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uselesspirateraven's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
3.5
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child death, Confinement, Death, Misogyny, Violence, Grief, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, and Sexual harassment
Moderate: Miscarriage
dragonaion'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
It was heartwarming to see a story mentioned from my childhood and the mix of history, fantasy, romance, and adventure with political intrigue was beautifully woven and naturally fell together. I have to get the third book!
Graphic: Child death, Misogyny, Self harm, Sexism, Violence, Fire/Fire injury, Outing, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Sexual content, Slavery, Trafficking, Religious bigotry, Pregnancy, and Classism
Minor: Animal death, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, and Rape
This is a historical fiction with a romance with an ambodiment of Death; the main character has to hide she is female is an extreme example of a patriarchal world.hellavaral's review against another edition
3.25
Graphic: Death, Misogyny, Sexism, Violence, Blood, Religious bigotry, Fire/Fire injury, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Confinement, Physical abuse, Kidnapping, and Pregnancy
dijon_supply'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? No
5.0
Moderate: Animal death, Child death, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Religious bigotry, Pregnancy, Outing, and War
violetwraith's review against another edition
4.75
Graphic: Misogyny, Violence, and Religious bigotry
itsnotalakeitsanocean's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
What I liked:
- I liked Vasya's different relationships with everyone in Dmmitri's court and how it evolved the longer she decided to keep her true identity concealed.
- I liked Masha and I hope we get to see more of her in the next book
- I'm not a horse person by any means but I liked all of the horse related stuff in these books. I think Solovey was probably my favourite character overall because he was so full of life and personality.
What I didn't like
- The combination of different POVs (that kind of stopped after a while) and pacing made me struggle with the flow of the book. I don't know how to explain how I would improve it but I found myself skim-reading at times.
- Remember when I was like "yay no romance between Vasya and the Frost King!"? Yup, joke's on me, huh? 🤡
I just really didn't care for the romance, let alone the whole back and forth of whether it was better to be immortal or to be in love.It didn't really feel like it amounted to anything other than him quietly disappearing without much of a trace. I thought the firebird was disappointing, especially in comparison to the bear from the previous book. Although the latter didn't come until the latter half of the book, it felt like he was built up more to be the final boss and had (and still has) a lasting impact on Vasya and the plot. In this book, it's just like "oh by the way, this dude transfigured a firebird into a horse and now it's going to fly off and burn everything - bye!"
Graphic: Child death, Miscarriage, Misogyny, and Pregnancy
Moderate: Animal death, Sexism, Sexual assault, Kidnapping, Religious bigotry, and Fire/Fire injury
Minor: Slavery, Vomit, and Death of parent
raptorq's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Graphic: Death, Misogyny, Sexism, Violence, Kidnapping, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Confinement, Pregnancy, and War
Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Child death, Miscarriage, Sexual assault, and Slavery
aksmith92'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
5.0
The setup: Trying not to spoil anything from the first book ~ Vasilisa, AKA Vasya, is set to travel the world after defeating many challenges in her hometown, the frontier country of Rus', in the last book. Ousted from her community and deemed a witch, she is ready to find solitude in the great outdoors with her beautiful horse, Solovey. That Solitude lasts about a day when she stumbles upon villages that have been burned and their young girls taken. Dressed as a boy, since it is still medieval Russia and the time is not kind to adventurous girls and women, she sets on a quest to find the girls and help the villages outside of Moscow.
During her adventure, she links up with family and soon finds her way to Moscow, where she becomes comfortable in her boyhood. But darker and grimmer things await her. Throw in Morozko, the frost demon straight out of fairy tales, and you also have a sprinkle of a love story without taking too much away from the plot.
What I loved: This was an atmospheric book with beautiful prose. The vocabulary was a bit different, just like in the first one, because Arden did her best to try to stick with the medieval Russia (Rus') theme in a historical context. However, it was pretty poetic yet readable. I had a blast.
Additionally, each character was developed and layered in their own way, especially Vasya and the frost demon. And, I must admit, I couldn't help but love a talking horse (only to Vasya, though). Plus, unlike the first novel, this book had more profound plot points and action scenes, which I thought was a nice touch.
Lastly, there was something quite beautiful about Vasya's development in this book. For context, this book was deeply misogynistic, just like I would imagine medieval anywhere to be. Vasya, as someone who diverts from the typical girl-to-woman tracks, was not regularly rewarded or applauded. Therefore, a lot of this book was saddening and sometimes even uncomfortable to read. Vasya had to deal with choices that focused on being herself or possibly getting herself into real trouble and, worse, getting loved ones in trouble because of her actions. Because of this, I would imagine some people reading this might become frustrated with Vasya and her decision-making, but to me, it was about Vasya trying so hard to be herself in a world that didn't allow it.
Any critique? I gave this book five stars - my first of the year! Therefore, I have minimal criticism. From maybe another reader's perspective, I will say that I'm not sure how much the plot flows from the first to the second one, meaning that the plot didn't seem to be 100% connected other than throwing in fairy tale elements. Some characters were the same, and their stories continued to be connected, but the plot differed slightly from the first book. I loved it anyway because I felt like each book focuses more on one piece of the fairy tale.
I loved this book and cannot wait to read the trilogy's final installment!
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexism, Sexual assault, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Alcohol
Minor: Animal death
Sexual assault is giving and forced touching.eagoldberg'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? No
4.0
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual violence, Blood, and Kidnapping
bookycnidaria's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Graphic: Death, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Violence, Fire/Fire injury, and War
Moderate: Slavery and Kidnapping