The Bear and the Nightingale

there's an uncomfortable amount of child abuse in this book, for me. i know different people can handle different things but the amount I've already seen, 46% in, is just too much combined with all the rest of the sexism and religious bigotry and assault. i don't doubt the rest of the book will just be more of the same and i just don't want to read it.

This was not really picking up for me and I particularly wasn't enjoying how frequently I had to read about Pyotr raping Anna. I'm going to try one of Arden's other books later. 

This book is magical in a way that makes you feel something profound. There's Russian folklore tied in, a kickass heroine, and a great villain. It's a wintery coming-of-age story about a girl named Vasya who harbors secret gifts and has to grapple with them and what her stepmother does to her family. It's truly a fantastical book with vivid and eloquent storytelling.

I'm surprised I finished it. For me, The Bear and the Nightingale was a rather boring fairytale. It was supposedly driven by its characters, but the characters didn't seem driven themselves, and I found every single one of them uninteresting, boring, or lackluster, with the few characters complex enough to hold any attention being rather despicable.

My biggest gripe is the double-standards and flatlining of characters. Anna, the stepmother, seems at first sympathetic, when it is revealed she has the Sight and is used by men in different ways, as power plays and as a bride/wife, yet for the rest of the story, there is nothing done with her to sympathise with her plight, and she becomes nothing but the evil stepmother. Her Sight and her plight is undermined by her cruelty, and she becomes something one-note. Still, the book tries to have feminist themes, but those feminist themes are offered only to the special girl, the wild girl, the wood-sprite Vasya, and no other woman is given the chance to have a choice. It is especially annoying that Vasya is given the opportunity to whine about the plight of women, when she had never been squandered by it like the rest. She had been running free in the forest since childhood, she escaped bridehood and wifedom, and she wasn't sent to a convent–of all the women and girls, she's the only one that has always been free, and she is the only one who gets to be free. She's special, and freedom is only for the special ones. I don't know whether that was Arden's angle, but that's how her writing made it seem.

Another double-standard is that between Konstantin and Morozko. Apparently lusting after teens is bad if you're a priest but if you're an immortal frost-lord, you can kiss them without consent just fine and can lord your powers over them without issue.

The whole first part of the book ended up being bloated and useless. So much of it could have been cut, and what little of it was relevant could have been interspersed throughout the other parts of the story as flashbacks or tales. The only thing the book had going for it was the prose, which has a distinct lyrical rhythm to it. It wasn't particularly conducive to battle-scenes however, and so the ‘climax' didn't feel like much of anything.

Then also comes the whole Russian aspect of it all. Multiple other reviewers in the 1-star and 2-star sections have touched upon it and they're very much correct. Arden wanted to have her cake and eat it too, make the main family “rich” boyars but present them more like peasants so that they'd be more relatable and to give Vasya the freedom needed for her to do the Cool Witch Girl Shtick she had been doing her whole life. The exoticism made apparent by the Author's Note also churns my stomach. I'm not Russian, but I share their Slavic roots, and Arden's parting words have left a bad taste in my mouth.

Overall, the story doesn't do anything special, its messaging is bogged down by Not Like The Other Girls syndrome (aka misogyny), double standards, and its characters lack the charm of real people, which makes the book's lack of plot all the more troublesome. At least the prose makes the reading experience overall smooth, even if I needed to recharge my attention span every 10 pages because of the boredom.

The plot moves along, not any side tracking or focusing on subjects that don't contribute to the story or bog the movement down.

It has characters that seem interesting, including some of the spirits that share the world with humans.

And the author does a great job of providing information to show the perspective has changed from one character to another; either by calling out the new character's name or starting a new chapter.

Beautifully written, but challenging pacing and some things that left a bitter taste.
This book's writing was whimsical and swept you up into the wintery and enchanting world that the story is set in. I thoroughly enjoyed the world, especially all the little spirits and the nod towards religious fanaticism.
BUT. The story is extremely slow paced. While the writing style makes up for that to a certain extent, I felt myself growing frustrated and bored often, especially because the story jumps around between characters, none of which are really followed through with except for Vasya. I found myself caring little about some of the characters and it takes a long time for the story to take off.
This also brings me to one of the things I hate encountering - when authors are unneccessarily cruel to their characters. To exemplify: We are supposed to like Pyotr. Yet, he (much much older than her) “takes Anna to bed” every night for the first period of their marriage, while she is sobbing and crying. Why? I'm guessing the author's argument would be “because that's the way it was back then”. But this reason just does not fly with me. This is a fantasy book. This does not add enough to the character to justify it, on the contrary, it makes me actively dislike Pyotr, who is supposed to be a kind father figure. This was not needed to show the role of women historically, since we get plenty of that at other points in the story.
All in all, I am curious what will happen to Morozko and Alyosha, but not sure whether my interest is peaked enough to continue reading the series. At the rate that characters bitch slap other characters in this book though, I'll be sure to have my fun flask ready.

