A review by mmefish
The Girl in the Tower by Katherine Arden

adventurous emotional mysterious 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

3.5

Witch. The word drifted across his mind. We call such women so, because we have no other name.

This one... isn't as great as "The Bear And the Nightingale".

I still love Katherine Arden's writing and the way she shapes her characters but this book feels way less... mature? The beginning is fine and the middle section is great (I was anxious the whole time) but the ending felt rushed, unnecessary and trope-ish.

What I mean by unnecessary is, for example, this:
-
did the traitor really need to be Koschei the Deathless? It didn't serve any purpose rather than to connect Vasya to him, which wasn't needed. His character was good enough as a human and his evilness became a little caricaturish as well.

-
what was the point of  incorporating Olga's pregnancy and killing her unborn baby? Just...why? I think Vasya had enough of courage and determination without it.

-
romance with Morozko. Not necessary and could easily be written as strong friendship/platonic relationship. She's about 16 years old and is often referred to as "child", so it's kinda icky.


And by tropes I mean: Vasya is special, "plain" (so many time it's mentioned that she's ugly and not a beauty, we get it), everyone falls in love with her; Vasya is good/better at whatever; lack of communication, specifically people starting telling something and just... deciding not to (I hate it so much); the "twist" (
"the villain was one of us all along"
), the easy escape at the very end,
teenage girl in love with ancient being
etc. 
It read a little bit too much like YA.

Also, I'm really sick of
Vasya getting sexually harassed/assaulted.
I understand why Katherine Arden writes it but I dislike it nonetheless. 

Overall, "The Girl in the Tower" is definitely not terrible but still feels like a letdown after such a strong first book.
_______________

Edit: decided not to finish the series.
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