Scan barcode
raptorq's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, Violence, Blood, Fire/Fire injury, War, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Misogyny
Minor: Sexual content, Vomit, and Sexual harassment
uselesspirateraven's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
medium-paced
- 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? N/A
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Blood, Grief, and Religious bigotry
Moderate: Sexual content and Sexual harassment
sn8man's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
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
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Death, Gore, Physical abuse, Sexism, Sexual content, Violence, Grief, Religious bigotry, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, War, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders, Torture, Kidnapping, and Sexual harassment
Minor: Child death, Miscarriage, Toxic relationship, Vomit, and Pregnancy
aksmith92's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
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
5.0
Thank you, Katherine Arden, for writing a wintery and blustery book so I can sit in my warm house while it's cold and snowy outside and read my little heart out.
The setup: Vasya needs to go into hiding. The Girl in the Tower, the second book in the series, left off with those in Moscow in a rage after a fire nearly destroyed their home, and they believe a witch to be the culprit. Vasya is now left with one goal only: to care for her family. Her brother Sasha, her sister Olga, and Olga's daughter Marya are all in Moscow, piecing together what happened the night before with Vasya, the frost demon, and Kaschei.
However, those in Moscow want someone accountable for their suffering, and Vasya is an easy target. We follow Vasya as she faces many obstacles, including an angry mob, a vengeful demon, and a forgetful ally. She feels the weight of not only Moscow on her shoulders but all of Rus' and her beloved chyerti - the spirits she has called family her whole life. Can she bring together her people of Rus' - those who vehemently believe in the one God, and those of the spirit world, who seem to fade the more people forget about them and move on to another religion? Can she keep her family safe from the Tatars, those trying to take the rule of Rus'? The world seems to weigh heavy on Vasya's shoulders with these questions, and we watch her continuously battle for peace, not only for those in her country but for herself.
What I loved: Katherine Arden is a phenomenal writer to me - her work is unique, poetic, and her version of atmospheric. She takes 14th-century historical Rus' customs and somehow integrates them into her writing, both from a prose perspective and a literal historical take (one battle scene near the end is essentially a retelling of an actual battle in 1380 Rus' - read the author's note at the end, it's pretty lovely!). The intersection between fantasy and historical fiction continues to amaze me, and it is one of the most vital reasons why I can't help but feel this book is so fantastic.
As typical in this series, I loved Vasya and her strength, resilience, and grit. While the poor thing went through it in this book (even more so than the others), she was incredible. She was strong, powerful, and intelligent. Yet, she was imperfect and flawed. She had to continue making incredibly challenging decisions and understood that only some things would always work out. I think that is what I loved most about this book: Vasya learned from those around her, her environment, and herself to make better decisions in the future instead of just ~always knowing~ what to do, like other fantasy books I have read. I loved her character and what she tried to do for both the spirit world and Rus'.
I also thoroughly enjoyed many of the other characters - Sasha, Olga, Morozko (I'm glad we dove a little bit deeper into his character on this one, albeit I was still itching for more!), the Grand Prince Dmitrii, and I just loved Polunochnitsa (Lady Midnight) and the Bear. I had no intention of laughing during this book because it seemed so bleak and dark, but Polunochnitsa and the Bear truly helped provide (very minimal) comedic relief and were much more layered than I had anticipated (especially the Bear). My favorite secondary character was Ded Grib, the chyerti, a lil mushroom. Konstantin continued to be a unique, morally grey character that I also learned to enjoy, even if he was the worst. He was complicated, and you couldn't help but empathize with him.
Somehow, Arden did a brilliant job of making all characters nuanced and beautiful while juggling two plots without losing anything. I was so impressed by how much Arden could put into this under-400-page book because it packed such a punch, but it wasn't overwhelming. I just loved it. And somehow, like the first two, I read this under some snowy skies - something I didn't think would happen in early March, and I read this through Libby.
