Arden's second novel based on the fairy tales and folklore of Russia is a masterpiece. I alternated between reading frantically, and having to put the book down when things turned south for Vasya. The author does an excellent job weaving the folklore into facts about medieval Russian life, and it was so entertaining that you may not even realize you're learning something. This is a fantastic series, and I look forward to the final book!

This book gives me all the heart eyes. I LOVED book 1 and anxiously awaited The Girl in the Tower. It even made my list of releases to get excited about. Book 2 picks up as Vasya is on the run from her village because they think she is a witch. She decides to travel the country with her magical horse. Set in medieval Russia, a girl can’t really travel on her own, so she travels as a boy. She ends up near Moscow and finds herself as a favorite of the Grand Prince of Moscow. She has to keep up the facade of being a boy because of this and makes life difficult for herself and her siblings that are now important people in Moscow as well. Throughout this storyline, there is also a magical subplot that leads to the big ending. If you like fantastic characters, great writing and worldbuilding all while having an underpinning of magic, this series is for you. Don’t let the magic scare you away. For the most part, the magic is more about how the world works rather than spells and the like.

First line: A girl rode a bay horse through a forest late at night.

Summary: Vasya has been cast out of her village as a witch. She does not want to spend her life behind a convent walls or trapped in a marriage. She wants freedom and adventure. With the help of the frost demon, Morozko, and her loyal horse, Solovey, she sets out on her own dressed as a boy. When she wanders into a burned village and discovers that bandits are raiding the countryside and stealing young girls she sets out to save the missing children. After her rescue mission, she gains the admiration of the Grand Prince of Moscow. With the help of her elder siblings, she keeps her gender hidden from the elite of Moscow. However, with the mysterious arrival of an unknown lord, Vasya starts to worry that the danger has worked its way into the courts of Grand Prince.

Highlights: Atmospheric. I can feel the cold of a Russian winter while reading the adventures of Vasya. Vasya is a wonderful heroine. She is not beautiful. She wants more out of life than the traditional trappings of her gender. I love the frost demon, Morozko. He is complicated and intriguing. I am glad that we got to see more of his relationship with Vasya. The writing is poetic and beautiful. I love that the author provides a glossary at the end to help the reader understand the terminology and characters. This one was filled with action and danger. I loved the first book and the second did not disappoint.

Lowlights: Nothing.

FYI: The second book in The Winternight Trilogy.

What can I add to the other reviews? This is a terrific piece of magical realism with a young heroine who would be a terrific YA crossover read. Vasya is one determined woman- she doesn't like her choices so she makes her own. 14th Century Russia was clearly not an easy place for anyone, let alone Vasya, who has set out alone. This is a fairy tale and yet it seems very real. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. I very much enjoyed the first book (if you haven't read it, you'll be fine with this as a standalone but if you like this one, you'll really like it) and now I'm looking forward to the third.

Katherine Arden’s The Winternight Trilogy is one of the most captivating series I’ve ever read. I fell in love with the series last winter when I read the first book, The Bear and the Nightingale. Filled with lush worldbuilding, a feisty heroine, fascinating Russian folklore, and a touch of the supernatural, The Bear and the Nightingale entranced me from the first pages and I just fell in love with everything about the story. I couldn’t wait to get my hands on the second book, The Girl in the Tower, and was thrilled to be approved for an advanced copy to review on my blog.

I didn’t think it was possible to top the gorgeous storytelling in the first book, but Arden proved me wrong. As much as I adored The Bear and the Nightingale, I thought The Girl in the Tower was even more amazing! It has all of the same wonderful elements as the first book – the magic, the Russian folklore, beloved characters like Vasya, her horse Solovey, and the Frost Demon. But then, there’s just also so much more to love.

In The Girl in the Tower, Vasya has really come into her own in terms of character growth. She is still a free spirit who refuses to bow down and do what society expects young women to do, but now she is also more mature and a bit wiser because of what she went through in the first book.

The Girl in the Tower picks up right where The Bear and the Nightingale left off. Because of what happened to Vasya in the first book, there are rumors swirling around her village that she is a witch. Faced with the choices before her – either marrying someone she doesn’t love or being sent to live in a convent -- Vasya decides to create her own destiny and runs away from home. When the story opens, we meet Vasya traveling, disguised as a boy, with only her horse, Solovey, by her side.

