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wordsofclover's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Animal death, Death, Violence, and War
basil_touche's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
This book certainly fulfilled the expectations I had from the previous book. Arden's writing style flows best in this final installment of the Winternight Triology, where chyerti and man alike join forces to protect their home. Chyerti appear much more in the plot here than last time, with the introduction of Midnight being a fascinating way of introducing more of Russian folklore (I was particually fond of Deb Grib, love that he was insistent that he was Vasya's first ally) and a new means of transportation for the protagonist, though not an easy one at first.
I have to admit though, I didn't really care for the romance between Vasya and Morozko. Their relationship felt underdeveloped for most of the novel but as characters I felt that they were still great. It just felt to me that there wasn't much build up to it.
I was surprised when they defeated Medved and the narrative still went on, however I quite like that Vasya freed Medved to assist her in fighting the war. He casually tries to make her lose her mind but they do have a somewhat begruding comradeship by the end (Medved's sly comments at everybody that made me smirk a fair bit).
There were some things that I felt were too quickly explained and others where I wished there were more details about but overall this is a fine conclusion to the triology.
There were some things that I felt were too quickly explained and others where I wished there were more details about but overall this is a fine conclusion to the triology.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Death, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexism, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Religious bigotry, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and War
Moderate: Gore, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, Xenophobia, and Pregnancy
kaiyakaiyo's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
An extremely tumultuous, if a tad predictable ending to a fun series! Vasya’s powers finally made some sense, but still had a bit of mystery so it didn’t feel overly neat.
There was a lot of suffering in this book! Some of it was gratuitous, but overall I really like when fantasy doesn’t gloss over how fucking disgusting and dreary life could be in these historical settings. Battle half-planned half-freestyle, mud everywhere, cold as fuck, and everything sucks until the fight is over; it felt more accurate than if Vasya had ridden up in shiny armor with the perfect plan and giant allies. Still have complaints about the heavy-handed sexual assault & harassment throughout these books as an attempt at “historical accuracy” but … whatever
My biggest complaint that took this down a full star: The Bear actually liking Konstantin was… weird. I don’t love retroactive queering of villains, and this iteration of it felt especially shoehorned and strange. The author could have easily written in a few queer monks or cheyrti if they were that anxious to inject queerness after like 600+ pages of het-fest… loads of potential material given how willing they were to bend and freestyle mythology… Having the murderous mentally ill monk with a fetish for harming women he desires and the giant chaos bear that literally possessed and assaulted said monk be lightly gay for each other was ill-timed and ill-chosen. Don’t get me wrong, I live for queerness in historical fantasy but i thought we’d long ago established that throwing a little fruit into abusive, horrible villain characters was not an okay way to add diversity…
There was a lot of suffering in this book! Some of it was gratuitous, but overall I really like when fantasy doesn’t gloss over how fucking disgusting and dreary life could be in these historical settings. Battle half-planned half-freestyle, mud everywhere, cold as fuck, and everything sucks until the fight is over; it felt more accurate than if Vasya had ridden up in shiny armor with the perfect plan and giant allies. Still have complaints about the heavy-handed sexual assault & harassment throughout these books as an attempt at “historical accuracy” but … whatever
My biggest complaint that took this down a full star: The Bear actually liking Konstantin was… weird. I don’t love retroactive queering of villains, and this iteration of it felt especially shoehorned and strange. The author could have easily written in a few queer monks or cheyrti if they were that anxious to inject queerness after like 600+ pages of het-fest… loads of potential material given how willing they were to bend and freestyle mythology… Having the murderous mentally ill monk with a fetish for harming women he desires and the giant chaos bear that literally possessed and assaulted said monk be lightly gay for each other was ill-timed and ill-chosen. Don’t get me wrong, I live for queerness in historical fantasy but i thought we’d long ago established that throwing a little fruit into abusive, horrible villain characters was not an okay way to add diversity…
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Misogyny, Violence, Blood, and War
Moderate: Torture, Toxic relationship, Grief, Religious bigotry, Toxic friendship, and Sexual harassment
Minor: Vomit
aunessa's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
A very good last book of the trilogy, very challenging.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death and Death
Moderate: Torture and Violence
olma's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
This is my favorite book of the trilogy. It has the magic, the twists, and the historical drama. I loved the resolution to Vasya’s story.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Blood, and War
emtees's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
This was an amazing end to this trilogy. Definitely my favorite of the three books.