I'm a sucker for some political intrigue which was why I enjoyed the second book in this trilogy so much, but I liked this one even more because of the magical elements in it - less politics, more chyerti. I was impressed that Arden could do both so well.
Anything that could have made this a 6-star read? While I rated this a five because of Arden's beautiful ability to intertwine so many interesting plots and characters and the overall unique storytelling of Russia's history and Russian fairytales, this was imperfect, and others may have some criticism for it. For one, 90% of this book seemed to have no hope. Anything wrong that could happen seemed to have occurred, even if there were a few quick wins in the plot throughout the process. It was dreary. I swear that Vasya had eight broken ribs throughout this book and plenty of ample scars and concussions. It was hard to read because it just felt so BAD. Because of this constant dread, I felt the book read just a bit choppy, especially in the middle.
However, I had a blast with this and shed a few tears at the end. While sad, there was finally a dash of goodness and hope, and the ending was quite fitting. I look forward to reading more from Katherine Arden in the future!
The setup: Vasya needs to go into hiding. The Girl in the Tower, the second book in the series, left off with those in Moscow in a rage after a fire nearly destroyed their home, and they believe a witch to be the culprit. Vasya is now left with one goal only: to care for her family. Her brother Sasha, her sister Olga, and Olga's daughter Marya are all in Moscow, piecing together what happened the night before with Vasya, the frost demon, and Kaschei.
However, those in Moscow want someone accountable for their suffering, and Vasya is an easy target. We follow Vasya as she faces many obstacles, including an angry mob, a vengeful demon, and a forgetful ally. She feels the weight of not only Moscow on her shoulders but all of Rus' and her beloved chyerti - the spirits she has called family her whole life. Can she bring together her people of Rus' - those who vehemently believe in the one God, and those of the spirit world, who seem to fade the more people forget about them and move on to another religion? Can she keep her family safe from the Tatars, those trying to take the rule of Rus'? The world seems to weigh heavy on Vasya's shoulders with these questions, and we watch her continuously battle for peace, not only for those in her country but for herself.
What I loved: Katherine Arden is a phenomenal writer to me - her work is unique, poetic, and her version of atmospheric. She takes 14th-century historical Rus' customs and somehow integrates them into her writing, both from a prose perspective and a literal historical take (one battle scene near the end is essentially a retelling of an actual battle in 1380 Rus' - read the author's note at the end, it's pretty lovely!). The intersection between fantasy and historical fiction continues to amaze me, and it is one of the most vital reasons why I can't help but feel this book is so fantastic.
As typical in this series, I loved Vasya and her strength, resilience, and grit. While the poor thing went through it in this book (even more so than the others), she was incredible. She was strong, powerful, and intelligent. Yet, she was imperfect and flawed. She had to continue making incredibly challenging decisions and understood that only some things would always work out. I think that is what I loved most about this book: Vasya learned from those around her, her environment, and herself to make better decisions in the future instead of just ~always knowing~ what to do, like other fantasy books I have read. I loved her character and what she tried to do for both the spirit world and Rus'.
I also thoroughly enjoyed many of the other characters - Sasha, Olga, Morozko (I'm glad we dove a little bit deeper into his character on this one, albeit I was still itching for more!), the Grand Prince Dmitrii, and I just loved Polunochnitsa (Lady Midnight) and the Bear. I had no intention of laughing during this book because it seemed so bleak and dark, but Polunochnitsa and the Bear truly helped provide (very minimal) comedic relief and were much more layered than I had anticipated (especially the Bear). My favorite secondary character was Ded Grib, the chyerti, a lil mushroom. Konstantin continued to be a unique, morally grey character that I also learned to enjoy, even if he was the worst. He was complicated, and you couldn't help but empathize with him.
Somehow, Arden did a brilliant job of making all characters nuanced and beautiful while juggling two plots without losing anything. I was so impressed by how much Arden could put into this under-400-page book because it packed such a punch, but it wasn't overwhelming. I just loved it. And somehow, like the first two, I read this under some snowy skies - something I didn't think would happen in early March, and I read this through Libby.
