lisaandthebooks'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: Blood, Slavery, Animal cruelty, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Misogyny, Murder, War, Grief, Injury/injury detail, Religious bigotry, Sexual assault, Abandonment, Body shaming, Death, Torture, Animal death, Body horror, Confinement, Violence, Kidnapping, and Sexism
thequiltyreader's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Violence, War, Animal cruelty, Death, and Injury/injury detail
Minor: Death of parent, Child death, and Slavery
ehmannky's review against another edition
dark
emotional
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
A wonderful end to the series. Winter of the Witch delves straight into the action, without any of the slow build up to Vasya's main plot that the previous two books did. And it starts out intense, with Vasya nearly killed by a mob spurred on by the corrupted priest Konstantin. I did kind of miss the meticulous world-building, but this is probably the most focused of the series in terms of plot. But I forgive much because I loved the relationship between Morozko and Vasya getting the room to really grow. Also, Vasya's PTSD from the beginning of the book was rendered so vividly and painfully, and I liked seeing a protagonist struggle with doing what she had to do with that disorder. It just makes her feel all the more real and brave.
The only thing I didn't particularly love was that it felt that there were essentially two parts that felt like an ending-one part in the middle and the other was the actual end of the book. I don't want to spoil it, but I felt that after one of the major forces of antagonism in Vasya's life are defeated, there was a 50 ish page gap where the book felt like it sort of stalled. Overall, I didn't hate it and I get thematically why this split exists and the meaning behind showing that "defeating evil" is not enough for a victory in a complex world, but it felt odd in a book that's so action-focused to have this weird lull roughly 2/3rds of the way through.
Overall, extremely satisfied with this series and its ending, and good god
The only thing I didn't particularly love was that it felt that there were essentially two parts that felt like an ending-one part in the middle and the other was the actual end of the book. I don't want to spoil it, but I felt that after one of the major forces of antagonism in Vasya's life are defeated, there was a 50 ish page gap where the book felt like it sort of stalled. Overall, I didn't hate it and I get thematically why this split exists and the meaning behind showing that "defeating evil" is not enough for a victory in a complex world, but it felt odd in a book that's so action-focused to have this weird lull roughly 2/3rds of the way through.
Overall, extremely satisfied with this series and its ending, and good god
Spoiler
was it satisfying to see Konstantin die. Still not sure how I feel about Solovey being resurrected in the last 10 pages of the book, but it is a very fairy tale twist so I did appreciate it.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Animal death, Violence, Sexism, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Grief, Blood, and Child death
Moderate: Slavery, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Kidnapping
Minor: Vomit
More...