The roads she travels on are rugged and unsafe, but Vasya’s journey ultimately takes her to Moscow where she is reunited with her monk brother, Sasha; her sister, Olga, who is now a princess; and her cousin Dmitrii, who is the Crown Prince of Moscow. Desperately trying to conceal her true identity, Vasya gets caught up in a web of deception, lies, and political unrest and finds herself faced with extremely dangerous choices everywhere she turns.

How will she get out of her predicament and what will happen to her if her true identity is revealed?

LIKES

As with the first book, the atmospheric quality of The Girl in the Tower was one of my favorite parts of the novel. As soon as I began reading, I felt as though I had been transported to Vasya’s world. Arden masterfully paints a medieval Russian landscape and skillfully dots this landscape with a fascinating mix of supernatural elements and Russian folklore. Her descriptions are so vivid that I could practically hear the snow crunching under Solovey’s hooves as he and Vasya traversed the snowy landscape, just as I could easily envision the tiny magical spirit guardians hidden in each building Vasya entered.

Vasya is of course still a major favorite of mine. I admire her bravery and her feistiness and the fact that she doesn’t want to be forced into marriage or into a convent. She has no interest in society’s expectations for women and, instead, wants to be an adventurer and travel the world. Vasya has a spirit that cannot be tamed, and I couldn’t help but cheer her on, even though I know it’s likely to be dangerous for her.

In addition to Vasya, another favorite character of mine is her stallion, Solovey. Solovey and Vasya can communicate with each other, and some of their exchanges are truly hilarious. I love Solovey for his loyalty, his sassiness, and for his fierceness. You’ll want a Solovey of your very own after reading this story. He’s the perfect companion for Vasya.

And, of course, I can’t leave out an unexpected favorite character, Morozko, the Frost Demon. Arden adds layers and layers of complexity to Morozko in this second book and I just fell in love with him even more than I did in the first book. The details of his history, along with his connection to Vasya, are what truly take this story to the next level, and even though I probably shouldn’t ship Vasya and Morozko, I totally do. I just can’t get enough of the two of them together!
I also loved that this story seemed a little darker and a little more grounded in reality than the first story because of the focus on political unrest in Moscow. It added a layer of danger and intrigue that really made for an exciting and fast-paced read.

DISLIKES/ISSUES

The only issue I had while reading this book was that it started out a little slow for me. It may have been because it took a few pages to actually get to Vasya’s story, but I’m actually going to chalk it up as a personal issue because I was trying to start the book while riding on a train and was constantly distracted. Once I got home and continued reading where there were less distractions, I devoured the rest of the book in less than 24 hours.

FINAL THOUGHTS

The Girl in the Tower is a tale that is beautiful yet dark, enchanting yet also horrifying. With its gorgeous prose, memorable characters, and intricate storytelling, it has also secured itself a spot on my Top Reads of 2017 list. Katherine Arden has truly captivated me with this series and I can’t wait to get my hands on the final installment. I highly recommend this series to anyone who loves a strong, feisty, independent heroine and good solid storytelling, as well as to anyone who is interested in Russian folklore. You won’t be disappointed!

RATING: 5 STARS

This is the sequel to The Bear and The Nightingale by Katherine Arden, the second of The Winternight Trilogy. This novel follows Vasya, the daughter of a country prince in what is now Russia hundreds of years ago. Villages are burning, and Vasya sees demons (different from what the western world thinks of demons).

And you don't HAVE to read the first book. I didn't (yet). And I loved this book. (I think the reason that I tried to listen to this one, and the reader just... I couldn't get through them.)

This book entrenches you into the Rus culture, and this author knows how to do this! I understood all of the references. The writing honestly makes me want to go find more Russian literature, or Russian inspired literature.

This novel has adventure, romance, family, and lies. This story takes you on an adventure.

Anyone who enjoys historical fiction, fantasy based on actual myths, subtle love stories, and sword and fighting should give this novel a chance. And if you don't like any of those things, to the point of them ruining a story for you, maybe don't.

This is one of the best books I have read lately. I will put that out there.

