Review: The Bear and the Nightingale (Winternight Trilogy #1)

5 stars. Everything I was promised and more. I am so buzzed off this story, despite the fact that it took me fucking ages to read. I blame that on a very intense job transition... the last month or so has left me barely alive, let alone functioning normally. I will absolutely not be meeting my reading goal for this year, nor will I be even up to what I usually read, numbers-wise. That's life. But I'm so glad to have read this incredible book that is warm and cold at the same time, in all the best ways.

There's enough hype out there so I'll forego a summary, but if you've been living under a rock (in which case, I'm sorry you emerged into the world when you did - read this book, it'll help), The Bear and the Nightingale is an atmospheric fairy tale that braids together threads of Russian folklore, magic, a little history, a fiery, feisty heroine and an ice cold frost demon. It's classic good versus evil set against a fascinating backdrop of religious transition.

There are some elements to this narrative that are unusual or could seem a little confusing. The pacing is very atypical and the character arcs are also unpredictable. In that sense it tastes a little less like a traditional fairy tale even though it smells like one. But I'm a huge sucker for religious transition, as I said ... give me alllll the clashing of beliefs resulting in allllll the social, economic and personal consequences! Bring me the tension between the old and the new! Bring me a protagonist who rejects them both!

I've been really into Katherine Arden's story for a while - not to be creepy - and I'm so happy that her writing matches my impression of her as interesting, capable and talented. Everything about this: the word choice, the flow, the imagery, the premise, the descriptions of winter... all of it has strong appeal. I cannot emphasize enough how unnecessary my stamp of approval is at this point (at any point really), but here it is. Approved. More, more, more, more, please.

The Bear and the Nightingale on: Amazon | Bookshop.org | Goodreads