Following on from "The Bear and the Nightingale" this tale continues the successful formula of fairy tale + "Russian" setting.
Vasya has left her village and is journeying by herself as she struggles with her identity Dressed as a boy . She eventually finds her way to Moscow where she is reunited with hes sister and brother, although the reunion is not without its complications.
The historical detail gives a solid foundation upon which the fairy tale elements of the chyerty (household spirits) , the sentient horse Solovey and the Winter "god" Morozko are "added"
Vasya's need to understand the real, feminine and supernatural aspects of her being are played out amongst frozen forests, bath houses and palaces of medieval Muscovy
The characters of her sister Olga and her circumscribed existence as a royal wife and her brother the monk who is also a warrior are further explored too. Identity and choices are key to this book.
As Morozko says
"every time you take one path, you must live with the memory of the other: of a life left unchosen"

This is fantasy of the highest order in that it creates a whole convincing "secondary" world and looks at identity and courage/ heroism.

It sparkles like sun upon snow and I loved it ! I can't wait for the next one in the series.

The Girl in the Tower is just as enchanting and adventure-filled as book one in this fantasy series by Katherine Arden (The Bear and the Nightingale), who again brings to life Russian folklore in the medieval era. Book one has been a success for our store and I look forward to pressing the new one into the hands of my our customers when it is released.

The girl in the tower is the 2nd book in The Winternight Trilogy and the follow up to the bear and the Nightingale. The story continues with Vasya, who can see demons whilst roaming the Russian wilderness and she is acquaintance the Frost demon Morozko. She has chosen to be a traveller as she does not want to marry or end up in a convent. She wants to see the world. So with Morozko’s help with providing her with a knife, saddle bags and a mare she goes off to find an adventure. Where she comes across bandits burning villages and young girls stolen from their mothers.
This is another magical and beautifully written story by Katherine Arden full of Russian folklore and historical references in medieval Russia and how Vasya fought for her independence and not became something that she did not want to be. I cant wait for the next book.

Thank you Netgalley and Penguin Random House for an ARC of this book

Fantastic! I liked The Bear and the Nightingale, but this was so much more. The first novel set the scene I feel for this story. Vasya is an inspiring and endearing character, putting everyone else to shame with her courage and principles despite opposition and antagonism from all sides. I loved the world of Medieval Moscow and the blend of history and magic of Russian folk tales.
Recommended.

The bear and the nightingale was one of my favourite books of last year. This, the second in the trilogy, doesn’t disappoint in the slightest. It expands upon the story of the ever-resourceful Vasya and her trusty steed Solovey as they continue their journey towards Moscow. Wonderfully written with further references to Russian history and folklore. A brilliant and highly recommended series. It’s a real dilemma - I can’t wait for the conclusion, but I don’t want it to end. Five stars!

Thank you the Penguin Random House and Netgally for this e-arc.

This book was a whole lot more action packed than the first. It took a whole new step and explored areas that we'd only heard about or seen briefly in the previous book. This installment had a lot of character growth for Vasya, and explored the other half of her family that we didn't see much of in the first book (or only saw when they were young). It also done a good job of being progressive without giving characters from the 14th century 21st century ideals. It fought against gender roles in a subtle sort of way, and dealt with the "that's just the way it is" problem really well (that didn't leave the portrayal feeling unrealistic). This is a world that has a lot of injustice towards woman where they have very little freedom, and that was a struggle to read even if I felt the author dealt with it well.

I first thought this title was plain compared to the title of the first book, however, I thought it made even more sense than the first after I had finished reading. A lot of the book revolving around the symbol of the Tower.


Characters

Vasya is amazing. I don't know if I mentioned this when I reviewed the first book, but I rarely like the main character in a book, and most of the time find them to be bland- but there's something about Vasya, and the way Kathrine Arden writes her, that just jumps off the page. She isn't perfect, she makes mistakes, and struggles against a cruel world that would just be so easy to submit to.

