The Bear and the Nightingale (Winternight #1) by Katherine Arden

The Bear and the Nightingale (Winternight #1) by Katherine Arden - 323 pages

At the edge of the Russian wilderness, winter lasts most of the year and the snowdrifts grow taller than houses. But Vasilisa doesn't mind—she spends the winter nights huddled around the embers of a fire with her beloved siblings, listening to her nurse's fairy tales. Above all, she loves the chilling story of Frost, the blue-eyed winter demon, who appears in the frigid night to claim unwary souls. Wise Russians fear him, her nurse says, and honor the spirits of house and yard and forest that protect their homes from evil.

After Vasilisa's mother dies, her father goes to Moscow and brings home a new wife. Fiercely devout, city-bred, Vasilisa's new stepmother forbids her family from honoring the household spirits. The family acquiesces, but Vasilisa is frightened, sensing that more hinges upon their rituals than anyone knows.

And indeed, crops begin to fail, evil creatures of the forest creep nearer, and misfortune stalks the village. All the while, Vasilisa's stepmother grows ever harsher in her determination to groom her rebellious stepdaughter for either marriage or confinement in a convent. As danger circles, Vasilisa must defy even the people she loves and call on dangerous gifts she has long concealed—this, in order to protect her family from a threat that seems to have stepped from her nurse's most frightening tales.

The Winter of the Witch by Katherine Arden

The Winter of the Witch: A Novel by Katherine Arden --- 372 pages including Author's Note, Note on Russian Names, Glossary, Family Tree and Acknowledgements.

The Winter of the Witch is the third and final volume in Arden's Winternight Trilogy, which also includes The Bear and the Nightingale (2017) and The Girl in the Tower (2018). This fantasy trilogy is based on the history and folklore of 14th century Rus, and the historic Battle of Kulikovo, when the princes and boyers finally united under Dimitri, Grand Prince of Moscow, to defeat the Tatars of the Mongol Golden Horde; it is celebrated in Russian history as the beginning of the Russian nation. 

As the third book opens, Moscow is on fire and the false priest Konstantin has put the blame on Vasya Petrovna. A frightened, furious mob drags Vasya down to the river to burn her as a witch, but she contrives to escape, drawing on her own powers and with the help of the chertyi, the pagan guardians of the land who are slowly fading under the pressure of the Church.

Vasya escapes into Midnight, a place of myth and magic, where she learns the secrets of her heritage in an encounter with her great-grandmother, Baba Yaga. But with knowledge comes responsibility. Vasya is determined to find a way to save her family, her friends, her country, and to reconcile the old Rus of magic with the new Rus of Christianity.

The Winternight Trilogy is filled with its author's love for Russian history, language, myth and folklore. Her aim is to reconcile warring factions and disparate beliefs into a world harmonious and whole.  She achieves a powerful end to a beautiful trilogy, filled with memorable images and characters --- none more so than Vasya herself.

Click HERE to read the * review from Publishers Weekly.

Click HERE to read the review from Kirkus Reviews.

Click HERE to read the review from tor.com.

Click HERE to watch the review from @sff180 on Youtube.

The Girl in the Tower by Katherine Arden

The Girl in the Tower: A Novel (Winternight Trilogy - Book Two) by Katherine Arden --- 362 pages with Author's Note, Glossary and Acknowledgements. 

The fantasy adventure begun in The Bear and the Nightingale continues as Vasya, no longer a child, is confronted with the stark realities facing a wellborn maiden in 14th century Russia. Because she refuses to marry or to be packed off to a convent, her only other option is to flee her home, disguised as a boy.  Unprepared to face the world on her own just yet, she finds  temporary refuge with the enigmatic frost demon Marozko. The attraction between them is strong as ever but ambivalent on both sides. 

Determined to find her own way, Vasya and her great horse Solovey decide to travel on.  But when she encounters a village that has been raided by bandits, who have stolen away three young girls, Vasya impulsively decides to track the bandits and rescue the girls.

One thing leads to another and Vasya finds her masquerade could compromise not only her reputation, but the reputations and safety of her brother, sister and niece, even as she becomes aware of a sorcerous plot to assassinate her cousin,the Grand Prince of Moscow and usurp his rule. She comes to understand that she is not the only one who will pay the price for the choices she makes. 

An enticing blend of Russian history and folklore provides the foundation for this feminist high fantasy adventure.  It will be interesting to see how Arden resolves her tale in Book Three.

Click HERE to read a review from Publishers Weekly.

Click HERE to read a review from Kirkus Reviews.

Click HERE to read a review from Tor.com. 

Click HERE to listen to a podcast interview with the author.

The Bear and the Nightingale by Katherine Arden

The Bear and the Nightingale: A Novel (Winternight Trilogy - Book One) by Katherine Arden --- 322 pages with Author's Note, Glossary and Acknowledgements

My favorite books often combine history, folklore and fantasy; Katherine Arden's first novel (part of a projected series) has all these elements and is off to an utterly beguiling start.

Very few authors who write in English are tackling the world of 14th century Rus' where the Grand Princes in their wooden towns paid tribute to the Mongol Khans to buy an uneasy peace. Here the medieval age lingered, and the ancient lore of the Winter King and the Bear lurked beneath the canopy of the endless Forest and competed with the Orthodox Church for the allegiance of peasants and boyars alike.

In Vasilisa we have a true daughter of the old ways, loving and valiant in defense of her people and her land; willing to accept whatever challenges Fate has in store so long as it is by her own choosing.

The second book in the series, The Girl in the Tower, is scheduled for release in January 2018.

Click HERE to read the review from the Christian Science Monitor.

Click HERE to read the review from NPR.

Click HERE to read the review from Kirkus Reviews.

Click HERE to read the review from tor.com.

Click HERE to watch the trailer on Youtube.