The Girl in the Tower (The Winternight Trilogy, #2)

The Girl in the Tower (The Winternight Trilogy, #2)

Katherine Arden

Enjoyment: 3.5Quality: 4.5Characters: 3.0Plot: 3.0
🏇
👑
⚔️

The Bear and the Nightingale, Katherine Arden’s enchanting first novel, introduced readers to an irresistible heroine. Vasilisa has grown up at the edge of a Russian wilderness, where snowdrifts reach the eaves of her family’s wooden house and there is truth in the fairy tales told around the fire. Vasilisa’s gift for seeing what others do not won her the attention of Morozko—Frost, the winter demon from the stories—and together they saved her people from destruction. But Frost’s aid comes at a cost, and her people have condemned her as a witch. In The Girl in the Tower, Vasilisa faces an impossible choice. Driven from her home by frightened villagers, she has only two options left: marriage or the convent. She cannot bring herself to accept either fate and instead chooses adventure, dressing herself as a boy and setting off astride her magnificent stallion Solovey. But after she prevails in a skirmish with bandits, everything changes. The Grand Prince of Moscow anoints her a hero for her exploits, and she is reunited with her beloved sister and brother, who are now part of the Grand Prince’s inner circle. She dares not reveal to the court that she is a girl, for if her deception were discovered it would have terrible consequences for herself and her family. Before she can untangle herself from Moscow’s intrigues—and as Frost provides counsel that may or may not be trustworthy—she will also confront an even graver threat lying in wait for all of Moscow itself.


From the Forum

No posts yet

Kick off the convo with a theory, question, musing, or update

Recent Reviews

Your rating:

  • Enjoyment: 3.5Quality: 4.5Characters: 3.0Plot: 3.0
    🏇
    ⚔️
    👑

    "Witch ... We call such women so, because we have no other name" This sequel really blew past. It was very different from the first in that the setting shifted largely to Moscow, and in all honesty I had much favored the more rural (and enchanting) Lesnaya Zemlya. With the city came more emphasis on politics and battle and a storyline with quite a bit in common with Mulan. There wasn't as much interaction with the Chyerti unfortunately, though horses did stay at the forefront. I did like that Sasha and Olga were brought back in since I missed them in the latter parts of the first book, but they were a bit underwhelming in their depth, and considering Marya is the "girl in the tower" I thought we'd have more on her as well. Kasyan was definitely interesting though (so Arden's record of complicated villains continues). I'm so keen to know more about Marya and Tamara and Tamara's mother especially and I hope we get into it in book 3, but also more into explaining the mechanics of some of the magic....why is it only girls who seem to get the second sight naturally, can anyone do magic if they just believe something to be different than what it is, so on.

    1
    comments 0
    Reply
  • Enjoyment: Quality: Characters: Plot:

    0
    comments 0
    Reply
  • Enjoyment: Quality: Characters: Plot:

    0
    comments 0
    Reply
  • View all reviews
    Community recs if you liked this book...
    logo

    © 2024 Pagebound

    Buy Lucy & Jennifer a coffee ☕️