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mags_gcs 's review for:
The Bear and the Nightingale
by Katherine Arden
Wow. Just, wow.
This one snuck up on me! For the first quarter of the book I wasn’t quite sold, the back and forth perspectives were confusing to me and the setting hadn’t really materialized in my brain yet. I kept going because I could tell the story was going somewhere and WOW did it go somewhere! This book truly has it all, well rounded characters, extremely fleshed out scenery, and a plot that knows where it’s going and doesn’t take too long to get there.
While I admit it took a minute for the setting to fully become realized in my brain, slowly as I was reading I started to notice a chill that wasn’t there before. I could see the forest with clarity and visualized the architecture so clearly. Katherine Arden is a master of place. By the end of the book I knew exactly where she wanted us and could even smell the world she had built around me. If you’re a person who loves world building, this book is for you.
The characters really shine as well! The many perspectives almost put me off but as you get further into the book the perspectives start to focus in on the ones driving the plot. I feel like everyone was pretty well rounded and I found myself on rooting for each one at different points, even the “villains” in the story. Particularly Anna, I know she really was a bad stepmother but it’s hard to hate her when I know how young she was when she was put in this position against her will. Vasya is obviously the star of the novel and “the chosen one” but I feel there were times I was frustrated with her choices before falling back in love with her. Konstantin was also a tough character because I felt myself wanting him to come around at many points throughout the story.
This book is the first in a trilogy and I can’t wait to read the others, this was such a strong opening and I hope the rest is just as good!
This one snuck up on me! For the first quarter of the book I wasn’t quite sold, the back and forth perspectives were confusing to me and the setting hadn’t really materialized in my brain yet. I kept going because I could tell the story was going somewhere and WOW did it go somewhere! This book truly has it all, well rounded characters, extremely fleshed out scenery, and a plot that knows where it’s going and doesn’t take too long to get there.
While I admit it took a minute for the setting to fully become realized in my brain, slowly as I was reading I started to notice a chill that wasn’t there before. I could see the forest with clarity and visualized the architecture so clearly. Katherine Arden is a master of place. By the end of the book I knew exactly where she wanted us and could even smell the world she had built around me. If you’re a person who loves world building, this book is for you.
The characters really shine as well! The many perspectives almost put me off but as you get further into the book the perspectives start to focus in on the ones driving the plot. I feel like everyone was pretty well rounded and I found myself on rooting for each one at different points, even the “villains” in the story. Particularly Anna, I know she really was a bad stepmother but it’s hard to hate her when I know how young she was when she was put in this position against her will. Vasya is obviously the star of the novel and “the chosen one” but I feel there were times I was frustrated with her choices before falling back in love with her. Konstantin was also a tough character because I felt myself wanting him to come around at many points throughout the story.
This book is the first in a trilogy and I can’t wait to read the others, this was such a strong opening and I hope the rest is just as good!