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chattie_the_mad_chatter's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-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
5.0
On a re-read this is even more incredible than when I first read it.
I love the journey we go with Vasya, it starts with a band then slows down, it took me by surprise but wraps everything up so well.
I love this out of all 3 as it mixes things I enjoy from the first 2, tje conflict between Chereti and the Church, politics, Vasya finding herself. Character growth is brilliant emotions are high and it has made me appreciate mushrooms!
I love the journey we go with Vasya, it starts with a band then slows down, it took me by surprise but wraps everything up so well.
I love this out of all 3 as it mixes things I enjoy from the first 2, tje conflict between Chereti and the Church, politics, Vasya finding herself. Character growth is brilliant emotions are high and it has made me appreciate mushrooms!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Death, Sexism, Violence, Child death, Fire/Fire injury, Misogyny, and Murder
Moderate: Blood, Vomit, Injury/Injury detail, and Sexual harassment
wolfje's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood and Grief
Moderate: Death and Physical abuse
Minor: Vomit, Sexual violence, Pregnancy, and Miscarriage
galactic_gigi's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
sad
tense
medium-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
5.0
I‘m not gonna lie, this was a wild ride. Don‘t get me wrong, I loved every single part of this series and finished every book in one sitting! But now I‘m left with this feeling of emptiness, wanting to know more about Vasya and Rus and all the potential stories that could follow while she‘s fully accepting her new role.
I really adored the fact that the people in this series weren’t divided into just good and just bad characters. They were all very well written characters, apart from if I liked them or not. I was able to understand their motivations and feelings and therefore was invested into their storyline.
Throughout the series I really got to know Vasya and I basically watched her growing up and maturing and making mistakes, because even though she has the best intentions she is not able to anticipate every single outcome of her actions. She always stood up for her beliefs, but in this book she was facing her greatest fear and standing up to herself.
The two main conflicts were really interesting and during the second one I was more than once on my toes, hoping and praying that this book wouldn‘t destroy me in the end. It did, but just a little.
It was a delight to read these books and I‘m left a little sad that it’s over. I would love to visit this world again!
I really adored the fact that the people in this series weren’t divided into just good and just bad characters. They were all very well written characters, apart from if I liked them or not. I was able to understand their motivations and feelings and therefore was invested into their storyline.
Throughout the series I really got to know Vasya and I basically watched her growing up and maturing and making mistakes, because even though she has the best intentions she is not able to anticipate every single outcome of her actions. She always stood up for her beliefs, but in this book she was facing her greatest fear and standing up to herself.
The two main conflicts were really interesting and during the second one I was more than once on my toes, hoping and praying that this book wouldn‘t destroy me in the end. It did, but just a little.
It was a delight to read these books and I‘m left a little sad that it’s over. I would love to visit this world again!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Fire/Fire injury, Mental illness, Misogyny, and War
Moderate: Animal death, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, and Torture
Minor: Death of parent, Rape, and Vomit
avisreadsandreads's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: War, Fire/Fire injury, Animal death, Violence, Religious bigotry, Child death, Blood, Physical abuse, and Death
Moderate: Torture, Gore, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexism, and Misogyny
Minor: Vomit
awashinfeeling's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
medium-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? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Animal death, Misogyny, Religious bigotry, and Violence
Moderate: Miscarriage, Torture, Gore, and Fire/Fire injury
Minor: Vomit
ehmannky's review against another edition
dark
emotional
tense
medium-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
4.5
A wonderful end to the series. Winter of the Witch delves straight into the action, without any of the slow build up to Vasya's main plot that the previous two books did. And it starts out intense, with Vasya nearly killed by a mob spurred on by the corrupted priest Konstantin. I did kind of miss the meticulous world-building, but this is probably the most focused of the series in terms of plot. But I forgive much because I loved the relationship between Morozko and Vasya getting the room to really grow. Also, Vasya's PTSD from the beginning of the book was rendered so vividly and painfully, and I liked seeing a protagonist struggle with doing what she had to do with that disorder. It just makes her feel all the more real and brave.
The only thing I didn't particularly love was that it felt that there were essentially two parts that felt like an ending-one part in the middle and the other was the actual end of the book. I don't want to spoil it, but I felt that after one of the major forces of antagonism in Vasya's life are defeated, there was a 50 ish page gap where the book felt like it sort of stalled. Overall, I didn't hate it and I get thematically why this split exists and the meaning behind showing that "defeating evil" is not enough for a victory in a complex world, but it felt odd in a book that's so action-focused to have this weird lull roughly 2/3rds of the way through.
Overall, extremely satisfied with this series and its ending, and good god was it satisfying to see Konstantin die. Still not sure how I feel about Solovey being resurrected in the last 10 pages of the book, but it is a very fairy tale twist so I did appreciate it.