In The Girl in the Tower, Vasilisa Petrovna saved Moscow and its Grand Prince, Dmitrii Ivanovich, from the Tartar invasion and the scheming of the sorcerer Kasyan Lutovich. But in the process, she was revealed to be a witch and she almost got the city burned to the ground. Thanks to her recklessness and mistakes, her old enemy, the mad priest Konstantin, is able to rouse the people of Moscow against her, and to escape being burned to death, Vasya is forced to flee to the lands of Midnight, a sort of world-between-worlds. There, she finds out the truth about her family’s mysterious heritage and learns that, by rejecting the offers of both Morozko the Winter King and his brother, Medved the Bear, she has set herself up as a third power in their eternal war. Whoever she sides with will have a huge advantage, but some of the chyerti, the Russian folk spirts, believe that Vasya should forge her own third path, not just for herself but for them. Meanwhile, back in Moscow, Vasya’s disgraced brother, the warrior monk Sasha, is fighting to protect the Rus from the growing Tartar threat. It is a war that will eventually require the help of all Russians: Christian and pagan, human and chyerti.
This book went in all kinds of directions that I wasn’t expecting. It had all the strengths of the previous books in the series - interesting magic, good use of Russian folklore and history, a main character who is complicated and makes lots of mistakes but is easy to root for, unconventional romance alongside a lot of important non-romantic relationships - but it took the series up a step with the twists and the themes it was exploring. I was a little confused when I got halfway through and it seemed the main plotline had been resolved, but instead, Arden introduced new threats and a lot more moral ambiguity. Vasya’s destiny was not what she thought it was; instead it was something a lot messier and more painful, but also better for both her and her people, Russian and chyerti. Her relationship with Morozko in this book was really strong and interesting; I took a while to care about them in the earlier books in the series but this time I was definitely rooting for them. And I continue to really love her sibling bonds with Sasha and Olga. The book also introduced a couple new characters; my favorite was Ded Grib, the mushroom chyerti, who may be small and of limited skill but is really proud of being Vasya’s first follower.
This book was the most emotional of the three. There were some painful deaths (Sasha! Solovey, even though he came back! And I cannot believe the book actually made me feel for Konstantin ), a lot of emotional challenges for Vasya, and strong character growth. Vasya’s story has always been about trying to find her way between the obligations she feels towards her family and country and her desire for a life free of the restrictions imposed by both. In this book she finds her way to a compromise that works for her, but not without cost. It sounds weird to say about a fictional character, but I was proud of her.
The book ends with an author’s note that explains the aspects of Russian history that Arden used in the series, which enhanced my appreciation for the series.For example, that Sasha and Chelubey were based on real people who did die in single combat against each other, explaining why Sasha had to break my heart by dying in this book. And I had no idea that the compromise between Christian and pagan religion that Vasya works out in the story wasn't just a fanciful idea, but the actual way religion worked in Russia for most of it's history. That's neat.
There were a few minor things in the book didn't work for me, mainly in the revelations about Vasya's family, which were paced oddly and didn't end up seeming as important as they were set up to be. But overall I loved this series and especially this very satisfying conclusion.
In The Girl in the Tower, Vasilisa Petrovna saved Moscow and its Grand Prince, Dmitrii Ivanovich, from the Tartar invasion and the scheming of the sorcerer Kasyan Lutovich. But in the process, she was revealed to be a witch and she almost got the city burned to the ground. Thanks to her recklessness and mistakes, her old enemy, the mad priest Konstantin, is able to rouse the people of Moscow against her, and to escape being burned to death, Vasya is forced to flee to the lands of Midnight, a sort of world-between-worlds. There, she finds out the truth about her family’s mysterious heritage and learns that, by rejecting the offers of both Morozko the Winter King and his brother, Medved the Bear, she has set herself up as a third power in their eternal war. Whoever she sides with will have a huge advantage, but some of the chyerti, the Russian folk spirts, believe that Vasya should forge her own third path, not just for herself but for them. Meanwhile, back in Moscow, Vasya’s disgraced brother, the warrior monk Sasha, is fighting to protect the Rus from the growing Tartar threat. It is a war that will eventually require the help of all Russians: Christian and pagan, human and chyerti.