I'm not much of a horse person, but horses are really important in this world, and the author transfers them into the story and gives each horse real character. Solovey is a favourite, of course, and I was really surprised that I ended up liking him so much.

I loved little Marya (as that her name? Olya's daughter anyway). She had a fire about her. I'd like to see Vasya as a real role model figure for her (even if it ended up getting her into trouble).

I loved that we saw more of Morozko in this book. He's a really interesting character, who is complex, and who I'm still not sure is good or bad- but most likely a mix of both (it comes with his title I guess).

The other characters didn't stand out as much, but none felt bland or purposeless.


Plot

This was an interesting read, and I was engaged the whole way through. There's something compelling about the writing style that keeps you reading.

This book felt like it could almost stand on it's own, the only threads that ran through from before were from the latter half of the first book. Most of the first book was setting up the characters and the world they were in before getting into the action at the end. It was nice to jump into this book with that foundation already set. It dealt more heavily with the magical elements that where introduced in book one with Solovey and Morozko, and they were areas I was happy showed up again, but it didn't quite intertwine with the story. While it had all felt like natural progression in the first book, some of the magical elements here were a bit awkward. Anything with the smaller spirits matched up with what I remembered from the first book, and though it made sense (most of the time) when Morozko showed, but- some of the time it felt a little bit too much like coincidence or too convenient. Even though I never wanted anything bad to happen to Vasya and her family, by the end it all felt too easy- nothing horrible leading to the last book. Even this book was a sort-of standalone. If someone had told me this was a duology I would've been satisfied with this ending.

There was another part of the plot I did really like. It was to do with a troupe that I'm surprised I've not stumbled across more often (even if I do hear about it a lot). I'm talking of the "woman disguised as a boy troupe". I personally thought this was done really well and really explored society complexities throughout the book.


Conclusion

This book, on the whole, was just as good as the first. It was faster paced, but had a few too-easy moments (or tricks that worked more than once so they wore out). Yet this book still surprised me, and kept me enthralled all the way to the end. I love the brand of magic in this series, and hope the author can keep this up if she's planning on continuing the series (which I know is meant to be a trilogy). This has a satisfying ending, and could work well on it's own and doesn't leave you hanging and gasping (though I plan to read the next installment whenever I can- though I know it'll be a while yet). A strong conclusion, with strong writing and characters.

Expected Publication Date: January, 25th, 2018

Synopsis:

The magical adventure begun in The Bear and the Nightingalecontinues as brave Vasya, now a young woman, is forced to choose between marriage or life in a convent and instead flees her home—but soon finds herself called upon to help defend the city of Moscow when it comes under siege.

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.

Rating: ★★★★★ (5/5)

Review:

I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

First up, I didn’t even realise that this was going to be a trilogy – so when this dropped into my inbox I was SO excited. I loved the first book and I’m incredibly glad to say that the second one didn’t disappoint. I would like the third instalment now please as this made me feel so many things.

‘The Girl in the Tower’ follows Vasya, the independent, brave and still slightly angsty girl that we met in the first book. I find her to be both charming and infuriating at times, but I really do appreciate that Arden has crafted such a real character who isn’t just good or bad and has some grey areas. There are decisions that Vasya makes that make you want to shake her but you’re still always rooting for her. I’m so attached to her character, and Arden crafts all her other characters with such care. I so love that all of the characters sit in grey areas and aren’t just good or bad, all of them make questionable decisions and no one is morally sound all of the time.

Arden brings us to a new setting for the majority of this book. The whimsical, and deadly countryside of Russia is exchanged for the streets and palaces of Moscow. I have to admit that I did miss the country setting but that isn’t to say that I didn’t love the new setting and the stories it provided. There are still parts of the book set in the outdoors and outside of the city however, so don’t fear the loss of this environment. The Moscow setting lends itself to political intrigue, however Arden doesn’t bog down the story with difficult politics and instead hints at a deeper political storyline while keeping the main story focussed away from the politics.

This is still a wonderful dark fairytale of a book, I loved every single second and I finished the book wanting the third one instantly. I fell in love with characters I never thought I would, and rooted for a relationship that broke my heart. This is gorgeous, and exciting and painful and everything you could want a book to be. I’m in love with it.

This is book two, I haven't read book one, but the story still worked for me.

Vasya has left home, her parents are dead, the villagers think she is a witch and will kill her if she returns. She doesn't want the life of a woman in Rus, life in a convent or a tower. Vasya wishes for life as a traveller, on the move, experiencing new places. That is not something a woman can do.

Vasya rides Solovey, a bay stallion, with whom she is able to communicate. Solovey helps to keep Vasya safe wherever he can. But even immortal horses have their limitations.

Her brother Sasha is a monk and he too is a traveller. Wandering about the countryside doing the bidding of his masters.

There are characters in the story whose aim is to do mischief an mayhem in order to enrich their own lives. These are the people who are set against Vasya, Sasha and their companions. Vasya must hide herself under the guise of a boy throughout it all, in order to protect herself.

Morozko 'Winter King' is there on the periphery watching out for Vasya where he can, but he cannot reach into the city and that is where Vasya is most at risk, and where disaster hits.

I found myself worrying about Vasya when I was away from the book, there were parts where she was in dire straits and couldn't help but wonder what would come next.

A well written tale of the old gods of medieval Russia. I thoroughly enjoyed it.

I adore the world Katherine Arden has created here. The things I loved, loved, loved about the first part of this series are still all here:

- brilliant characters with believable interactions,
- sibling relationships that are complicated and true,
- an atmosphere so all-encompassing that it makes your forget your own surroundings,
- wonderfully immersive descriptions,
- a surprising and wonderful way to construct sentences that just sound like nobody else (in the best possible way) while still retaining that fairy-talesque rhythm that makes this series so readable,
- an understanding of the essence of fairy-tales that shows itself in the brilliant way the familiar tropes are both used and subverted, and
- the wonderful setting of Medieval Russia.
- And many more things.

From the very first chapter I was fully immersed in the story as we follow Vasya fleeing her home town after the events of the last book lest she be burned as a witch. Having only herself and her horse Solovey to rely on, this book has much higher stakes than the first one. Vasya pretends to be a boy and gets not only herself but her older siblings Sasha and Olga caught up in a web of lies.

I was not quite as enamored as I was with the first book (although to be fair, that book was one of the best things I have read in years…). Most of that comes down to simple genre preferences. This second book is a lot more fast-paced while the first one created a wonderfully slow narrative with clever twists on familiar fairy tales; this book reads more like a conventional YA-Fantasy (albeit a brilliantly written and very beautiful one). My biggest problem was the “pretending to be someone else”-trope. This is one of my least favourite tropes and stresses me out to no end. The dread this built made this a very different read for me.

But beyond this tiny little issue, I was wildly pleased with this book; I adore what Katherine Arden has created here and I find her vision and her voice beyond exciting. I am happy to have been there from the beginning and I cannot imagine not reading each and every single thing she will ever write.

First sentence: “A girl rode a bay horse through a forest late at night.”

I really liked this installment of the Winternight Trilogy. Vasya is definitely not a perfect character but that's what makes her so interesting. She makes mistakes and doesn't always listen to the advice she is given but she means well and her courage is without measure. I love the relationship she has with the cherti and her complicated relationships with her siblings. I also really liked seeing her as an almost mentor to her young neice, that was very interesting. The twists of the plot I found to be original and interesting and the last third of the book really kept me on the edge of my seat.

Magical. Dark. Beautiful. Fans of The Bear and the Nightingale should love this sequel at least as much as its predecessor.

The Girl in the Tower contains everything I loved about the first book, but I feel like Vasya has really grown as a character. She's still as spirited as always, but older and wiser, and I love it when characters naturally and gradually change and develop as a story progresses.

Here, the plot picks up shortly after the events of The Bear and the Nightingale. When accusations of witchcraft leave Vasya with an impossible choice between life in a convent or marriage, she chooses option three: disguising herself as a boy and taking off across the wild and rugged landscape of medieval Russia. Vasya's journey leads her to her sister Olga, her brother Sasha, a monk, and her cousin Dmitrii, the Grand Prince of Moscow. She soon gets caught up in lies and deception, and even bigger unrest surrounding the Moscovian rulers.

How fabulous.

Arden just blends history and the fantastical so well. Supernatural elements exist alongside the politics and invaders, and the author incorporates both so naturally that it's easy to be convinced that 14th-Century Russia was a land haunted by spirits. Details of everyday life add to the novel's realism, such as the hygiene (or, I should say, lack of) and the dangers lurking in the woods.

As with the first book, The Girl in the Tower gains strength from its atmosphere and strong sense of place. A very vivid picture is painted of this snowy and dangerous landscape, and I was able to plant myself straight inside Vasya's world. Add to this the stifling constraints placed on women of the time, and you have a very emotionally engaging experience.

I am being careful not to say too much, but this book is definitely worth the read if you enjoyed The Bear and the Nightingale. It is just as gloriously atmospheric and, for me at least, more urgent and fast-paced.

Also, Morozko has my heart. Yeah, that's the frost demon. I'm not even sorry.

A wonderful fantasy, set in a dark Russian winter and full of folklore and magic!

Picking up where the first book left off, Vasilia has left her home in search of adventure. Of course, she quickly gets into trouble and she finds herself saving three young girls from bandits. Because girls aren't allowed to travel the wilderness and rescue anyone Vasilia then has to pose as a boy to avoid ruining her reputation and getting herself sent off to a convent. She finds that she likes the freedom being a boy brings

Wilful, smart, brave and sometimes foolish, I was 100% rooting for Vasilia to find a space for herself in a world where women are confined to towers or convents. It made me angry to read at times, the way the women were treated as possesions, like a horse or a cow. If they were married they could leave their towers, called terems in the book, only to go to church or visit other women in their towers. I loved the way Vasilia smashed straight through everyone's expectations of how the women should act, and how she refused to regin in her personality.

Vasilia's horse Solovey is as much of a character as she is. He's her best friend and biggest supporter and steals every scene he is in.

It's much faster paced than the first book, all the build up and the world buiding is done and this gets straight into the action! It still has the atmosphere of cold, darkness and a long, long winter. The fairytales and folklore are still here too, the houshold spirits don't play as big a part but the winter king is a much bigger player this time around! I must admit I have a soft spot for Morzoko.

I was drawn straight into the story, I couldn't put it down and finished it in less than a day. I can't wait to see what Vasilia does next!

An absolutely engrossing and mesmerising tale which draws on Russian folklore and fairytales and expands them into an enticing story. The plot was a bit predictable at times but the characters were all extremely interesting and well-written and their development was one of my favourite parts of this novel. As an avid folklore fan, I was very excited to delve into the world of medieval Rus' and journey along with Vasya, her siblings, Morozko and their adversaries in this magical tale, which, despite its dark undertones is as charming to read as any of the fairytale elements it contains. I truly cannot think of a better read for those cold wintry days than this one.

I very much enjoyed this book. Initially I didn’t realise that it was the second part of a trilogy (the first being “The Bear and the Nightingale”, a copy of which is on my to read pile). After a while I found that I was reading the story for itself and not worrying about the parts that didn’t make complete sense. Once I looked up some of the Russian fairy tales that Arden references I didn’t find this spoiled my enjoyment.

The characters, even the minor ones leap off the page. Apart from the heroine Vasya, I loved the horse Solovey, who reminded me of the horse in “Tangled”, and Sasha, the warrior monk. Morozko was something else, and I look forward to seeing how he fits into the third part of the trilogy.

Aside from this, what really made the book was the setting and the detailed world-building. Vasya’s story, of a girl who doesn’t want to fit into the prescribed channels laid down for her, is one of the perennial themes in fantasy fiction, but the mental picture of this cold, brutal alien culture will stay with me. I will now read “The Bear and the Nightingale” and look forward to the third part of the trilogy

For readers who enjoy a foreign, less familiar period of history (medieval Russia), and those who enjoyed Naomi Novik’s “Uprooted.”

I started the year finding one of my favourite books in The Bear and the Nightingale, the first in Katherine Arden’s wonderful trilogy. With The Girl in the Tower I’ve ended the year in a similar way. Katherine Arden has gone beyond all expectations again and completely blown me away in her world of magic and adventure.

In this second book in the trilogy, the little girl Vasya was has grown into a strong, young woman, and is still the most wonderful, brave, stubborn heroine. She refuses to accept any of the paths laid out for her and decides to create her own and become a traveller and see the world. Watching her growth from book one until the end of book two was a delight, and she’s one of my favourite protagonists by quite some distance.

I liked getting a glimpse under the veil at Morozko too, the man beneath the myth and his battles with himself. This book seemed to set him up for a bigger role in the next, so I’m looking forward to seeing what part he plays in the final book. Of course there were new characters introduced as well, in particular the charming and mysterious Kasyan who has some ‘hidden depths’. His character threw many curve-balls at me.

As well as their individual growth, there was of course the growth of the relationship between Vasya and Morozko, as well as Vasya’s relationship with her horse, Solovey. I love a great animal companion in a book, and Solovey ticked all the right boxes for me. I would normally have a huge smile on my face when I was reading the interactions between Vasya and Solovey.

The world building was once again fantastic, leaving me feeling like I was there, following in Vasya’s footsteps, watching her story unfold. Beyond that there was of course how this book managed to encompass religion, history, folklore, politics, and fairy tales in a well-defined, structured, and enthralling way.

I am so impossibly excited for the third installment. I’m slightly conflicted, as I’m desperate to read book three, but don’t want Vasya’s story to end. That being said, I have complete faith in Katherine Arden’s ability to end this trilogy perfectly, and with the way this book ended I’m pretty impatient to see how it will all wrap up!

Katherine Arden returns to the world of THE BEAR AND THE NIGHTINGALE with a sequel that is every bit as satisfying and lovely. THE GIRL IN THE TOWER is a book that's best left savored. Like the first, it feels like an instant new classic - from the immersive world-building to its strength of characters. These are stories that will stick with you long after you finish reading.

5 stars - absolutely stunning.

After so enjoying The Bear and the Nightingale, I wondered how Arden could possibly do justice to a sequel. I needn’t have worried - The Girl in the Tower is even more rich and delectable.

This time the story is not just Vasya’s, our heroine from TBATN, but her brother Sasha’s and her sister Olga’s. There is more magic, more legend, more prophecy. More action, more of Vasya’s reckless bravery, more excitement. It is an absolutely stunning piece of writing, where the pace only slows to enhance an uncertain and suspenseful atmosphere.

It is difficult to describe the novel without giving too much away, but perhaps one of my favourite themes was acceptance of difference (Vasya’s difference, specifically). It didn’t always come easily, but the protection and love of Vasya’s family is written beautifully.

I cannot wait for the next instalment. I am sure it will be incredible.

*I received an ARC from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.*

It's so rare that you find a sequel that is as good as the first book in the series - but this is even better than the Bear and the Nightingale. Absolutely fantastic, I loved every minute of reading this. Vasya is my hero!

Having read the first book in this trilogy I was interested to read this one. I enjoyed it even more than the first one and am sad that I'll have to wait for the final book. A great story with a fantastic heroine. Definitely worthy of 5 stars!

I am a HUGE fan of this author. Her first book, The Bear and the Nightingale is one of my favourite books of all time. This follow up book is just as engrossing and enchanting as the first one. I was hooked from the very first page and loved following Vasya's adventures. As the book progressed, I found myself increasingly anxious about what would happen to Vasya- it was real 'edge of the seat' stuff! I can't wait for the print edition to come out so that I can buy a copy to have pride of place on my bookshelf.