"There was a pause. Vasya's face hurt, and her sight had begun to fracture. The snowy countryside tugged at the edges of her vision."
Vasalisa Petrovna is not like other girls. She runs free and wild through the forests on her father's lands. She rides bareback on great stallions. She sees things. Things that no one else sees. Things that many call demons. She is so similar to the mother she never knew, and Vasalisa's father and brothers want nothing more than to keep the girl safe. They want Vasalisa to forget her wild ways and settle down and marry, but Vasalisa would rather soon die than give up who she truly is. Or who she is about to become when she meets Morozko, the frost demon of death.
The Bear and the Nightingale is the first book in the Winternight Trilogy by Katherine Arden. Set in Russia, it's a beautifully written tale of magic, folklore, and religion. The beginning of the book is a bit slow, filled with lots of necessary backstory, but the writing is so lovely that I was sucked in by the end of the first page.
I found Vasalisa to be an extremely likable character, and we all know how picky I can be. She is the second youngest out of six children, but she proves to be one of the strongest. She is a defiant child who was raised without a mother, and throughout the book you see her grow into the woman that her mother knew she would be.
This was my first time reading a book that was set in historical Russia and found it to be very interesting. I knew little of their beliefs and am now curious to know more. I've started the second book in the trilogy, The Girl in the Tower, and am super excited to see where it takes me!
ETA: The rest of the trilogy was just as good! Perfect series for a winter binge read. I will not be doing a full review of the second and third books because, well, spoilers.
Vasalisa Petrovna is not like other girls. She runs free and wild through the forests on her father's lands. She rides bareback on great stallions. She sees things. Things that no one else sees. Things that many call demons. She is so similar to the mother she never knew, and Vasalisa's father and brothers want nothing more than to keep the girl safe. They want Vasalisa to forget her wild ways and settle down and marry, but Vasalisa would rather soon die than give up who she truly is. Or who she is about to become when she meets Morozko, the frost demon of death.The Bear and the Nightingale is the first book in the Winternight Trilogy by Katherine Arden. Set in Russia, it's a beautifully written tale of magic, folklore, and religion. The beginning of the book is a bit slow, filled with lots of necessary backstory, but the writing is so lovely that I was sucked in by the end of the first page.
I found Vasalisa to be an extremely likable character, and we all know how picky I can be. She is the second youngest out of six children, but she proves to be one of the strongest. She is a defiant child who was raised without a mother, and throughout the book you see her grow into the woman that her mother knew she would be.
This was my first time reading a book that was set in historical Russia and found it to be very interesting. I knew little of their beliefs and am now curious to know more. I've started the second book in the trilogy, The Girl in the Tower, and am super excited to see where it takes me!
ETA: The rest of the trilogy was just as good! Perfect series for a winter binge read. I will not be doing a full review of the second and third books because, well, spoilers.
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