Take a photo of a barcode or cover
4.09 AVERAGE
4.09 AVERAGE
adventurous
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
The Bear and the Nightingale is a novel filled with Russian folklore and fairytales. In this novel we follow Vasya as she grows up seeing spirits of both the household and nature. One day, a priest comes to town and to make the people love him, he instills fear into their lives. He tells them that their household spirits are devils, not worthy of offerings. They grow weaker and the villages are overcome with misfortune. What they don't know, however, is that a bear is waking in the woods. One who will bring fear and misfortune on to the people. And only Vasya and the spirits she befriended will be able to save them.
I loved the fairytale aspect of this book, and if you love fairytales, you will probably enjoy this book too. The pacing is a bit on the slower side, however. The middle part is mostly focused on the priest and how he is spending his time in the village. I think this really took the pacing out of it. I understand it is important to get to know him to be able to understand the later chapters, but I think he got too much attention for how little he was featured in the end. I probably could have skipped a few middle chapters and still be able to feel like I read this book in a coherent way.
But the end was amazing. We finally stop focusing on the priest and it is just Vasya and the spirits against this threat. Her relationship with Frost is really well written and highly enjoyable. It's just such a shame that it was at the end of the book. I would have loved if the whole novel was just relationship building between them. Alas, perhaps he will feature in the other two books.
I loved the fairytale aspect of this book, and if you love fairytales, you will probably enjoy this book too. The pacing is a bit on the slower side, however. The middle part is mostly focused on the priest and how he is spending his time in the village. I think this really took the pacing out of it. I understand it is important to get to know him to be able to understand the later chapters, but I think he got too much attention for how little he was featured in the end. I probably could have skipped a few middle chapters and still be able to feel like I read this book in a coherent way.
But the end was amazing. We finally stop focusing on the priest and it is just Vasya and the spirits against this threat. Her relationship with Frost is really well written and highly enjoyable. It's just such a shame that it was at the end of the book. I would have loved if the whole novel was just relationship building between them. Alas, perhaps he will feature in the other two books.
I thought I would really enjoy this, but despite a more promising start, I found the characters underdeveloped and two-dimensional, and barely anyone was likeable. By the time everything started to look like it was actually headed somewhere, I had already become bored and irritated by Anna constantly hating and beating Vasya and being scared of demons, Pyotr looking at his kids like they were all simply waiting to be married off (and yes, that might have been the view back then, but people were still actual three-dimensional people back then as well, so that's no excuse for lack of nuance or complexity), the simplistic "Christianity good / pagan beliefs bad" view, the teaser of folkloric elements scattered throughout but nothing really substantial happening with that to give a clue as to what the point of the story was, and insufficient attention to actual relationships between characters so there is a sense of an actual tapestry being woven, not just a mishmash of isolated events happening to cookie-cutter characters who can barely communicate with each other.
I actually liked Vasya well enough, but even she was barely more than just the wild child who won't do as she's told and everyone suspects is a witch. Fine, so she's more likeable than the rest, but to be honest, since the folkloric side wasn't doing anything for me (despite that being what appealed in the first place) and most of the main characters were underdeveloped, I found myself idly wondering about the absentee characters, like how things turned out for the son who decided to become a monk, or what Pyotr felt about his new wife after his decision to provide his children with a mother seven years after his first wife's death. This last one would have been especially interesting to know and would have added depth, but instead any depth to his character just fizzles out from this point on.
As did my interest in reading this before I reached even a third of the way in.
I actually liked Vasya well enough, but even she was barely more than just the wild child who won't do as she's told and everyone suspects is a witch. Fine, so she's more likeable than the rest, but to be honest, since the folkloric side wasn't doing anything for me (despite that being what appealed in the first place) and most of the main characters were underdeveloped, I found myself idly wondering about the absentee characters, like how things turned out for the son who decided to become a monk, or what Pyotr felt about his new wife after his decision to provide his children with a mother seven years after his first wife's death. This last one would have been especially interesting to know and would have added depth, but instead any depth to his character just fizzles out from this point on.
As did my interest in reading this before I reached even a third of the way in.
Had high hopes for this fantasy book. Excruciatingly long in most parts. Very predictable after reading many fantasy novels. Characters were mediocre. The heroine was the only saving grace. Story was decent just drawn out longer than needed.
This book is so different from anything else I’ve read. It felt very mystical and I Vasya was an easy character to relate to. The different names for each character and the POV changes often left me confused and while I enjoyed the story of the folklore from the beginning I was a little lost because the character names in the story were the similar to the characters in the book and I wasn’t sure if the book was just telling me a same longer drawn out version of the story? But I’m invested! I look forward to reading book 2.
This book is so enchanting and atmospheric, all because of Arden’s artful prose. I felt that this story started off a bit slow, but more than made up for it by the end. Such a perfect winter read!
I’m really looking forward to continuing with this trilogy and seeing where Vasya’s story goes from here!
I’m really looking forward to continuing with this trilogy and seeing where Vasya’s story goes from here!
I love Russian-fairytale type books and this one hits the spot, I definitely binge-listened to the detriment of my sleep schedule.
I’m not a book crier but I’ve read this book 3x and have cried every time. i scream and cry and throw up over pyotr’s love for his children archaic and historically in place as it is. It says more about me than this book.
Top books of all time. Disgustingly savory prose. A fantasy book that uses name diminutives right. What else could you want
Top books of all time. Disgustingly savory prose. A fantasy book that uses name diminutives right. What else could you want
It was hard for me to get into initially because there were several characters and the pov switched. But once I got the hang of the narration, I was hooked! I love the characters and storytelling.