Reviews

The Girl in The Tower by Katherine Arden

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dgilbreath's review against another edition

4.0

The second book in The Winter Trilogy was great! I did find myself not excited at times to pick it up, but I think that was more due to a book hangover from another book and less to do with this book itself. Every time I did pick up the book, I loved it. More Vasya and her witchy ways. More Vasya and Morozko romance. No evil one eyed bear demon but there was a sorcerer! AND slaying monks, cocky princes, and a firebird! So ready to start the last book in the trilogy. Also, do I need to feed the possible secret domovoi that may be living in my fireplace to protect my house?!

octavia_cade's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional tense medium-paced

4.0

I didn't like this quite as much as the first one - relocating much of the action to Moscow loses that lovely forest setting - but I'm still really enjoying the series. Vasya is still a fantastic character, as is her porridge-loving horse, but I'm less enamoured of the antagonist this time. Although that sounds wrong: he's awful, but the priest of the last book was really awful, the kind of small scale, selfish, weak awful that's so disturbing because it's so unfortunately realistic. He's back in this book, in what's not more than a cameo role, but the real threat here is from a more legendary or mythic figure, and the sense of revulsion is not the same. Kasyan's horrible, but he doesn't affect me in the same way.

What I really did like here was the sibling relationships between Vasya, Sasha, and Olga. The latter two, especially, are sad and horrified at what's become of their little sister, but they're angry too, which is realistic considering that her behaviour may have terrible consequences for them. As dismayed as they are, however, they clearly still love her, and I enjoyed the interactions between them all.

aelytacchan's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

This second installment in the Winternight trilogy suffered of the same issue as it's predecessor, in my opinion - a very slow first 2/3 of the book, with a very precipitated later third. I almost stopped reading several times in the middle of the story, but am glad I did not. Somehow, I think I will still pick the third book up, eventually.