So boring it kinda turned into a hate read

Honestly I would rate this higher but I spent a fair amount of the book confused despite the beautiful writing

The Bear and the Nightingale is an unexpected book. First, it has a world of its own. Second, its' unpredictably predictable.

However, sometimes it gets hard to read it. Especially if you are not familiar with some worlds. I think the author didn't explain well how this world works. I also felt that at the beginning of the book it is a bit boring.

Overall it is an amazing book!

Enjoyed it right from the beginning.

2.5

It took a long time to sit down and read this. I'm easily made uncomfortable by religious zealotry, and at least one early character introduction made it clear that that was “their thing.” But, after years of cringing away from it, I finally read the book. And I really liked it! I'm excited to continue the story and see where Vasya goes from book one.

Trigger warning: rape and animal death/cruelty
3.75 rating for me because of above but otherwise really great book. First half is slow and slice of life-y. But second half things get going and it pulled me in quickly.

I will freely admit to picking up this book solely due to the beautiful cover. I can see why some people adore this book, but I never fell in love with the characters or their stories. There was enough plot resolution at the end of this book that I am ambivalent about what happens in the rest of the trilogy.

What a magical, charming incredible read. Read this for the winternight read-a-long that I'm doing and I loved this book so much. Vasya is a perfect female protagonist that grew so much within this book I loved everything about her character. I loved the magic/fantasy element of it. the environments/worlds. just ugh soooo good. Can't wait to read #2 and #3 of this trilogy :) Definitely recommend for a magical fall/winter read :)

Another grand tale that filled my heart with every chapter. I guess I'm really into cultural/folklore based fantasy? The audiobook version of this book is excellent and the narrator did an excellent job bringing me into the world. I highly recommend this book, especially in audiobook format!

Dense at times but overall well written.

I am quite emotional about the importance of the oven here, ok? Ovens are important and a blessing and the very center of the house.

I've had the audiobook for this one sat in my Audible library for over a year, and at the prompting of a friend, I finally got around to getting the library book. I'm kicking myself for taking so long to get around to reading this, because I am in LOVE with this book.

Vasya is such a wonderful hero, plucky, compassionate, wry, and brave and her interactions with all the horses and magical creatures of Russian folklore are just delightful, and quickly become the backbone of the story.

So, I have this thing where, when I watch the live action Narnia movies, my eyes just start involuntarily streaming tears whenever Aslan is on the screen. He's just so beautiful and wondrous, and just touches my heart in a certain way that I can't help it. Well, when Vasya meets a character named Solovey (I won't give more away) I had the same experience, and after reading the descriptions of Solovey and his conversations with Vasya, my cheeks were damp and my soul was happy.

Yah, I know, that's weird, but I couldn't think of another way to describe just how much I was totally in love with book.

It's beautifully written, perfectly paced, and bursting with magic and suspense and heart. Truly, The Bear and the Nightingale is now on my list of all-time favorites, and I cannot wait to read the next two books.

I actually won an arc of this here before it came out. I finally read it! I kept it on my shelf through many unhauls, and I'm so glad I did! This book is amazing. The characters and the folklore just pulled me in from the start. This is one of those slow burn reads that you just want to take your time and savor. I loved it! I have already ordered finished copies of all three books.

Beautiful, atmospheric, and somewhat nostalgic. There's just something magical about this story, with its spirits in the woods and old gods that protect people's homes. It may feel rather slow in comparison to most YA books these days, but that's exactly what makes it good. You can take your time getting familiar with the countryside of medieval Russia and the protagonist, Vasya, who is fierce and rebellious but is never rude. Even when she wants to make her own decisions, something that is uncommon for a woman at the time, it is easy to understand why she feels that way instead of having it shoved in our faces in a nonsensical way.

It was amazing. It even has a little bit of schadenfreude towards the end. I love it.

Oh, and for those who are curious. The romance is thin. Like I'm sure it will develop further in the next books, but in this one, it's barely there.

4.5 stars
A beautiful slow fairy tale

Magisch, onderdompelend sprookje, dat tegelijkertijd geruststellend vertrouwd als sprankelend nieuw aanvoelt.

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.