I'm a sucker for some political intrigue which was why I enjoyed the second book in this trilogy so much, but I liked this one even more because of the magical elements in it - less politics, more chyerti. I was impressed that Arden could do both so well.
Anything that could have made this a 6-star read? While I rated this a five because of Arden's beautiful ability to intertwine so many interesting plots and characters and the overall unique storytelling of Russia's history and Russian fairytales, this was imperfect, and others may have some criticism for it. For one, 90% of this book seemed to have no hope. Anything wrong that could happen seemed to have occurred, even if there were a few quick wins in the plot throughout the process. It was dreary. I swear that Vasya had eight broken ribs throughout this book and plenty of ample scars and concussions. It was hard to read because it just felt so BAD. Because of this constant dread, I felt the book read just a bit choppy, especially in the middle.
However, I had a blast with this and shed a few tears at the end. While sad, there was finally a dash of goodness and hope, and the ending was quite fitting. I look forward to reading more from Katherine Arden in the future!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Death, Gore, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexism, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Blood, Grief, Religious bigotry, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Sexual harassment, War, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Rape, and Sexual content
Minor: Child death, Vomit, and Death of parent
Child death/death of parent = mentioning previous books, not on page. Rape is not detailed or even implied, but there are threats of it. Sexual assault and harassment is on page but not heavily descriptive or long.pnonikki's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexism, Violence, Grief, and War
Moderate: Death and Sexual harassment
Minor: Sexual content
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
elisabeth_g_mark's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
inspiring
mysterious
sad
fast-paced
- 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
This became my favourite trilogy of the last year. Every character is alive, has depth, evolves and has a role to play. The setting is vibrant, you feel the cold, the darkness and the summer heat.
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.
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.
Content Warnings
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
adventurous
emotional
inspiring
mysterious
sad
slow-paced
- 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
Content Warnings
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
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- 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
This was probably the last thing I expected from the events of the first book. Truthfully, I had wanted Vasya to run away from it all and travel the world like she planned to. I admit I was disappointed by the second book's decision to turn inward toward her siblings. I think that disappointment probably puts a bias on my mediocre experience with this last installment. This third story is a good one and I did enjoy my time reading it, but it suffers a little from treating Vasya as untouchable and some questionable ethics.
We are pretty much outright told that no man can resist Vasya's wild/unique charm; while that's something seen in the behavior of other men in the previous books, making it some kind of general rule that gets her out of more than one life threatening situation feels pretty cheap. I also don't feel great, or even good at all, about a 17 year old feeling forced by a dire situation to have sex with an ancient winter god. I was already iffy about their relationship but this book pushed it from questionable to straight up ick for me. Not loving that the only queer relationship in the entire series is between the two villains either. Finally, if we're going to undo some of Vasya's greatest development into adulthood by bringing Solovey back, at least give us more time with him.
Content Warnings
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
chattie_the_mad_chatter's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
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
5.0
On a re-read this is even more incredible than when I first read it.
I love the journey we go with Vasya, it starts with a band then slows down, it took me by surprise but wraps everything up so well.
I love this out of all 3 as it mixes things I enjoy from the first 2, tje conflict between Chereti and the Church, politics, Vasya finding herself. Character growth is brilliant emotions are high and it has made me appreciate mushrooms!
I love the journey we go with Vasya, it starts with a band then slows down, it took me by surprise but wraps everything up so well.
I love this out of all 3 as it mixes things I enjoy from the first 2, tje conflict between Chereti and the Church, politics, Vasya finding herself. Character growth is brilliant emotions are high and it has made me appreciate mushrooms!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Child death, Death, Misogyny, Sexism, Violence, Murder, and Fire/Fire injury
Moderate: Blood, Vomit, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail