A review by itsnotalakeitsanocean
The Girl in The Tower by Katherine Arden

emotional mysterious medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

I didn't really enjoy this book as much as the first one, but I hope the next book in the series pays off. I think I was kind of expecting a book without Vasya as the protagonist and for the story to focus mostly on Olya but even though it didn't meet my expectations it wasn't bad.

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!"
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