Ondanks de premisse van een sprookje, is het hoofdpersonage Vasya allesbehalve zoals de volgzame jonkvrouwen uit die verhalen. Ze is volledig haar eigen persoon en weigert zich te onderwerpen aan vals rechtvaardige mannen. Ze is fel en onbevreesd, en door volledig zichzelf te zijn ontsteekt ze de magie in de wereld om haar heen.

De overige personages kunnen als de gebruikelijke cast uit sprookjes worden bestempeld, doch de auteur ze één voor één, met schijnbaar weinig moeite, toch uniek en echt weet te maken.

There was a time, not long ago when flowers grew all year, when days were long and nights star-strewn and men lived free from fear

De schrijfstijl is bijzonder lyrisch, sfeervol en meeslepend.
Je wordt volledig ondergedompeld in traag kabbelende proza, dat het verhaal en de wereld waarin het zich afspeelt op elegante wijze van de grond opbouwt. De auteur weet alles niet alleen elegant, maar ook nog eens enorm beeldend over te brengen, zodat je het verhaal werkelijk voor je geestesoog ziet afspelen.

Dit boek nam mij volledig mee op avontuur en deed me bijna geloven dat het vroor dat het kraakte en dat ik de stilte van de sneeuw ervoer.
Dikke aanrader voor fans van Naomi Novik's Uprooted en Spinning Silver.

“That evening, the old lady sat in the best place for talking: in the kitchen, on the wooden bench beside the oven.” In the street of the small village I grew up in, there lived (and lives to this day even though she is very, very old now!) a lady of sheer infinite kindness. During the 1980'ties she still used an old oven that burned wood in her wonderfully old-fashioned kitchen. I spent many days there doing my homework for school, warming up on a wooden bench next to said oven or just hanging around listening to her stories. Thus, when I read the introductory quote, I felt immediately reminded of those days during my childhood and I was hoping for being taken back into those simple times. Unfortunately, this was not really to be: Many of the slavic “demons” or rather familiar spirits appearing in this book were part of her stories as well so I did feel a slight connection. Nostalgia isn't enough, though, and this turned out to be a very, very slow read. I almost lost patience with it and might have put it aside for good because too much irked me about this book even though the story is promising: Vasilisa “Vasya” Petrovna is the youngest daughter of Pyotr, the local squire, and Marina, his wife, who dies giving birth to Vasya. Marina's mother had special talents and Marina just knows that Vasya will inherit those. In fact, Vasya is a wild child, a tomboy, very down to earth and connected to nature. Above almost everything else she values (her) freedom. Due to all this, she can actually see the familiar spirits she knows so well from the old stories told by her nurse, Dunya. She lives in harmony with them, feeds them and even talks to them and learns from them. Doom is heralded by harsh winters, though, and the arrival of a new Christian priest who tries to “save” all those “heathens” from their worship of the old gods: “He spoke of things they did not know, of devils and torments and temptation.” And this is where things start to go severely wrong in the book: We're exposed to tons of religious crap. Neither the villagers nor Vasya need saving in the first place – they used to live in peace and harmony with each other and nature and only the arrival of the zealous priest makes things go deeply awry. Religion, and especially Christianity, pretty much poisons the local society depicted here and, true to life, is basically as much a cancer there as it is in our society today. Vasya is the only ray of light in this because she is a free spirit herself: “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.” It takes way too much of the book to get to this point where Vasya finally declares her independence. Of the titular “bear” we first get to hear after almost half the book! The “nightingale” comes even later... Until then we have to deal with religious nuts expressing all the things that are “sinful” and even the well-meaning people like Vasya's father are contemplating how to “save” her: “Marina, thought Pyotr. You left me this mad girl, and I love her well. She is braver and wilder than any of my sons. But what good is that in a woman? I swore I'd keep her safe, but how can I save her from herself?” I wanted to grab Pyotr at that point and club some sense into his thick head! No matter the gender, leave people be the way they want to be and if that includes going wild, so be it. Only when the book is almost over do we get some true development and, thus, a glimpse at how good this book could have been had it gotten to the point a bit quicker: “Morozko spared Vasya a quick, burning glance, and she felt an answering fire rising in her: power and freedom together.” At the end, we get to really feel that fire, the raw (narrative) power that could have made a brilliant book! Alas, it's still too little and too late to raise this book above the two stars I can justify to award it. And, yet, I might actually read the second book of the trilogy to see if it's more of the long-winded same or if Arden actually succeeds in allowing Vasya and Morozko to roam freely and wildly as they should. Blog Facebook Twitter Instagram

This is beautiful and painful and magical and memorable. Just so wonderful that I don't have the words.