Five Star Book Review

Katherine Arden, The Bear and the Nightingale

For me a five-star book is something that either I want to read again or something that is so profound it makes an immediate impact. There are lots of ways that books can be compelling: a unique idea, an interesting set of characters, a complex plot, an artistic use of the English language and more. Reading is also a subjective experience, so what appeals to me as a reader may be very different for you. I read a lot for both pleasure and work, but these short reviews are a way for me to show my appreciation for the work and the craft of the author of the reviewed work.

The Bear and the Nightingale feels like a story told around an oven in a home snowed in for the winter, a story of magical creatures and grown ups who cannot see the magic of the world any longer. Vasya, the main protagonist, is both mischievous and kind and has a strong enough will to resist the machinations of her stepmother and father. There are many of the classic elements you find in fairy tales, for example a wicked stepmother, but I enjoyed the interweaving of distinctive Russian elements to the story: from the Russian orthodox painting of an iconostasis by Father Kostantin to the domovoy, rusalka, leshy, and other elements of eastern European folk stories. Although Morozko and his brother Medved, who the conflict of the story rotates around, have the classic good verses evil polarity, Morozko is not simply good and Medved is more animalistic hunger than evil. It is a story of family, of faith both in the sense of religion and in the sense of magic, and for the main character it is the beginning of a coming-of-age story for a woman who will determine her own course in a world where women do not write their own stories.

I read the entire Winternight trilogy several years ago, and I was deeply impressed with Katherine Arden’s debut novels. Returning to this novel was like returning to a home I never knew. The characters are great, but I think it was the way she narrated the atmosphere of the story that invited me in to dwell in this magical world for a time. This is a work of historical fantasy, so the magical events are caught up in the history of the Russian people and I really appreciated the way she allowed me to live a snapshot of an imaginary life in a magic infused slice of this world defined by winter. I look forward to continuing through the remainder of this series with Vasya, Morozko, and the rest.