luthoreads 's review for:

The Bear and the Nightingale by Katherine Arden

3.0

adventurous mysterious medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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I really wanted to love this one, i’ve had it in my tbr for so long, like years, and i finally got to it but unfortunately i didn’t enjoy it as much as i wanted. 

I know it’s a trilogy so the first book i expected it to be introductory but it took it to the next level of introductions, almost 70% of the story was getting to know the main character, we literally follow her since before she was born until she’s around 14 years old where the main story happens. 

The amount of characters in this is already difficult to follow but what made it more challenging was the use of almost 3 names for the same character; now i know this is common for russian background but it was very hard to follow (the glossary at the end could have been at the beginning for a more accessible use). 

At the very end of the story it got so good, it was exactly what i wanted, Vasya is a very interesting and unique character and i really would’ve loved to get more of her final arc but i guess that’s going to be in book 2 and 3. I really don’t know if i’ll continue it, for now my interest is not really high.