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A review by ehmannky
The Bear and the Nightingale by Katherine Arden
emotional
reflective
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
Beautiful. At first I was a little put off by how much worldbuilding and story telling goes into the book before we start to focus on Vasya, but it's so worth it. It's just a beautiful rendition of Russian folklore done in beautiful prose with a beautiful story and beautiful characters. The ending felt a bit contrived, but that didn't particularly bother me considering how much this book leans so heavily on fantasy tropes.
I liked that Arden encouraged readers to empathize with antagonistic characters like Konstantin and Anna (I still hated them, but I liked that she made the attempt to show that the typical "wicked" characters in the tale weren't villains at heart, just people with twisted intentions).
I liked that Arden encouraged readers to empathize with antagonistic characters like Konstantin and Anna (I still hated them, but I liked that she made the attempt to show that the typical "wicked" characters in the tale weren't villains at heart, just people with twisted intentions).
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Death of parent, Death, Sexism, Misogyny, Grief, and Religious bigotry
Moderate: Blood and Child death
Minor: Vomit and Sexual assault