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mary_stormageddon's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.75
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Torture, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, War, and Injury/Injury detail
andra_mihaela_s's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
This series encompasses everything I want in folklore inspired fantasy, and this final book...is just perfect 🥰
After the events in The Girl in the Tower, Moscow and it's people are looking for someone to blame...and this is all you need to dive into this #magicalworld again!
CW: witch hunting, mentions of slavery, war, death, horror elements, cruelty and death of animals, weaponized religion, extreme discrepancy between genders, plague, etc.
I won't try to dissect this final installment as I usually do...instead I'll let myself ramble about what comes to mind.
Obviously, my #rating reflects my belief that this book is close to perfect.
It opens with strong repercussions for our MC, and it goes to give you blow after blow of flawless writing, top notch atmosphere and amazing pacing!
I really felt that the pacing and atmosphere were just right for each scene. As most of the action takes place at midnight, I will poetically describe this novel as a dream of lost memories...
Coincidently, the background music for this series matches my description : Memories by @fludjy, creator of the yt channel EternalDepth...you're welcome and happy listening 😉
Back to our story : important parts are driven by individual character growth, powerful emotions, consequences, political repercussions, supernatural and human elements.
With this being said...my favorites are as follows : Vasya, Morozko, Konstantin, Sasha, Medved, Pozhar,Lady Midnight and Marya.
I love every part and every character, so...that list isn't complete...
Characters :
Say what you want about Konstantin...and yes, his greed and hate is awful..but I couldn't help myself and cried 😭...maybe that's why I love Medved as well...
Solovey...cried and eventually came to peace with it...
Morozko....perfect portretization of Winter...every time he was on the page I felt I the middle of a forest at midnight.
Sasha...great brother and man...now I'm obsessed with his real life counterpart 😅
Vasya...well...she grows with EVERY SINGLE PAGE 🥰...as she should!🥰...I'm soo happy I met her...that's all I have to say..
As I said above Medved came to be dear to me...maybe as I saw his connection with our MCs...and how lonely eternity is...chaos is life, as winter is eternity.
Let's switch it up and say a few words about the action : I really loved how Katherine Arden moulded her historical fantasy with Russian folklore and actual historical events...I was there at Kulikovo..and I cried 😅
Even if I didn't mention Dmitry Ivanovich as a favorite.. His role and the perspective he offered the reader completed this magical story with the necessary elements of the real world!
Favorite scenes: the pyre , everything up to the Lake and there🤭, Kulikovo, at the edge of the lands of winter, at the campfire..all of them😅🤷♀️🤭
This is it! Please read this trilogy and lose yourself in a winter Midnight😌...don't forget to stop by the Lake😉
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Gore, Hate crime, Misogyny, Sexism, Torture, Violence, Grief, Religious bigotry, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and War
Moderate: Slavery and War
pnonikki's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
3.75
Graphic: Sexism, Violence, Grief, and War
Moderate: Death and Sexual harassment
Minor: Sexual content
basil_touche's review against another edition
- 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
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.
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
- 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
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…
Graphic: Death, Misogyny, Violence, Blood, and War
Moderate: Torture, Toxic relationship, Grief, Religious bigotry, Toxic friendship, and Sexual harassment
Minor: Vomit
lisa_m's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
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 :)
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
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
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
elisabeth_g_mark's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
The love story is a side plot, because for our MC her own growth, searching for her own way, is more important than a man. But it's still important to her, home and in the end, she needs it all - her love, her friends and allies, her enemies and faith in herself.
I'll miss this world and will reread it next winter. Katherine Arden became quickly a favourite author with this 5-star trilogy.
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Violence, Grief, Religious bigotry, War, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Suicide and Torture
Minor: Vomit, Toxic friendship, and Sexual harassment
ktkeps's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Animal death, Death, Misogyny, Sexism, Grief, Religious bigotry, Fire/Fire injury, Sexual harassment, War, and Injury/Injury detail
fatherprozac's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Child death, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Religious bigotry, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Sexual harassment, War, and Injury/Injury detail