I don't know what genre this is generally put in, but I would put it into literary fiction or fantasy.

After the events of the first book, Vasya knows that she can't stay in her small town. She bridles her horse, Solovey, and takes off to finally have the adventure that she's always longed for. Soon after, she discovers a village that's been burned to the ground. Many of the villagers are dead and some have had their daughters taken. Vasya can find no trace of these bandits but doesn't let that stop her. As she continues on her journey, she'll find herself embroiled in Moscow politics and longing for a life that she may never be able to have.

This was a great follow-up to the The Bear and the Nightingale. It was very much in the same tone and the characters were just as real and complex as they were before (if not more so). Vasya isn't always the most likable character, but she does make sense. She lives in a different time where women were just expected to stay in their towers all day, every day. Instead, Vasya longs for adventure and the reader can feel that throughout the book. She's so conflicted because she doesn't like lying by pretending to be a boy, but she knows that she wouldn't be as helpful (or happy) if everyone knew she was a girl.

As far as other characters go, we get to know Morozko, Sasha, and Olga a lot better than we did in the first book in addition to new characters like Dimitrii and Olga's daughter. This gives the reader a really diverse and interesting cast of secondary characters to get to know. I, personally, was not in favor of the priest from her hometown coming back. He's just so...creepy. But I guess that's the point.

The plot is slow-moving, but not boring by any means. I didn't necessarily feel compelled to pick the book back up after I was done reading for the day, but I think that says more about my own reading preferences than the book itself. Arden is a talented writer and that shows through in this book just as it did in the first one. There's the smallest little bud of a romance that blossoms in this book. I'll be honest, I was wanting this romance from the first book, so I'm glad it's getting explored and I hope we see more of it in the third book.

If you're interested in historical Russia, Russian fairytales, or just love beautifully written (albeit slow-moving) books, then I would definitely recommend this book. I look forward to seeing what Arden comes out with next.

Overall Rating: 4
Language: None
Violence: Heavy, but not SUPER descriptive
Smoking/Drinking: Moderate
Sexual Content: Moderate

Note: I received this book free from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

*Some spoilers ahead for The Bear in the Nightingale, the first in the Winternight Trilogy*

In her follow up to 2016’s The Bear and the Nightingale, Katherine Arden once again breathes magic and excitement into Russian folk and fairy tales. Picking up where the first book in the Winternight Trilogy left off, Vasilisa Petrovna is compelled to leave home lest she either be sent to a convent or tried as a witch. While travelling with Solovey (and a little help from Morozko), Vasya soon discovers it’s not quite so easy to be a woman with agency in the world. But a new threat is beginning to emerge: villages are being burned, young girls stolen from their families, and a new Prince has appeared in Moscow. Vasya, her monk brother Sasha, and her sister Olga get tangled in the social and gender politics of Moscow while facing choices between love and duty. Even more enticing than the first book, The Girl in the Tower is a welcomed return Russian winters and nights, now with nods to historical figures and events of the 14th century. Vasya’s relationship with the Frost King from the first book finds finds more depth, while new characters - and new myths - are added in just the right balance. I often struggle with sequels and series, but with a tight narrative, compelling adventure, and new thematic exploration, The Girl in the Tower is a very welcome winter night read.

*I received a copy of this book from Del Rey via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.*

I loved the main character, both her resourcefulness and her weaknesses. The description of the area, people and animals in the story were well written, without being wordy. The story pulled me in from the beginning, and never did I get bored with the story. The Russian names were sometimes tough to follow at the beginning, but they did not hinder the story line and the explanation of names/nicknames in the back of the book helped.
I wish to thank to the publisher and the author for providing a free copy of the ebook via Netgalley and a hardcopy from Bookish in exchange for an honest review.

*An ARC of this book was provided to me by NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.*

I am really, really enjoying this series. This second installment is much more action-packed than the first. Vasya is now a grown woman (at 17 or so) and is struggling to find her place in a world that would burn her as a witch, shut her up in a convent, or marry her off into a life of isolation and confinement, all of which she rejects. Life in Moscow is very different from her little rural village and this sets the stage for twists and turns that made the story very exciting, although I deliberately took my time reading this one.

