A review by avery5683
The Bear and the Nightingale by Katherine Arden
4.0
Arden has a lovely writing style. Her world is rich and vivid. She has a masterful use of imagery and sensory aesthetic. She blends prose seamlessly with the poetic fairy tale style, second only to Catherynne Valente.
Overall, I enjoyed reading this book. Its setting and mood stands out from the majority of YA fiction.
The only major downfall of this book is the pacing. I didn't find the book to be slow or boring, but the main plot takes half the book to get going.
Due to some hype, I was somewhat disappointed. The book is not kind to its female characters, except the protagonist. It heralds a fledgling feminism of "I don't want to get married; I want to be free." The book explicitly equates marriage and childbearing with the ruination of women. The book also beats the very dead horse of "religion is bad," and twists religious imagery for shock value; it is, in my opinion, cliche and a cheap device. I much preferred the other imagery used to illustrate the antagonist.
Ultimately, I won't be continuing with the Winternight Trilogy, but will definitely be keeping an eye out for Arden's other works.
Overall, I enjoyed reading this book. Its setting and mood stands out from the majority of YA fiction.
The only major downfall of this book is the pacing. I didn't find the book to be slow or boring, but the main plot takes half the book to get going.
Due to some hype, I was somewhat disappointed. The book is not kind to its female characters, except the protagonist. It heralds a fledgling feminism of "I don't want to get married; I want to be free." The book explicitly equates marriage and childbearing with the ruination of women. The book also beats the very dead horse of "religion is bad," and twists religious imagery for shock value; it is, in my opinion, cliche and a cheap device. I much preferred the other imagery used to illustrate the antagonist.
Ultimately, I won't be continuing with the Winternight Trilogy, but will definitely be keeping an eye out for Arden's other works.