[Review] The Girl in the Tower by Katherine Arden

The Girl in The Tower by Katherine Arden

Series: Winternight Trilogy #2

Rating: 5 stars

Format: ARC Paperback

Published: December 5th 2017

Goodreads Synopsis: 

Orphaned and cast out as a witch by her village, Vasya’s options are few: resign herself to life in a convent, or allow her older sister to make her a match with a Moscovite prince. Both doom her to life in a tower, cut off from the vast world she longs to explore. So instead she chooses adventure, disguising herself as a boy and riding her horse into the woods. When a battle with some bandits who have been terrorizing the countryside earns her the admiration of the Grand Prince of Moscow, she must carefully guard the secret of her gender to remain in his good graces—even as she realizes his kingdom is under threat from mysterious forces only she will be able to stop.

I'd like to thank LibraryThing for providing me with an ARC of the book through their Early Reviewers giveaways.

Last year I was introduced to the wonderful storyteller of Russian fairytale retellings, Katherine Arden, and her debut, The Bear and the Nightingale. It was hauntingly beautiful. And its sequel, The Girl in the Tower, did not disappoint.

[Review] The Bear and the Nightingale by Katherine Arden

The Bear and the Nightingale by Katherine Arden

Rating: 4.5 stars

Version: ARC Paperback

Published: January 10th 2017

Goodreads Synopsis: 

At the edge of the Russian wilderness, winter lasts most of the year and the snowdrifts grow taller than houses. But Vasilisa doesn’t mind—she spends the winter nights huddled around the embers of a fire with her beloved siblings, listening to her nurse’s fairy tales. Above all, she loves the chilling story of Frost, the blue-eyed winter demon, who appears in the frigid night to claim unwary souls. Wise Russians fear him, her nurse says, and honor the spirits of house and yard and forest that protect their homes from evil.
After Vasilisa’s mother dies, her father goes to Moscow and brings home a new wife. Fiercely devout, city-bred, Vasilisa’s new stepmother forbids her family from honoring the household spirits. The family acquiesces, but Vasilisa is frightened, sensing that more hinges upon their rituals than anyone knows.
And indeed, crops begin to fail, evil creatures of the forest creep nearer, and misfortune stalks the village. All the while, Vasilisa’s stepmother grows ever harsher in her determination to groom her rebellious stepdaughter for either marriage or confinement in a convent.
As danger circles, Vasilisa must defy even the people she loves and call on dangerous gifts she has long concealed—this, in order to protect her family from a threat that seems to have stepped from her nurse’s most frightening tales.

"You will ride to where earth meets sky. You will be born three times: once of illusions, once of flesh, and once of spirit. You will pluck snowdrops at midwinter, weep for a nightingale, and die by your own choosing." 

This was just to beautifully written to put down. It was truly a mystical fairy tale that captivated me, from the poetic language to the marvelous characters. Every time I saw a Russian word I understood I was happy (from years of taking it in high school).

Katherine Arden outdid herself, bringing together bits of old Russian folklore and combining all into one marvelous story. I felt as though I was in the forest with Vasya, immersed in the magic and mystery behind the woods.