I received a copy of this title from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
The Bear and the Nightingale is a wonderfully written fantasy set in medieval Russia. It starts with a fireside tale of magic, and as the story develops, we (along with some of the characters) learn that maybe there's more to the tale than just entertaining children. We follow Vasya, who has the 'sight' and we see the world through her eyes. She is a bit of a wild child, preferring the outdoors and horses to the traditional roles of women at that time. We watch her grow from child to young adult, balancing two worlds, and trying to keep that balance in check. It's a slow read, but not a boring one, and the ending chapters make it worthwhile.
This is a great book for lovers of fantasy, mythology, or history. The characters are colorful and well rounded, and the setting is magnificently described and detailed. I found myself fully immersed in the culture and the story.

It saddens me when the old gods disappear because we have forgotten them. In turn, it gladdens me when they are remembered. Some I knew, some local ones just met with my travels in the book. If you understand the nature of fairytales before animation, this is a book to read. A grand reading, indeed.

This book was a wonderful twist on a Russian fairy tale. It was captivating and not typical at all. The characters were believable in their struggles. Definitely a must read.

This is a beautifully written debut novel, a Russian folk tale.
Starting slowly, it builds to a good finish, although there are a few loose ends that resolve too quickly, or not at all.
Overall, I would say it is great first effort, and I look forward to more books from this author.

Vasilisa is the odd girl within her family, the one that listens too closely to her nursemaid's stories and believing in the household spirits even after her devout stepmother arrives and forbids her family from performing their usual rituals. She knows that they are just as important as the politics in Moscow, or keeping the people of her father's land safe. The priest from Moscow turns the people away from the old ways, but this actually endangers them all, and Vasilisa must fight with the country spirits to keep the people and land safe.

Set in pre-Christian Russia, the history of the time period is woven into the story as seamlessly as the magic and folklore. Relationships are explained in a very fluid way, and we get a chance to see some of the political machinations that lead to Anna and then Konstantin arriving in Vasilisa's homeland. Arden draws us into the land with very vivid descriptions that show us the love that Vasilisa has for it, even as the villagers call her a witch because of her ability to see spirits.

These same spirits are given as much importance as the human characters, even if we don't always learn their histories. Even the antagonists are given the same thorough treatment; each one is the hero of their own story, after all, no matter how misguided, and they all have their place in the fairy tale. Vasilisa is headstrong and willing to do whatever it takes to save the ones she loves, even if it isn't asked for, and is unable to forget the "real world" as she gets more entangled in that of the spirits at the end of the book.

Very engaging read and well done, it's hard to believe that this is Arden's first novel.

That's probably one of the biggest reasons I love fairy tales so much.
Not really the sweeter version of them..the dark, seedy life of the tales draw me in.

This one pretty much fits that bill. It's set in Rus (Or before Russia time) and it's pretty dang dreary. I don't think the characters even realized how dang bad their lives were. Not enough food. Cold enough to freeze your nipples off and have them run down the road trying to get away. Nope. I was even cold just reading this sucker.

Then you get lots of dark little creatures. Vampires, mermaids, Death, demons and house elves.
And evil stepmothers! Whoot!

I'm not going into much of the actual story in my review..because the finding out yourself part is really good in this book. (You do have a kick-ass main character and no boyfriend mushy stuff.)

The only problem that I had with this book was it did have some moments of seeming to ramble and repeat itself. That still wasn't bad enough to take away my enjoyment of it.

So get you a big old fuzzy blanket and enjoy this one.

A delightful story with hints of fairy tale woven in. Arden handled the tension between the old religion and the priest well (and why is it that priests get such a bad rap in stories? I've known good priests and religious figures in real life...but in books, they are always so horrid!). The story was satisfying without being overly sentimental and still having a gritty edge. I very much enjoyed it.

A unique and enjoyable read. This tale is part historical fiction and part fantasy, with added notes of culture and folklore that contribute to the atmosphere. I started this during a snowstorm -- which I recommend. It was so easy to transport myself to medieval Russia with the author's vivid descriptions and the snow falling outside. I loved the protagonist, Vasilisa, and the description of the Frost King. I loved the clash of traditional beliefs and new religion. I didn't love the terrified step-mother, but she had her place in the novel as well. I'm looking forward to parts 2 and 3 of this magical story.

I received an advanced copy of this book from NetGalley.

"I bring the frost, said the voice. Vasya did not think it was the mare. It is my wrath and my warning. But you are brave, devushka, and I relent. For the sake of an offering. A small pause. But the fear is not mine, and neither are the fires. The storm is coming, and the frost will be as nothing beside it. Courage will save you. If your people are afraid, then they are lost...Beware the turning seasons, she thought the wind sighed. Beware...and the voice was gone…"
Written as a fable within a fable, The Bear and the Nightingale gives the reader the girl, Vasya, youngest daughter of Pyotr Vladimirovich, who needs to choose her belief between this world and the next. Between what she sees compared to what others cannot see. When a beast known as the bringer of storms awakens, a battle between he and his brother, Lord of Winter, commences. Vasya is the key to its conclusion—and hers.
This is Katherine Arden’s first novel—and what a novel she gifts. It is an enchantment of characters and creatures pitting the seen with the unseen, good against evil, living against the dead. A battle of faith, and a battle of knowing. This is a fairytale that cannot be put down once taken up. It deserves many more readings to order to appreciate Arden’s beautifully written words, images, and its narrative complexity.

Vasilisa's world is ordered by the fierce Russian winter and the dangerous forest just past her home. But she is happy with the love and company of her family, and she spends her time exploring outdoors and listening to her nurse tell stories of the ancient spirits who help and trick humans. After Vasilisa's mother dies, her father marries a woman from Moscow who shuns the local spirits and insists on a strict adherence to Christianity. Her stepmother and the new village priest forbid anyone to leave offerings for the spirits. Vasilisa and her family quickly discover that demons are more than willing to move in without the protection of their spirits. They will have to use gifts that have been hidden for years to protect their home and family.

I don't read a lot of fantasy, but I recently enjoyed Uprooted and was intrigued by this book's description. The Bear and the Nightingale drew me right in and left me sad when I turned the last page because I wanted more adventures and more time with our brave Vasya. Readers get to see her grow from a wild girl to a young woman who learns to use all of the tools at her disposal: brains, bravery, and maybe even some magic.

The true heart of this story is the vivid relationships between Vasya and her family. Throughout the book, we see the siblings fight for and with each other and the ways that a father makes both good and bad choices for his family. I am thrilled that we will get two more books with Vasya, her family, and the magic of Russian fairytales.

Make sure you pick up The Bear and the Nightingale before it gets too warm. There should be a chill in the air when you should experience Katherine Arden's gift for making the reader feel as if they are in the freezing Russian forest, wondering if something or someone is lurking behind the trees.

The Bear and the Nightingale
By Katherine Arden
Del Ray January 2017
322 pages

I received a copy of this book from Netgalley for an honest review.

A beautiful, magical, and surprisingly dark, adult fairy tale. I was enthralled from beginning to end, even when there wasn't much going on. All the blended fairy tales woven together to create one seamless story, with a touch of horror and romance, was perfect for me.

I think comparisons of books to "Game of Thrones" are highly overdone, I couldn't help but be reminded fondly of the Starks by Vasya's family. While, Father Konstantine came straight out of Disney's Hunchback of Notre Dame. :-)

Can't wait for book two.

Looks like I'm going to be the voice of dissension on this one. I'm sure you've seen the hype surrounding this book. It's hard to miss. Ads were everywhere when it was released, featuring one accolade after another. And the description sounds amazing, doesn't it? I so wanted to love it. I love Russian historical fiction, and I went into it expecting to love it, to be wowed, to be swept off my feet. Alas, none of that happened. While it's not a bad book, at the end of the day, I honestly found it to be just plain boring.

I loved the folklore and magical elements, and I liked Vasilisa, but the pacing is soooo slow. Agonizingly slow. And the omniscient style means we get the point of view of way too many characters, some who don't even have a name, that's how insignificant they are to the story, yet we get their fleeting thoughts anyway. And if you know me, you know I'm a stickler for a tight, focused point of view structure. The author's writing has been described as beautiful and lyrical, but I thought it was rather on the simple side. And then when I got to the end and discovered this is the first in a trilogy, I couldn't help but note that the story would not need to be a trilogy if this book had been trimmed down, the pace quickened, and the rest of the story added in. I actually groaned at the thought of reading this story stretched out over two more books at a snail's pace.

I don't mean to sound harsh, and I know plenty of readers are loving this, but it just didn't live up to my expectations. I'm still giving it three stars because I did stick with it till the end, and I did find some things to admire about it. But not enough to continue on with the other books.

Vasya Petrovna, last child of Pyotr and Marina, was unexpected, and Marina was too weak to survive the birth. Vasya is raised in a small village on a steady diet of folklore. Her life is relatively unremarkable until her father goes to the city and brings back a young wife. Vasya and her new stepmother are more alike than either of them know. They can both see the household spirits that occupy their homes and stables, and must be appeased with offerings. While Vasya welcomes the spirits and keeps them fed and content, Anna fears them to her very core, and refuses them their offerings. Uh oh. When the spirits ain't happy, ain't nobody happy.

This books starts off as a quaint-ish little fairy tale that gives off a slight sense of foreboding, but about three quarters of the way in, turns full on horror story. I was not prepared for this as I lay reading on my phone in the dark at midnight. Not just a little bit scary, either. A lot scary. What a great surprise!

The writing is simply beautiful, and as a reader, you really are transported into this crazy world with all the lush, extravagant language. At times, though, I felt it was a little much. Perhaps it's because I know next to nothing about the Russian language, but I did have a hard time keeping all the characters straight. Especially since each one seemed to have at least three nicknames. Overall, a frightening. entertaining, and well-written read.

This book is fabulous!! If you are a fan of folktales or fairytales I highly recommend this beautiful book!

