Book Review
Dec. 21st, 2022 09:21 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kenjariThe Winter of the Witch
by Katherine Arden
This is the sequel to The Girl in the Tower and the final volume in the trilogy that began with The Bear and the Nightingale. After surviving a traumatic attempt on her life, Vasya journeys through both the lands of magic and the realm of men in order to find a way to save her family, the supernatural world, and all of Russia from invaders worldly and spiritual. She must take large risks, make dangerous bargains, and balance opposing forces within herself and in the world around her. The resolution to all of this is so satisfying. None of it is simple or easy, but neither is any of it needlessly tragic or grim.
Vasya continues to be a terrific character. I love how even though she rejects the ways medieval Russian society restricts women, she never loses her love for its people and especially her family. One of the thematic threads of the trilogy concerns the way she carves out an unconventional place and life for herself without having to reject the place and people she loves. I also really enjoyed the love story between Vasya and Morozko and how it acknowledged the gap between a mortal and a demi-god without diminishing either one's agency. Arden's writing is lovely and beautifully evokes a cold wintry world of wonder and darkness.
by Katherine Arden
This is the sequel to The Girl in the Tower and the final volume in the trilogy that began with The Bear and the Nightingale. After surviving a traumatic attempt on her life, Vasya journeys through both the lands of magic and the realm of men in order to find a way to save her family, the supernatural world, and all of Russia from invaders worldly and spiritual. She must take large risks, make dangerous bargains, and balance opposing forces within herself and in the world around her. The resolution to all of this is so satisfying. None of it is simple or easy, but neither is any of it needlessly tragic or grim.
Vasya continues to be a terrific character. I love how even though she rejects the ways medieval Russian society restricts women, she never loses her love for its people and especially her family. One of the thematic threads of the trilogy concerns the way she carves out an unconventional place and life for herself without having to reject the place and people she loves. I also really enjoyed the love story between Vasya and Morozko and how it acknowledged the gap between a mortal and a demi-god without diminishing either one's agency. Arden's writing is lovely and beautifully evokes a cold wintry world of wonder and darkness.
