Book Review
Dec. 8th, 2022 01:55 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kenjariThe Bear and the Nightingale
by Katherine Arden
Set in medieval Russia, this fairy-tale inspired novel follows the childhood and coming of age of Vasilisa Petrovna, daughter of a northern lord. She is blessed and curse with the ability to see and directly communicate with the spirits that inhabit her world - the domovoi, Rusalka, etc. of tales. When her father brings home a new, devout wife, the village begins to abandon the folk beliefs that kept the household spirits strong. Crops begin to fail, and bad luck abounds. Even worse, Medved, the evil brother of the Winter King Morozka, awakens and begins to meddle in the human world. Despite being suspected as a witch, Vasilisa works to protect the village, and forms a strange alliance with Morozka in the process.
I very much enjoyed this novel. I love Slavic mythology and the way it mixes darkness and light. Arden's writing is wonderfully evocative of a cold yet beautiful land, and of the world of Russian fairy tales. I could feel the cold of the snow and the warmth of the hearth. She also tells the story exceedingly well - the plot and pacing are nearly perfect. Vasilisa is a great character - brave and wild and large-hearted. I liked the way she navigated her world and the story she finds herself in, and especially all the ways she finds to push back against the constraints placed on women in that time and place.
by Katherine Arden
Set in medieval Russia, this fairy-tale inspired novel follows the childhood and coming of age of Vasilisa Petrovna, daughter of a northern lord. She is blessed and curse with the ability to see and directly communicate with the spirits that inhabit her world - the domovoi, Rusalka, etc. of tales. When her father brings home a new, devout wife, the village begins to abandon the folk beliefs that kept the household spirits strong. Crops begin to fail, and bad luck abounds. Even worse, Medved, the evil brother of the Winter King Morozka, awakens and begins to meddle in the human world. Despite being suspected as a witch, Vasilisa works to protect the village, and forms a strange alliance with Morozka in the process.
I very much enjoyed this novel. I love Slavic mythology and the way it mixes darkness and light. Arden's writing is wonderfully evocative of a cold yet beautiful land, and of the world of Russian fairy tales. I could feel the cold of the snow and the warmth of the hearth. She also tells the story exceedingly well - the plot and pacing are nearly perfect. Vasilisa is a great character - brave and wild and large-hearted. I liked the way she navigated her world and the story she finds herself in, and especially all the ways she finds to push back against the constraints placed on women in that time and place.