This book lived up to all the hype. It is such a different book and I honestly wasn’t sure what I was in for when I started it but I am sure glad I did! I see that this will be a trilogy and am looking forward to the next book!

Kathleen Gati’s narration is amazing she brings every character to life and everyone has a voice.

4 Stars

Magical realism blends village life in old Russia with the mystifying world of spirits and fairies in a spellbinding tale with a fantastic and heroic female lead.

Beautifully written! Absolutely loved this novel, and would highly recommend it. It reminds me a bit of something Neil Gaiman would write. I will definitely watch for more from Katherine Arden in the future.

This has become one of my favorite novels of the year. It's not a fast paced action novel and, while normally during the winter I'd want to read something that takes place somewhere significantly warmer, this book takes place in Russia, a frozen place filled with stories of monsters, witches, and a host of other supernatural folk.

I found that the story was very easy to sink into. It doesn't start out with the main character, Vasilisa, but rather her family and grows from there. We learn intricacies of her family, little facts that unfold as Vasilisa is born to a mother that wanted her more than anything and whose sacrifice has unforeseen consequences. From birth to adolescence to teenage youth there are not only the growing pains that Vasilisa faces, but the ripples in the pond that her family members make, such as her father's second marriage and her brother Sasha's aspirations to monk-hood.

In regards to the writing style, I found it reminiscent of classic Russian novels in the naming conventions, such as female and male differences, plus the slight changes made depending upon the familial relationship to the person in question. It was a bit of a challenge at first because I am not used to reading in that style, but after a couple of chapters I found that it wasn't a bother at all and actually added to my experience in the Russian landscape. It might help if the reader's read manga in the past, actually, because honorifics are used there as well, often with similar nuances depending upon the person you're talking to.

A sweeping fantasy, I think the series has potential to be quite the epic one and I look forward to reading more from the author.

I have really been intrigued by fairy tales from the Russian/Slavic area lately. It all started with Mistress of Solstice in 2013. Every time I get a recommendation from Netgalley that even hints at Russian/Slavic folk stories, I rush to request it.

Every one that I have read, I have loved. This one is no exception. This is a story of East meets West and they, of course, collide. Vasilisa is the daughter of a prominent lord in the north of Russia. She is a very special girl with some very special friends.

An upstart bishop from the city gets sent out to the tundra to curtail the wildness. His Orthodox doctrine is not welcome by all who live in the cold grip of the Frost King.

This is such a great story, and you really should go read it.

The wicked stepmother is a storytelling trope that has roots in reality. In times and places where resources were scarce and women often died (usually of childbirth-related complaints) by early middle adulthood, a new wife who had children of her own looked out for the best interests of her offspring above any others. The most famous literary example of a wicked stepmother? Probably Cinderella. It's a story that's remarkably common around the world: China has a version. Iran has a version. And of course, there's the European takes on the tale that inspired the brothers Grimm. It's this familiar territory that Katherine Arden mines for her debut novel, The Bear and the Nightingale.

Arden presents us as our heroine Vasilisa, the youngest child of Pyotr and Marina. Vasya grows up with her four older siblings in a small village in Russia, bordering the kind of large and dark wood that a good fairy tale needs. After Marina dies in childbirth, the girl grows up half-wild, listening to old Slavic folk tales at the feet of her very elderly nurse. But to Vasya, they're not just folk tales. She can see them, the spirits that populate Slavic mythology, and talk to them too. It's a trait she shares with her stepmother-to-be, Anna. But while rural-dwelling Vasya accepts this about herself, Anna, as a member of the city nobility, is a devout Christian and thinks herself tormented by devils. Once she moves to the countryside after her marriage to Pyotr, the only place she can find peace is the church. She becomes obsessed with the handsome and vain priest, Father Konstantin, who is just as obsessed in turn with rooting out the local superstitions. There's a tinge of American Gods here, because the fading belief saps the strength of the spirits just when they're most needed in a battle brewing between the larger and more powerful spiritual forces of evil and of justice.

The characters that populate the world of The Bear and the Nightingale are wonderful. Vasya is a delightfully high-spirited heroine, but what I enjoyed even more was that Arden didn't make Anna a simple "bad guy". Instead, she's presented as scared, and her behavior towards Vasya is obviously rooted more in this fear than spitefulness. And even though the father in Cinderella stories often comes off as neglectful, Pyotr is a loving father who has a hard time dealing with his first wife's death, his second wife's obvious mental health issues, and a daughter he doesn't know how to raise. And the world that Arden creates is wonderful, richly populated and vivid. It's the first first-in-a-series that I've read in quite a while that's made me actually Google when the next entry is coming out because I want to continue along in the story Arden is beginning to unfold. I really enjoyed this book and highly recommend it!

Beautifully written tale of a young girl in Russia during the Mongol Empire. Weaving Russian folklore into the pages, Arden has created a magical story of family and faith. I absolutely loved this book; the only thing that kept it from five stars was my opinion that the last few chapters did not live up to the rest of the story. It seemed a hurried and a bit confusing, and I found myself having to reread parts to fully comprehend what was happening. However, this book is well worth the read, and is highly recommended.