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ireadinbed's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
sad
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
4.75
A really solid end to the series. I cried and I smiled wide and I felt like I was on a great journey.
Yes the first book is still my favorite. I preferred the smaller, more intimate struggles and the hints of horror. But this book really brings all the themes full circle and doesn't pull punches.
Ded Grib was such a needed reminder of how Vasya started out. Chefs kiss.
My only real complaint is that it feels like it needed more denouement. It seemed like it cut off suddenly.
Yes the first book is still my favorite. I preferred the smaller, more intimate struggles and the hints of horror. But this book really brings all the themes full circle and doesn't pull punches.
Ded Grib was such a needed reminder of how Vasya started out. Chefs kiss.
My only real complaint is that it feels like it needed more denouement. It seemed like it cut off suddenly.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death and Blood
Moderate: War
Minor: Sexual assault
pnonikki's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: War, Violence, Sexism, and Grief
Moderate: Sexual harassment and Death
Minor: Sexual content
beesknees's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
hopeful
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
This final installment of the Winternight trilogy brings all of Vasya’s journey and lessons together. This finale is pretty fast paced, compared to its predecessors. Arden intelligently weaves real pieces of Russian history into this story, while always honoring the magic and romance that has been present since book one. I cried at a specific scene near the end, and then cried again.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Fire/Fire injury, Violence, and War
Moderate: Blood, Animal death, and Injury/Injury detail
sas_lk's review against another edition
adventurous
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
I just loved it, honestly. An amazing series. One of my favourites. The characters have my heart, I love them all so much and I just want to protect them forever. So glad this series came into my life.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Violence, Sexism, and Animal death
Moderate: Sexual content and War
Minor: Rape, Vomit, and Slavery
wordsofclover's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Animal death, War, Violence, and Death
basil_touche's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
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
4.25
This book certainly fulfilled the expectations I had from the previous book. Arden's writing style flows best in this final installment of the Winternight Triology, where chyerti and man alike join forces to protect their home. Chyerti appear much more in the plot here than last time, with the introduction of Midnight being a fascinating way of introducing more of Russian folklore (I was particually fond of Deb Grib, love that he was insistent that he was Vasya's first ally) and a new means of transportation for the protagonist, though not an easy one at first.
I have to admit though, I didn't really care for the romance between Vasya and Morozko. Their relationship felt underdeveloped for most of the novel but as characters I felt that they were still great. It just felt to me that there wasn't much build up to it.
I was surprised when they defeated Medved and the narrative still went on, however I quite like that Vasya freed Medved to assist her in fighting the war. He casually tries to make her lose her mind but they do have a somewhat begruding comradeship by the end (Medved's sly comments at everybody that made me smirk a fair bit).
There were some things that I felt were too quickly explained and others where I wished there were more details about but overall this is a fine conclusion to the triology.
There were some things that I felt were too quickly explained and others where I wished there were more details about but overall this is a fine conclusion to the triology.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Torture, Suicidal thoughts, Sexism, War, Death, Sexual assault, Misogyny, Animal death, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Murder, Physical abuse, Religious bigotry, Suicide, Violence, and Vomit
Moderate: Sexual content, Gore, Pregnancy, Panic attacks/disorders, and Xenophobia
micallab's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
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? Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Violence, Blood, and War
Moderate: Sexual content
Minor: Torture and Vomit
kaiyakaiyo's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
An extremely tumultuous, if a tad predictable ending to a fun series! Vasya’s powers finally made some sense, but still had a bit of mystery so it didn’t feel overly neat.
There was a lot of suffering in this book! Some of it was gratuitous, but overall I really like when fantasy doesn’t gloss over how fucking disgusting and dreary life could be in these historical settings. Battle half-planned half-freestyle, mud everywhere, cold as fuck, and everything sucks until the fight is over; it felt more accurate than if Vasya had ridden up in shiny armor with the perfect plan and giant allies. Still have complaints about the heavy-handed sexual assault & harassment throughout these books as an attempt at “historical accuracy” but … whatever
My biggest complaint that took this down a full star: The Bear actually liking Konstantin was… weird. I don’t love retroactive queering of villains, and this iteration of it felt especially shoehorned and strange. The author could have easily written in a few queer monks or cheyrti if they were that anxious to inject queerness after like 600+ pages of het-fest… loads of potential material given how willing they were to bend and freestyle mythology… Having the murderous mentally ill monk with a fetish for harming women he desires and the giant chaos bear that literally possessed and assaulted said monk be lightly gay for each other was ill-timed and ill-chosen. Don’t get me wrong, I live for queerness in historical fantasy but i thought we’d long ago established that throwing a little fruit into abusive, horrible villain characters was not an okay way to add diversity…
There was a lot of suffering in this book! Some of it was gratuitous, but overall I really like when fantasy doesn’t gloss over how fucking disgusting and dreary life could be in these historical settings. Battle half-planned half-freestyle, mud everywhere, cold as fuck, and everything sucks until the fight is over; it felt more accurate than if Vasya had ridden up in shiny armor with the perfect plan and giant allies. Still have complaints about the heavy-handed sexual assault & harassment throughout these books as an attempt at “historical accuracy” but … whatever
My biggest complaint that took this down a full star: The Bear actually liking Konstantin was… weird. I don’t love retroactive queering of villains, and this iteration of it felt especially shoehorned and strange. The author could have easily written in a few queer monks or cheyrti if they were that anxious to inject queerness after like 600+ pages of het-fest… loads of potential material given how willing they were to bend and freestyle mythology… Having the murderous mentally ill monk with a fetish for harming women he desires and the giant chaos bear that literally possessed and assaulted said monk be lightly gay for each other was ill-timed and ill-chosen. Don’t get me wrong, I live for queerness in historical fantasy but i thought we’d long ago established that throwing a little fruit into abusive, horrible villain characters was not an okay way to add diversity…
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, War, Death, Violence, and Misogyny
Moderate: Torture, Sexual harassment, Religious bigotry, Toxic friendship, Grief, and Toxic relationship
Minor: Vomit
olma's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
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? No
4.0
This is my favorite book of the trilogy. It has the magic, the twists, and the historical drama. I loved the resolution to Vasya’s story.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, War, and Death
roxyline's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
4.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence and War