The only thing I didn't particularly love was that it felt that there were essentially two parts that felt like an ending-one part in the middle and the other was the actual end of the book. I don't want to spoil it, but I felt that after one of the major forces of antagonism in Vasya's life are defeated, there was a 50 ish page gap where the book felt like it sort of stalled. Overall, I didn't hate it and I get thematically why this split exists and the meaning behind showing that "defeating evil" is not enough for a victory in a complex world, but it felt odd in a book that's so action-focused to have this weird lull roughly 2/3rds of the way through.
Overall, extremely satisfied with this series and its ending, and good god
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Animal death, Violence, Sexism, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Grief, Blood, and Child death
Moderate: Slavery, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Kidnapping
Minor: Vomit
mscalls's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
sad
tense
fast-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? No
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Blood, Death, Gore, Grief, Medical content, Misogyny, Murder, Physical abuse, Religious bigotry, Torture, Violence, and Vomit
aseaoftomes's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
This is the third and final installment in the Winternight trilogy and I still loved it.
This picks up right where Girl in the Tower left off with Vasya in Moscow after the events of the chaos of what happened. We continue to follow not only Vaysa, but her family members too - Olga and Sasha primarily. This book converges the two sides - in BitN we focused a lot on the pagan side of things, in GitT we focused more on the humanity and Christianity side and now it WotW we see the two come together and reach a place where both can coexist.
As with the two previous books, I loved the setting and atmosphere. Since we get to deal with both the human and the chyert sides, we get to see both human and chyert lands and I loved seeing the similarities and differences between them. I just love how Katherine Arden writes her worlds.
The writing was also fine. Of the three books, I think this is one of her strongest with regards to pacing and overall writing especially with regards to plot.
The plot was also great. Katherine Arden managed to fit a lot of different things in without it feeling disjointed or out of place. It's hard to explain much of the plot of this one because of spoilers, but I loved all of the conflict between the humans and the chyerti - that was such a huge part of the book. But also the politics and turmoil between the Rus' and the Tatars and then with Vasya and the chyerti. It was just all really interesting to watch and ultimately see how it all concluded.
Finally, the characters. I loved Vasya in this, probably the most out of the three. She really grew into her own and I feel like we got more internal conflict from her than previously. She felt more manifested in this than previously. I also really liked both Sasha and Olga's character arcs and their growth and how their relationship with Vasya was portrayed. And of course, as always, I love the chyerti - literally all of them. They add so much to the books and they're written so well. Once again we get to meet several new spirits and they were all delightful. Morozko remains my favorite (always) and I loved watching his relationship with Vasya in this book (I love them, but you probably know that already) and looking back on where they were in the first book to where they are now and I just loved it.
All in all, this is a really great conclusion to a great series, and I had a really great time rereading it. (As with all of the books, I read this in winter with snow outside because it adds an extra layer to the atmospheric element).
This picks up right where Girl in the Tower left off with Vasya in Moscow after the events of the chaos of what happened. We continue to follow not only Vaysa, but her family members too - Olga and Sasha primarily. This book converges the two sides - in BitN we focused a lot on the pagan side of things, in GitT we focused more on the humanity and Christianity side and now it WotW we see the two come together and reach a place where both can coexist.
As with the two previous books, I loved the setting and atmosphere. Since we get to deal with both the human and the chyert sides, we get to see both human and chyert lands and I loved seeing the similarities and differences between them. I just love how Katherine Arden writes her worlds.
The writing was also fine. Of the three books, I think this is one of her strongest with regards to pacing and overall writing especially with regards to plot.
The plot was also great. Katherine Arden managed to fit a lot of different things in without it feeling disjointed or out of place. It's hard to explain much of the plot of this one because of spoilers, but I loved all of the conflict between the humans and the chyerti - that was such a huge part of the book. But also the politics and turmoil between the Rus' and the Tatars and then with Vasya and the chyerti. It was just all really interesting to watch and ultimately see how it all concluded.
Finally, the characters. I loved Vasya in this, probably the most out of the three. She really grew into her own and I feel like we got more internal conflict from her than previously. She felt more manifested in this than previously. I also really liked both Sasha and Olga's character arcs and their growth and how their relationship with Vasya was portrayed. And of course, as always, I love the chyerti - literally all of them. They add so much to the books and they're written so well. Once again we get to meet several new spirits and they were all delightful. Morozko remains my favorite (always) and I loved watching his relationship with Vasya in this book (I love them, but you probably know that already) and looking back on where they were in the first book to where they are now and I just loved it.
All in all, this is a really great conclusion to a great series, and I had a really great time rereading it. (As with all of the books, I read this in winter with snow outside because it adds an extra layer to the atmospheric element).
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Blood, Death, Grief, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Religious bigotry, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, and Violence
Minor: Excrement and Vomit
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