A review by bennysbooks
The Girl in The Tower by Katherine Arden

3.0

I didn't enjoy this nearly as much as the first book. It read less like a fairytale and more like a historical fantasy, which isn't inherently an issue, but was very much not what I was expecting. I wanted more of the chyerti, especially the domovoi, and more of the dark/cozy/isolated setting of medieval Russia. Instead we got more battling, politics, scheming. It was interesting to get more insight into medieval Moscow, but the end result was a more straightforward, predictable plot. I guessed what was going on with Kasyan almost immediately, knew who the ghost was, and while it may not have been Arden's intention to keep me on my toes, it meant that I felt almost no tension throughout. Disconnected. 

I think the most successful element of this second book was the continued exploration of familial (especially sibling) relationships, and the way that duty, propriety, and especially religious differences complicate the love they have for one another. That's the biggest draw for me to continue with the series - I want to explore that tension between Sasha/Olga and Vasya more, between Christianity and paganism. The plot is completely secondary to that, at this point.