Katherine Arden’s bestselling debut novel spins an irresistible spell as it announces the arrival of a singular talent with a gorgeous voice. “A beautiful deep-winter story, full of magic and monsters and the sharp edges of growing up.”—Naomi Novik, bestselling author of Uprooted
Winter lasts most of the year at the edge of the Russian wilderness, and in the long nights, Vasilisa and her siblings love to gather by the fire to listen to their nurse’s fairy tales. Above all, Vasya loves the story of Frost, the blue-eyed winter demon. Wise Russians fear him, for he claims unwary souls, and they honor the spirits that protect their homes from evil.
Then Vasya’s widowed father brings home a new wife from Moscow. Fiercely devout, Vasya’s stepmother forbids her family from honoring their household spirits, but Vasya fears what this may bring. And indeed, misfortune begins to stalk the village.
But Vasya’s stepmother only grows harsher, determined to remake the village to her liking and to groom her rebellious stepdaughter for marriage or a convent. As the village’s defenses weaken and evil from the forest creeps nearer, Vasilisa must call upon dangerous gifts she has long concealed—to protect her family from a threat sprung to life from her nurse’s most frightening tales.
Praise for The Bear and the Nightingale
“Arden’s debut novel has the cadence of a beautiful fairy tale but is darker and more lyrical.”—The Washington Post
“Vasya [is] a clever, stalwart girl determined to forge her own path in a time when women had few choices.”—The Christian Science Monitor
“Stunning . . . will enchant readers from the first page. . . . with an irresistible heroine who wants only to be free of the bonds placed on her gender and claim her own fate.”—Publishers Weekly (starred review)
“Utterly bewitching . . . a lush narrative . . . an immersive, earthy story of folk magic, faith, and hubris, peopled with vivid, dynamic characters, particularly clever, brave Vasya, who outsmarts men and demons alike to save her family.”—Booklist (starred review)
“An extraordinary retelling of a very old tale . . . The Bear and the Nightingale is a wonderfully layered novel of family and the harsh wonders of deep winter magic.”—Robin Hobb
This book had some red flags for me. First, it starts out with some folklore. I really just have no patience for folklore. My eyes glaze over and I start skimming. But I hung in and kept going!
Second, the genre lies somewhere between fantasy and historical fiction and magical realism, and magical realism and I have never gotten along well.
Nonetheless, I stuck with the story and really enjoyed it in the end. First, the setting was intriguing to me. It is set in what is basically Russia in the 13oos, at a time when tensions with the Mongols were high. Winter and the wilderness are serious business.
This is essentially the story of Vasya, whose mother dies after her birth and who can see all of the creatures (spirits? gremlins?) that help them throughout the house and the village. When Vasya is still a young child, her father goes to the city and returns with a young bride and a priest, both deeply religious and determined to disabuse Vasya of the notion that she can see these spirits. In the meantime, the village is dying, and Vasya may be the only one who can save them, with the help of a mysterious icy man.
There are a lot of themes to unpack here. The roles of women in society and in the home. The responsibilities that fall upon the eldest sons. And most of all, Christianity versus more pagan beliefs. Overall, religion is the bad guy here.
Though I enjoyed it, there were definitely some flaws. The pacing in the story is off. It really take forever to get to the meat of the story, and then the last act feels rushed. I wish we had spent more time with Vasya as a teen and less time with her as a small child. Also, the treatment of Anna, Vasya’s stepmother, was terrible. She is beat up not only by the story but by the author. I think she was needlessly turned into a villain, when really she was the biggest victim in the story.
This is meant to be the first in a trilogy. I may pick up the others, I haven’t decided yet.
