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4.09 AVERAGE
4.09 AVERAGE
I was surprised by this one--very well written with surprising depth. Feels like immersion in another world, even though the "other world" is a fantastical 14th century Russia. The Russian folklore is fascinating and the characters are engrossing. Overall very much enjoyed and looking forward to finishing the trilogy.
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Almost DNF'd this. None of the first 100 pages need to be here and so getting to anything even vaguely interesting is a slog. It's a fine fairy tale-ish book without much depth, and not to my taste, though it ended up having enough messed up Medieval winter vibes going for it that I did, eventually, finish.
My initial review: It is literally unbearably boring, and this is from someone who tends to like slow, atmospheric books. For a book where everyone praises the "lyrical" writing, I found the tone dry, stilted, and wooden. It felt like reading a screenplay. "The stranger smiled... Then suddenly a man came up from nowhere... The rider didn't move..." with very little placement of characters in the scene or description of what on earth we are looking at. The plot has no conflict whatsoever until page 100, and even after that, it's weak. My summary of the week I spent muscling through the exposition of this book is as follows: There is a girl in a forest who sees spirits. We get to hear about every random detail of her family life, including before she is even born, and get entire chapters about characters who literally do not matter. We get chapters about the politicking of random characters in Moscow, which also have no bearing on the plot or our protagonist. Pieces of heritage and backstory, which could have adequate impact if they were addressed in a single conversation, have entire chapters dedicated to them. As a result, this book is paced like a cart with three wheels, dragging an axle. Simply agonizing. I kept it with me for a week straight, hoping the mood would strike to read it, and mostly found myself repeatedly choosing to stare at a wall rather than attempt to fight through a chapter.
My edited review: It did, eventually, become somewhat interesting (13 chapters in), when the conflict was finally introduced and the characters started to do something that wasn't aimlessly exist in a really cold forest. However, the writing doesn't really improve and the characters remain somewhat wooden -- I'm not really sure why any of them acted like they did except that they had been given a single character trait ("wild", "Christian", etc. etc) and reacted to everything in accordance with that. There's also this weird dash of vaguely ahistorical sexism which exists only to further the plot and be frustrating, and which pervades every single character -- except , of course, the plucky protagonist, who is repeatedly described as "ugly" (except that every man in the book is obsessed with her and every woman jealous of her) and who doesn't seem to understand what's expected of her despite being raised exactly the same as every other girl in the narrative. All of whom are, by the way, given less attention and development than all of the men in the narrative. The main villain is a fat, shrill, shallow woman whose only real personality is that she is jealous of the protagonist and who literally dies without anyone mourning her simply to advance the plot, and nobody even sort of mentions her afterwards, presumably because her purpose has been served. Meanwhile, when a man dies, it is a "noble sacrifice" discussed by all. Basically, unless a character rides horses and likes manly things they aren't given much attention in this book (with the exceptionof Dunya, whose main character trait is "old woman" and whose very natural desire to protect her charge from frost demons is depicted as a naive and bad thing). It's weird to read a "feminist" flavored book that falls prey to misogyny so thoroughly. Especially when the house spirits are so important to the plot: why is Vasya in the d**n forest so often??? Well, simply because she is better than all those other shallow women who only care about sewing and birthing babies
My initial review: It is literally unbearably boring, and this is from someone who tends to like slow, atmospheric books. For a book where everyone praises the "lyrical" writing, I found the tone dry, stilted, and wooden. It felt like reading a screenplay. "The stranger smiled... Then suddenly a man came up from nowhere... The rider didn't move..." with very little placement of characters in the scene or description of what on earth we are looking at. The plot has no conflict whatsoever until page 100, and even after that, it's weak. My summary of the week I spent muscling through the exposition of this book is as follows: There is a girl in a forest who sees spirits. We get to hear about every random detail of her family life, including before she is even born, and get entire chapters about characters who literally do not matter. We get chapters about the politicking of random characters in Moscow, which also have no bearing on the plot or our protagonist. Pieces of heritage and backstory, which could have adequate impact if they were addressed in a single conversation, have entire chapters dedicated to them. As a result, this book is paced like a cart with three wheels, dragging an axle. Simply agonizing. I kept it with me for a week straight, hoping the mood would strike to read it, and mostly found myself repeatedly choosing to stare at a wall rather than attempt to fight through a chapter.
My edited review: It did, eventually, become somewhat interesting (13 chapters in), when the conflict was finally introduced and the characters started to do something that wasn't aimlessly exist in a really cold forest. However, the writing doesn't really improve and the characters remain somewhat wooden -- I'm not really sure why any of them acted like they did except that they had been given a single character trait ("wild", "Christian", etc. etc) and reacted to everything in accordance with that. There's also this weird dash of vaguely ahistorical sexism which exists only to further the plot and be frustrating, and which pervades every single character -- except , of course, the plucky protagonist, who is repeatedly described as "ugly" (except that every man in the book is obsessed with her and every woman jealous of her) and who doesn't seem to understand what's expected of her despite being raised exactly the same as every other girl in the narrative. All of whom are, by the way, given less attention and development than all of the men in the narrative. The main villain is a fat, shrill, shallow woman whose only real personality is that she is jealous of the protagonist and who literally dies without anyone mourning her simply to advance the plot, and nobody even sort of mentions her afterwards, presumably because her purpose has been served. Meanwhile, when a man dies, it is a "noble sacrifice" discussed by all. Basically, unless a character rides horses and likes manly things they aren't given much attention in this book (with the exceptionof Dunya, whose main character trait is "old woman" and whose very natural desire to protect her charge from frost demons is depicted as a naive and bad thing). It's weird to read a "feminist" flavored book that falls prey to misogyny so thoroughly. Especially when the house spirits are so important to the plot: why is Vasya in the d**n forest so often??? Well, simply because she is better than all those other shallow women who only care about sewing and birthing babies
This was so nice! Sort of like a Russian fairy tale, not quite modernized but felt very current. Didn't even realize it was part of a trilogy, as I chose it randomly from a librarian's list for fantasy novels with female protagonists. Very excited to pick up the other two books. :o
[Edit July 2021] I picked up this book to reread because I was looking for something familiar and romantic and comfortable. But I had forgotten that the romantic part doesn't really happen in this book. And I had also forgotten how slowly this starts out. It's got that Cinderella vibe with the huge back story and the coming of the stepmother and all that. The first time through, I didn't mind it because I was getting to know the characters and the world, but upon reread I wanted more of the meat of the over-arching plot and had forgotten how much of that happens in books 2 and 3.
[Edit July 2021] I picked up this book to reread because I was looking for something familiar and romantic and comfortable. But I had forgotten that the romantic part doesn't really happen in this book. And I had also forgotten how slowly this starts out. It's got that Cinderella vibe with the huge back story and the coming of the stepmother and all that. The first time through, I didn't mind it because I was getting to know the characters and the world, but upon reread I wanted more of the meat of the over-arching plot and had forgotten how much of that happens in books 2 and 3.
A fantastic and new (to me) sort of fairy tale placed in the forests of Russia. Immensely deep characters along with a new type of heroine that really needs to be the 'it' commonplace in a lot of literature. A fantasy tale that kept me turning the pages. Highly recommended!
A much darker fairy tale than I expected, with some plotting issues. But I liked Vasya enough to move on to second book.
I'm not one to write reviews but I just wanted to say what a delight this story has been from beginning to end. It truly captured my imagination and kept me engaged with each character as the story progressed. I can not wait to read more by Katherine Arden - And I plan to do so as soon as possible.
adventurous
dark
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes