward 4 stars, though not sure if that needs to be an immediate read or not.
I’m not the biggest fan of fairy tales and fairy tale-style narration, so this was probably never going to be a solid 4 or 5 star read for me. I do like bizarre/“exotic” worldbuilding in books, however, and a medieval Russia with literal spirits is pretty good in that sense. (You can tell, even without reading the supplementary material that explicitly describes her academic connection to Russia, that the author is borderline fetishistic of Russian culture and folklore, for good or for bad.) Vasya is also my kind of spirited tomboyish heroine with magic animal friends, and I quite liked the handling of the stepmother trope and the evil priest figure, among others. I’m curious enough about the second book in the trilogy, which might push it more toward 4 stars, though not sure if that needs to be an immediate read or not.
chewedgum's review against another edition
5.0
What an unexpectedly gorgeous surprise. This has been on my to-read list for ages, but my dad's enthusiastic recommendation and the audiobook's availability at my library meant that I accidentally spent all day Saturday listening to this book. I couldn't get enough.
The audiobook narrator is excellent, only adding to the mysterious, ethereal quality of the novel itself. I'm already halfway through the second book in the trilogy.
The audiobook narrator is excellent, only adding to the mysterious, ethereal quality of the novel itself. I'm already halfway through the second book in the trilogy.
idawgsbooks's review against another edition
5.0
I really loved this Russian fairy tale story. The characters and setting were very vivid and intriguing.
hamburgerfiesta's review against another edition
3.0
I was excited to read this book but finished disappointed. I would leave a more detailed review, but after reading this story I’m still not quite sure what it was about. It did keep me reading and I want to read the next book; however, the climax was not very exciting and I didn’t understand the buildup to the climax.
sidekickyin's review against another edition
3.0
I'm very torn between giving this a 3 or a 4 star rating. On the one hand, I loved it. On the other, it infuriated me with the pacing.
First of all, this read like a classical novel. So it was a much slower read due to the way it was written. That being said, I loved the writing style and descriptions. Everything in this world felt fully fleshed out and real and believable.
Second, the characters were outstanding. Everything about them made sense and even for such a sprawling cast with ones dipping in and out, they all had a sense of purpose and helped to flesh out the world better.
Third, the fantasy element surrounding traditional folklore felt real and believable. It is more than obvious Arden knows her shit around Russian folklore and adjusted it to her needs for this novel, which is highly impressive for a debut.
However, the pacing stunted everything in this volume. I know there are two more volumes to this, and unfortunately from what I've gathered of the second novel, the pacing doesn't improve. I get that there's a lot of world building, which Arden does quite well, but I felt some parts of this volume could've been cut out and the tone nor character growth would've been damaged.
I slogged through the first half of this book, putting it down frequently, wondering when it would get to the point, which was well known early on, but dragged about laboriously. This is how it infuriated me by reading like a classical novel - it took forever to get past all the world building to reach any major plot movements despite the reader well knowing it is going to happen. When the plot did get going more around the 2/3 mark, it flew by in a rush and I felt all the more wonderful, fantasy elements to it were thrown in - in a mad dash to reach the conclusion of this volume. I get that this is a historical fiction fantasy and it is rooted in "reality" with the fantasy hovering at the edges to keep readers enticed by when it will spring up, but the vast amount of this volume dragged its feet on it so much I felt short-changed by the rushed, full-blown fantasy sections at the end.
The folklore creatures, spirits, fae - whatever you want to call them were charming and gave the constant feeling of "magic" woven throughout, but when we get to the Grand Creatures that always seemed to threaten to pop out, they had such little presence at the end due to being hidden in the shadows of the story for so long they lacked a lot of their luster, which is a shame. They had small, important appearances in the beginning, which greatly enticed me to read more, but then the slog of the first 2/3 of the book despite those appearances really drained me. By the end, I felt very let down by how the major fantasy creatures were given such a short time to shine.
Again, I loved the characters and writing of this, but again, it infuriated the hell out of me with the pacing. While I want to read volume 2, I'm also somewhat dreading it if this pacing continues.
First of all, this read like a classical novel. So it was a much slower read due to the way it was written. That being said, I loved the writing style and descriptions. Everything in this world felt fully fleshed out and real and believable.
