The Bear and the Nightingale
My eighth book for ljbookbingo is The Bear and the Nightingale by Katherine Arden for the Fairy Tale Square, table found here:
Winter lasts most of the year at the edge of the Russian wilderness, and in the long nights, Vasilisa and her siblings love to gather by the fire to listen to their nurse’s fairy tales. Above all, Vasya loves the story of Frost, the blue-eyed winter demon. Wise Russians fear him, for he claims unwary souls, and they honor the spirits that protect their homes from evil. Then Vasya’s widowed father brings home a new wife from Moscow. Fiercely devout, Vasya’s stepmother forbids her family from honoring their household spirits, but Vasya fears what this may bring. And indeed, misfortune begins to stalk the village. But Vasya’s stepmother only grows harsher, determined to remake the village to her liking and to groom her rebellious stepdaughter for marriage or a convent. As the village’s defenses weaken and evil from the forest creeps nearer, Vasilisa must call upon dangerous gifts she has long concealed-to protect her family from a threat sprung to life from her nurse’s most frightening tales. ~Amazon Book Description
I really enjoyed this story! It is steeped in Russian fairy/folktales which I love. Vasilisa is a delightful character, we see her grow up in the harsh Russian countryside, as she deals with being able to see what others can't. But because she can see the household gods and the fae that live in the forest, she is able to mitigate the harm that these creatures can do and she helps her family even though doing so puts her into the ill graces of her step-mother and the villagers who call her witch behind her back. I loved the journey Vasilisa goes on as she fights the evil that comes with winter and learns what she wants her future to be or as Vasilisa puts it:
“All my life,” she said, “I have been told ‘go’ and ‘come.’ I am told how I will live, and I am told how I must die. I must be a man’s servant and a mare for his pleasure, or I must hide myself behind walls and surrender my flesh to a cold, silent god. I would walk into the jaws of hell itself, if it were a path of my own choosing. I would rather die tomorrow in the forest than live a hundred years of the life appointed me.”
This was a very well told tale and I can't wait to read the next book!
This entry was originally posted at https://under-the-silk-tree.dreamwidth.org/51276.html
Winter lasts most of the year at the edge of the Russian wilderness, and in the long nights, Vasilisa and her siblings love to gather by the fire to listen to their nurse’s fairy tales. Above all, Vasya loves the story of Frost, the blue-eyed winter demon. Wise Russians fear him, for he claims unwary souls, and they honor the spirits that protect their homes from evil. Then Vasya’s widowed father brings home a new wife from Moscow. Fiercely devout, Vasya’s stepmother forbids her family from honoring their household spirits, but Vasya fears what this may bring. And indeed, misfortune begins to stalk the village. But Vasya’s stepmother only grows harsher, determined to remake the village to her liking and to groom her rebellious stepdaughter for marriage or a convent. As the village’s defenses weaken and evil from the forest creeps nearer, Vasilisa must call upon dangerous gifts she has long concealed-to protect her family from a threat sprung to life from her nurse’s most frightening tales. ~Amazon Book Description
I really enjoyed this story! It is steeped in Russian fairy/folktales which I love. Vasilisa is a delightful character, we see her grow up in the harsh Russian countryside, as she deals with being able to see what others can't. But because she can see the household gods and the fae that live in the forest, she is able to mitigate the harm that these creatures can do and she helps her family even though doing so puts her into the ill graces of her step-mother and the villagers who call her witch behind her back. I loved the journey Vasilisa goes on as she fights the evil that comes with winter and learns what she wants her future to be or as Vasilisa puts it:
“All my life,” she said, “I have been told ‘go’ and ‘come.’ I am told how I will live, and I am told how I must die. I must be a man’s servant and a mare for his pleasure, or I must hide myself behind walls and surrender my flesh to a cold, silent god. I would walk into the jaws of hell itself, if it were a path of my own choosing. I would rather die tomorrow in the forest than live a hundred years of the life appointed me.”
This was a very well told tale and I can't wait to read the next book!
This entry was originally posted at https://under-the-silk-tree.dreamwidth.org/51276.html