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A review by readwithria
The Bear and the Nightingale by Katherine Arden
adventurous
dark
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
The Bear and the Nightingale is a beautiful fairytale retelling that missed the mark for me.
I’m not gonna lie, I considered DNFing this book for most of Part 1 and about 2/3 of Part 2. I didn’t because of all of the amazing reviews that I’d seen, and I did enjoy the last 60-100 pages a lot more than the first 200, but they didn’t make up for the slow beginning.
One of the people I was buddy reading this with said this book felt like a prequel, and I could t agree more. There doesn’t seem to be much of a plot until Part 3 of the book, and that’s also when we get a better understanding of the magic system and truly meet one of the most important characters in the book. The pacing was slow, and while it felt deliberate I didn’t enjoy it.
I also, controversially, didn’t like how much this book was tied to a real-world religion. If I’d know that one of the main antoginistic characters was a literal Christian Orthodox priest I probably wouldn’t have picked this book up. I really hate having real, contemporary religions in my books of any genre, it’s one of my biggest icks. That’s definitely not a fault of the book, but if I had know I never would have read it in the first place. Give me all the ancient religions, fake religions with real world analogues, or mythology retellings!
Anyway, I think that’s also part of why o kept reading. I knew that aspect of the book was a me issue, so I was hoping something else would make up for it. Unfortunately, while I really enjoyed the ending it wasn’t enough for me to continue the trilogy. 3 stars.
I’m not gonna lie, I considered DNFing this book for most of Part 1 and about 2/3 of Part 2. I didn’t because of all of the amazing reviews that I’d seen, and I did enjoy the last 60-100 pages a lot more than the first 200, but they didn’t make up for the slow beginning.
One of the people I was buddy reading this with said this book felt like a prequel, and I could t agree more. There doesn’t seem to be much of a plot until Part 3 of the book, and that’s also when we get a better understanding of the magic system and truly meet one of the most important characters in the book. The pacing was slow, and while it felt deliberate I didn’t enjoy it.
I also, controversially, didn’t like how much this book was tied to a real-world religion. If I’d know that one of the main antoginistic characters was a literal Christian Orthodox priest I probably wouldn’t have picked this book up. I really hate having real, contemporary religions in my books of any genre, it’s one of my biggest icks. That’s definitely not a fault of the book, but if I had know I never would have read it in the first place. Give me all the ancient religions, fake religions with real world analogues, or mythology retellings!
Anyway, I think that’s also part of why o kept reading. I knew that aspect of the book was a me issue, so I was hoping something else would make up for it. Unfortunately, while I really enjoyed the ending it wasn’t enough for me to continue the trilogy. 3 stars.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death and Pregnancy
Moderate: Blood and Death of parent