I was a little afraid there would be less of the Russian folklore and fairytale that made the first book so special, in exchange for palace intrigue and real life dramas, but the magic was ever-present, and Arden weaves in even more folklore in pretty unexpected ways.

The stage is now set for the third book and I'm really looking forward to reading it!

I loved the first in this series, so I am having a hard time describing how I feel about this one. I loved it so much more and felt like the first really set the scene for this book. It was dark, twisty, inspiring, wild, I mean really you could throw whatever adjective you wanted in here and it would probably work. I loved following Vasya and her commitment to staying as true to herself as she could even when she was struggling with her own identity. She was brave and she showed that the love for your family knows no bounds. I am eagerly waiting for the next in the series.....

The second book in Katherine Arden’s Winternight Trilogy is amazing! I liked her first book, The Bear and the Nightingale, but with The Girl in the Tower, Arden has hit the sweet spot in fairy tale fiction. This is one of my favorite novels of the year.

This one checked all the boxes for me. It was intense, exciting and dangerous. In this novel, Vasya leaves her home after her father dies and the villagers accuse her of being a witch. With her faithful horse, Solovey, she sets off to see the world and have adventures. Her travel is filled with danger and Morozko returns to help Vasya when things get precarious.

Of course, no fairy tale is complete without a bit of romance and a villain, which Arden wonderfully delivers. This was such a pleasure to read. I especially loved the relationship between Vasya and her stallion, Solovey.

I think the story would work well as a stand alone, but readers will enjoy it so much more if they have read The Bear and the Nightingale. I will definitely be reading The Winter of the Witch (The Winternight Trilogy #3) when it is released in 2018.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group-Ballantine for allowing me to read an advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

The Girl in the Tower is mystical and intriguing. As a continuation of Vasya’s story, it was engaging and flowed nicely. If you loved The Bear and the Nightingale, you will love this one.

My first thoughts for this one were of slight boredom and confusion (and my review may reflect said thoughts). It took me about 30% of the book before I really got in to it. It relied heavily on knowledge of Russian folk tales and gave little explanation. But, having thought about it some more, I found that I could put those thoughts aside when looking at the story as a whole.

Between book 1 and book 2, the story did seem to flow pretty seamlessly. My initial thoughts on book 1 were that I would have liked to have more Russian folklore and less Christianity. Book 2 gave me the same thoughts, and I realized that this is meant to weigh heavily in the story to show the oppression of the Russian culture. This is what drove the story and drove Vasya to fight for the things she believed in. This is what made the appearance of Morozco, and the folklore creatures so important and fascinating!

Once the plot picked up for me, it had some interesting twists. I was introduced to a few more creatures, and another character from Russian folklore. It had moments of magic and intrigue, and some engaging characters.

Vasya still held the lead in the story. She was brave and determined. She was caring and stubborn, and still made some dumb choices. She was engaging and fascinating though.

Vasya’s siblings, Olga and Sasha, were wildly different from book 1. They had clashing beliefs compared to Vasya. They were unique in their own way, but sometimes still annoyed me with their choices.

I still don’t feel like I enjoyed this one as much as the first. I enjoyed it enough to look forward to book 3 when it is released, but it just doesn’t get the rating that I gave book 1. It had really nice moments of mysticism and excitement, and had action and unpredictable plot twists, but I would have liked it to have more world and history building, and more enjoyable characters. I also realized that I couldn’t enjoy this one as much because of my lack of knowledge of the Russian folktales. That is why I was able to think a little more positively about the book when putting my confused thoughts aside (my initial rating was at a 2).


Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with this e-ARC in exchange for my honest review!

The Girl in the Tower is the second book in Katherine Arden's The Winternight Trilogy. This one follows the adventures of Vasya, the young woman who was the heroine in The Bear and the Nightingale. This time around the story is set in the holdings of the Grand Prince in Moscow where she has reunited with her brother Sasha and sister Olga in the most inauspicious and dangerous way. Vasya still finds herself in the midst of secrecy, sinister evil and a story about her bloodline is slowly revealed. Like the first book, The Girl in the Tower is full of magic, historical facts and the old world charm of those long lost tales about magic, spirits and the old way of life. Fans of the first book will definitely want to continue reading about Vasya's adventures and her discovery of who she truly is. Cannot wait for the third book!