Second, the characters were outstanding. Everything about them made sense and even for such a sprawling cast with ones dipping in and out, they all had a sense of purpose and helped to flesh out the world better.
Third, the fantasy element surrounding traditional folklore felt real and believable. It is more than obvious Arden knows her shit around Russian folklore and adjusted it to her needs for this novel, which is highly impressive for a debut.
However, the pacing stunted everything in this volume. I know there are two more volumes to this, and unfortunately from what I've gathered of the second novel, the pacing doesn't improve. I get that there's a lot of world building, which Arden does quite well, but I felt some parts of this volume could've been cut out and the tone nor character growth would've been damaged.
I slogged through the first half of this book, putting it down frequently, wondering when it would get to the point, which was well known early on, but dragged about laboriously. This is how it infuriated me by reading like a classical novel - it took forever to get past all the world building to reach any major plot movements despite the reader well knowing it is going to happen. When the plot did get going more around the 2/3 mark, it flew by in a rush and I felt all the more wonderful, fantasy elements to it were thrown in - in a mad dash to reach the conclusion of this volume. I get that this is a historical fiction fantasy and it is rooted in "reality" with the fantasy hovering at the edges to keep readers enticed by when it will spring up, but the vast amount of this volume dragged its feet on it so much I felt short-changed by the rushed, full-blown fantasy sections at the end.
The folklore creatures, spirits, fae - whatever you want to call them were charming and gave the constant feeling of "magic" woven throughout, but when we get to the Grand Creatures that always seemed to threaten to pop out, they had such little presence at the end due to being hidden in the shadows of the story for so long they lacked a lot of their luster, which is a shame. They had small, important appearances in the beginning, which greatly enticed me to read more, but then the slog of the first 2/3 of the book despite those appearances really drained me. By the end, I felt very let down by how the major fantasy creatures were given such a short time to shine.
Again, I loved the characters and writing of this, but again, it infuriated the hell out of me with the pacing. While I want to read volume 2, I'm also somewhat dreading it if this pacing continues.
jjlynne's review against another edition
4.0
I did not expect to leave this book with a crush on a folkloric frost demon, bus alas, here we are.
theresacole's review against another edition
emotional
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
4.25
I really enjoyed how different this is from most other books out there. The narrator did a phenomenal job. I'll definitely be continuing the series.
abeerhoque's review against another edition
4.0
The Bear and the Nightingale (Book 1 of the Winternight Trilogy) by Katherine Arden is a gorgeously written story about a little girl growing up in a far northern Russian village, some time in the Middle Ages. The central conflict features the onset of Christianity tangling with an older religion of spirits and demons who live in fragile concert, supported by the humans who still believe.
Our little heroine can see more than most and her adventures in the forest nearby are wondrous and terrifying. I was bowled over by the language, as much for its lyrical beauty (“the air sullen with wet that was neither rain nor snow”) as for its literary anachronisms. I especially loved how the frozen unforgiving winter itself was a character.
But as much as I enjoyed the addictive story and rich characters and lush setting, I wasn’t tempted to continue reading the rest of the trilogy because of my knee-jerk response to religious themes. I can’t with the goddiness these days. And of course medieval times will come with overpowering patriarchy and I’d rather my fantasy reading not play out this old (and endless) narrative. However, if you’re a smidge more forgiving, and you likely are, Arden is an incredible writer and storyteller, and I’m awed that this was her debut novel.
Our little heroine can see more than most and her adventures in the forest nearby are wondrous and terrifying. I was bowled over by the language, as much for its lyrical beauty (“the air sullen with wet that was neither rain nor snow”) as for its literary anachronisms. I especially loved how the frozen unforgiving winter itself was a character.
But as much as I enjoyed the addictive story and rich characters and lush setting, I wasn’t tempted to continue reading the rest of the trilogy because of my knee-jerk response to religious themes. I can’t with the goddiness these days. And of course medieval times will come with overpowering patriarchy and I’d rather my fantasy reading not play out this old (and endless) narrative. However, if you’re a smidge more forgiving, and you likely are, Arden is an incredible writer and storyteller, and I’m awed that this was her debut novel.
reedk2289's review against another edition
4.0
Awesome. If you like Russian Fairytales this is an awesome book to read. Vasiya is a great character, she is similar to the "too modern for her world" trope without being a cliche. She isn't more advanced than her world if anything she is behind it, but she is compelling.