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felicitydarke 's review for:
The Bear and the Nightingale
by Katherine Arden
3.25 Stars!
This one was actually quite difficult for me to rate, mainly because I haven't read anything quite like it before, and I'm still not sure about how I feel about it as a whole.
So, the synopsis is rather vague, which is probably necessary because I think that it would be really hard to pin down exactly what this story is about in a couple of sentences. There is a rather large cast of characters, but not in the traditional sense of the word. It's not that there are a lot of characters - there's probably an average amount - but the thing is that we read from almost all of their perspectives throughout the book due to its omniscient narration. Now, this has both its benefits and its disadvantages. As for the benefits, it means that we get to see inside the heads of multiple characters, which is necessary to tell this kind of story as I don't think that it would have worked if we'd just read from Vasya's perspective. On the other hand, it was slightly disorientating to jump from the head of one character to another to another within the space of a few sentences, at times.
One thing to definitely be aware of is that this is definitely a book meant to be read slowly, so if you're looking for a super-engaging and/or fast-paced story, then this is not the one for you. It will take time, and it does pay off, but it definitely takes its time to get there, and the first 100 or so pages did feel quite tedious.
Vasya was enjoyable as a character, I appreciated her optimistic outlook and complete and utter stubbornness. She knows what she wants, and she's not afraid to say so, which made it really easy to cheer her on. I also enjoyed reading about her siblings as they were all interesting in their own ways, and I look forward to seeing what Katherine Arden does with them in the next few installments. As for the other characters, there were a lot of sinister forces out there that were terrifying for different reasons, which made for a very layered story that balanced personal fear well with a larger-scale threat.
The magic was really well-done, nice and subtle and not overused, which was different to a lot of magic-infused worlds that I'm used to seeing. Don't get me wrong, I love those too, it's why I read so much fantasy, but seeing it playing out different here was refreshing.
Be warned, a lot of this book is very bleak and uncomfortable, which can be a lot to try and handle at times, but there are light moments splashed in here and there (plus, as I mentioned, Vasya's optimism) that prevent it from being totally despairing. I did struggle with the actions of some of the characters at times, especially in the darker moments though.
Overall: A rich and intriguing fantasy which can be very dark and uncomfortable and struggles with pacing, at times.
This one was actually quite difficult for me to rate, mainly because I haven't read anything quite like it before, and I'm still not sure about how I feel about it as a whole.
So, the synopsis is rather vague, which is probably necessary because I think that it would be really hard to pin down exactly what this story is about in a couple of sentences. There is a rather large cast of characters, but not in the traditional sense of the word. It's not that there are a lot of characters - there's probably an average amount - but the thing is that we read from almost all of their perspectives throughout the book due to its omniscient narration. Now, this has both its benefits and its disadvantages. As for the benefits, it means that we get to see inside the heads of multiple characters, which is necessary to tell this kind of story as I don't think that it would have worked if we'd just read from Vasya's perspective. On the other hand, it was slightly disorientating to jump from the head of one character to another to another within the space of a few sentences, at times.
One thing to definitely be aware of is that this is definitely a book meant to be read slowly, so if you're looking for a super-engaging and/or fast-paced story, then this is not the one for you. It will take time, and it does pay off, but it definitely takes its time to get there, and the first 100 or so pages did feel quite tedious.
Vasya was enjoyable as a character, I appreciated her optimistic outlook and complete and utter stubbornness. She knows what she wants, and she's not afraid to say so, which made it really easy to cheer her on. I also enjoyed reading about her siblings as they were all interesting in their own ways, and I look forward to seeing what Katherine Arden does with them in the next few installments. As for the other characters, there were a lot of sinister forces out there that were terrifying for different reasons, which made for a very layered story that balanced personal fear well with a larger-scale threat.
The magic was really well-done, nice and subtle and not overused, which was different to a lot of magic-infused worlds that I'm used to seeing. Don't get me wrong, I love those too, it's why I read so much fantasy, but seeing it playing out different here was refreshing.
Be warned, a lot of this book is very bleak and uncomfortable, which can be a lot to try and handle at times, but there are light moments splashed in here and there (plus, as I mentioned, Vasya's optimism) that prevent it from being totally despairing. I did struggle with the actions of some of the characters at times, especially in the darker moments though.
Overall: A rich and intriguing fantasy which can be very dark and uncomfortable and struggles with pacing, at times.