When I started reading the first novel, I was enchanted by this world that captures real elements of a culture that many people ignore. I learned of creatures and a history that is largely ignored in American society. In the next novel, Katherine Arden does it again. She brings to life a culture while creating characters that are memorable and unique. The story is exciting and takes place immediately following the first novel; you are in for a ride and you won’t forget it.

OMG!! I know that the first book was amazing but my goodness! I never dreamed that this one would be even better!!

Vasya has long seen creatures from legend, and her ability to see has brought trouble down upon her and her family. Only the aid of Morozko (Frost, the winter demon from the stories) has kept her alive so far, and the love of Solovey, her magnificent stallion. With her parents dead and her village casting her out as a witch, Vasya knows her options are limited: life in a convent or marriage to a Moscovite prince. She wants neither, and disguises herself as a boy as she sets out to explore the world.

She finds burned villages, missing girls, and bandits that vanish leaving no traces behind. After she rescues three girls from the bandits, the Grand Prince of Moscow calls her a hero, and she is reunited with her brother and sister. But Vasya cannot reveal that she is female, or her entire family risks disgrace and death. Soon she realizes that a danger stalks Moscow and the Grand Prince, and even Morozko, who she no longer knows if she can trust, may not be able to help her.

Have you ever identified with a character so completely that it almost broke your heart? That’s how I felt about Vasya as I was reading The Girl in the Tower. Everyone wants her to be content to marry, raise a family, and be conventional, but she wants anything but that. She wants to travel, live her life, and be happy, but the people around her don’t want that for her: they want her to conform. And she doesn’t want to hurt those she loves, so she’s torn.

Vasya is a powerful character, so relatable that you want to cry for her struggles. This is a magical, vibrant book, and wonder permeates every page. The setting is so vividly depicted that I found myself shivering—and I hate cold weather!

Go. Read this! And if you haven’t read The Bear and the Nightingale, read it first!

(Galley provided by Del Rey in exchange for an honest review.)

Where do you go when the great villain is vanquished and you long to see the world? Well, when you're a woman in medieval Russia, the options remain limited. Freed from her home, Vasya decides to see the world atop Solovey, disguised as a boy. But dark forces are moving to prevent her dream—bandits are burning villages and stealing girls, the Tatar overlords want their taxes, and a mysterious enemy is slowly reaching out to destroy Russia.

This book is amazing. While I don't think it quite topped the awesomeness of the first book (mostly due to this one's abrupt ending), I really enjoyed it. The bleakness of womanhood in medieval Russia, particularly for a woman who cannot fit into the places society has molded for her. Vasya's freedom quickly reveals itself to be not only an illusion but fleeting as well, as she becomes wrapped up in the Grand Prince's party alongside her brother.

In addition to medieval Russian politicking (less of this than the first one, on both the religious and political sides), there is more beautiful Russian folklore and more stark winter scenery that is just as beautiful as it is deadly. A great follow-up to the first, and I can't wait for the final book!

I received this ARC from NetGalley for an honest review.

The Girl in the Tower is the follow-on to The Bear and the Nightingale. If you enjoyed the first book, I highly recommend picking this one up since Ms. Arden continues to use her truly unique talent of historical fiction storytelling centered around Russian folklore that made the first book so much different than anything I had ever read. Readers join Vasya as she comes into womanhood and tries to find her place in the mortal and mythological worlds she inhabits. She did a lot of soul searching and development as a character this time around. Escaping marriage, she journeys across the Russian countryside disguised as a young boy. Russia at the time is a very politically unstable place to be, and I felt the author captured this nicely while interweaving the Russian folklore and mythology. Vasya gets caught up in this unrest while struggling with her feelings for Morozko, the frost demon. She also finds that she's not the only one possesses the gift of being able to see and interact with these mythological creatures from Russian folklore. The author had a good balance of mythology with the historical fictions aspects. I always enjoy reading a book I can learn something from, and this book continued to provide a lesson in Russian folklore that I recall from The Bear and the Nightingale. Ms. Arden does a fantastic job capturing the dark, cold, overcast Russian winter blanketing the world. Again, excellent follow-up to The Bear and the Nightingale.