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A review by oisinthewizard
The Witch and the Tsar by Olesya Salnikova Gilmore
adventurous
dark
emotional
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? Yes
3.25
I loved this book up to about page 340.
The characters are robust and dynamic, even in their flaws. I appreciate Yaga's flaws and limited perception of time and place, even as the daughter of a god. It takes a deft hand to write a vulnerable immortal and Salnikova Gilmore pulled it off. The landscape of Ivan the Terrible's Russia draws the reader in with its starkness and brutality. I enjoyed the found family dynamics with the Skomorokhi Knights, although sensitive readers may find the brutality of the Oprichniki to be too much. (To be fair to the author, they were far more brutal in actual history than in this fantasy novel.)
As my issues with the book are primarily with the ending, I will write them as spoilers.Once it became obvious that Selica, Lady of Death, sister of Baba Yaga, is also Kostroma, Lady of Spring nad Rebirth, sister of Kupalo, I thought the plot to kill Selica would have an obvious ending - it is in the killing to of the deity of winter that she can become the deity of spring. This is a known mythological cycle and makes sense. So when Yaga's ritual just perma-kills her and the goddess of spring and winter is no more - I am honestly confused as to how that would possibly restore the order of seasons in Russia, especially with Morozko, who has been inflicting eternal winter on Russia, unpunished and unfettered.
I also found Vasily's story from page 340 on to be unnecessarily complicated and without proper resolution. He could have just disappeared in the war against the Lithuanian and Polish armies. To have him under some unexplained spell and then just appear, perfectly fine, at the end of the book, despite Yaga and Marina waiting for him for months in Psok makes no sense.
Selica's anger at men does not have any textual support, as it was her mother who sold her into marriage and her husband, Morozko, who supported her escape from it. On page 344, she accuses Morozko of infidelity and punishes Vasily for "Yet he is a man, and how easily they forget. She is doing Yaga a favor. Look where men have gotten Selica. Like all women, her sister is better off on her own." None of this is supported by the text. We have no evidence prior to this of Morozko having any lover other than Selica and Vasily has loyal to Yaga.
Lastly, I was very disappointed that after Selica is banished to the lands of the dead, none of the characters who were participating in brutal massacres for basically the entire book have any responsibility to their actions and in fact, appear to just stop now that the Lady of Death is gone. Do they not have any agency of their own?
The characters are robust and dynamic, even in their flaws. I appreciate Yaga's flaws and limited perception of time and place, even as the daughter of a god. It takes a deft hand to write a vulnerable immortal and Salnikova Gilmore pulled it off. The landscape of Ivan the Terrible's Russia draws the reader in with its starkness and brutality. I enjoyed the found family dynamics with the Skomorokhi Knights, although sensitive readers may find the brutality of the Oprichniki to be too much. (To be fair to the author, they were far more brutal in actual history than in this fantasy novel.)
As my issues with the book are primarily with the ending, I will write them as spoilers.
I also found Vasily's story from page 340 on to be unnecessarily complicated and without proper resolution. He could have just disappeared in the war against the Lithuanian and Polish armies. To have him under some unexplained spell and then just appear, perfectly fine, at the end of the book, despite Yaga and Marina waiting for him for months in Psok makes no sense.
Selica's anger at men does not have any textual support, as it was her mother who sold her into marriage and her husband, Morozko, who supported her escape from it. On page 344, she accuses Morozko of infidelity and punishes Vasily for "Yet he is a man, and how easily they forget. She is doing Yaga a favor. Look where men have gotten Selica. Like all women, her sister is better off on her own." None of this is supported by the text. We have no evidence prior to this of Morozko having any lover other than Selica and Vasily has loyal to Yaga.
Lastly, I was very disappointed that after Selica is banished to the lands of the dead, none of the characters who were participating in brutal massacres for basically the entire book have any responsibility to their actions and in fact, appear to just stop now that the Lady of Death is gone. Do they not have any agency of their own?
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Death of parent, Murder, Blood, Death, War, and Injury/Injury detail