Title: Book 1: The Bear and the Nightingale
Author: Katherine Arden
Genre: Fantasy
Plot: Vasilia is the youngest daughter of Lord Pyotr. With her four other siblings, she listens to fairy tale story of the winter king. But Vasya learns there is truth to the tales. Her new stepmother doesn’t want her believe and is determined for the stories to stop. But then a harsh winter sets in and the people become fearful. Vasya asks the spirits around the house to help her stop the harsh winter. There is one who could help they say and one who will make things worse. Is there enough time to help? Or will everything be destroyed?
Rating: 3.5 – a slow and steady read
Opinion: This was an interesting read but it wasn’t one of my favorites. I liked the idea of the book but it was a pretty slow read for me. One or two things would happen and then plotting and scheming and details about small things. While I get that the author was probably setting some things up for the other two books, I couldn’t really get into the book as much as I would’ve liked. I was curious about the book enough to finish it and thought it picked up a little towards the end, but not enough for me to want to read the second and third one right away. I may go back and read the other two some day but not right now. This book has lots of Russian terms but there’s a glossary at the back of the book. While I liked the fairy tale aspect of the boom, the pace of the book made me not like it. This is a good book for anyone who likes a slow and steady fairy tale style book.
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