This book went in all kinds of directions that I wasn’t expecting. It had all the strengths of the previous books in the series - interesting magic, good use of Russian folklore and history, a main character who is complicated and makes lots of mistakes but is easy to root for, unconventional romance alongside a lot of important non-romantic relationships - but it took the series up a step with the twists and the themes it was exploring. I was a little confused when I got halfway through and it seemed the main plotline had been resolved, but instead, Arden introduced new threats and a lot more moral ambiguity. Vasya’s destiny was not what she thought it was; instead it was something a lot messier and more painful, but also better for both her and her people, Russian and chyerti. Her relationship with Morozko in this book was really strong and interesting; I took a while to care about them in the earlier books in the series but this time I was definitely rooting for them. And I continue to really love her sibling bonds with Sasha and Olga. The book also introduced a couple new characters; my favorite was Ded Grib, the mushroom chyerti, who may be small and of limited skill but is really proud of being Vasya’s first follower.
This book was the most emotional of the three. There were some painful deaths (
The book ends with an author’s note that explains the aspects of Russian history that Arden used in the series, which enhanced my appreciation for the series.
There were a few minor things in the book didn't work for me, mainly in the revelations about Vasya's family, which were paced oddly and didn't end up seeming as important as they were set up to be. But overall I loved this series and especially this very satisfying conclusion.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Animal death, Death, War, and Injury/Injury detail
remib's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Death, and Violence
happy_book's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Death, and War
lisa_m's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
This book was the perfect conclusion to the trilogy! It truly got better and better. I really liked the first book, loved the second and this one was just amazing.
I don't think I understand every theme that was explored in this book so I won't even try to analyse it. I just read this book for pleasure so I didn't make notes or anything. I can say that there is definitely loads of things to analyse and think about though.
I loved the way the myths were mixed with real events and people. It just feels like an alternative universe.
This series is officially one of my all time favourites. The writing is amazing, as is the storytelling. The characters range from good, to horrible, to amazing, to very morally ambiguous. The exploration of good & bad and if there even is such a thing in the first place was done so well. This book had a twist I truly did not expect. After the 3rd big chapter I thought everything was over (because in every other fantasy book, that is how the story ends), everything that came after was just so unexpected and amazing. I can't say more without saying too much and spoiling the book so I won't. This is truly a series you should know as little as possible about before reading.
Also I was surprised by how fresh this book felt. I have read so many fantasy books by now and I can enjoy a book while still realising how tropy and cliquee it is. This book felt like something new and exciting though.
I can only highly recommend this book! Especially if you are interested in russian folklore :)
I don't think I understand every theme that was explored in this book so I won't even try to analyse it. I just read this book for pleasure so I didn't make notes or anything. I can say that there is definitely loads of things to analyse and think about though.
I loved the way the myths were mixed with real events and people. It just feels like an alternative universe.
This series is officially one of my all time favourites. The writing is amazing, as is the storytelling. The characters range from good, to horrible, to amazing, to very morally ambiguous. The exploration of good & bad and if there even is such a thing in the first place was done so well. This book had a twist I truly did not expect. After the 3rd big chapter I thought everything was over (because in every other fantasy book, that is how the story ends), everything that came after was just so unexpected and amazing. I can't say more without saying too much and spoiling the book so I won't. This is truly a series you should know as little as possible about before reading.
Also I was surprised by how fresh this book felt. I have read so many fantasy books by now and I can enjoy a book while still realising how tropy and cliquee it is. This book felt like something new and exciting though.
I can only highly recommend this book! Especially if you are interested in russian folklore :)
Content Warnings
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Body shaming, Confinement, Death, Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual assault, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Religious bigotry, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Abandonment, War, and Injury/Injury detail
thewildmageslibrary's review against another edition
4.5
One thing I really love about this series is that there's not really any time gaps between books. Bam, you're right back where you left off. In this case, "in a pickle".
I absolutely adore Vasya's growth, especially in this book. Can't say much without spoilers, so just read these.
CW: same "it's set in the 14th century, so" as the others
I absolutely adore Vasya's growth, especially in this book. Can't say much without spoilers, so just read these.
CW: same "it's set in the 14th century, so" as the others
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Confinement, Death, Misogyny, Sexism, Violence, Blood, Grief, Religious bigotry, Murder, and War
Moderate: Sexual assault, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, and Fire/Fire injury
Minor: Child death