Review: The Winter of the Witch by Katherine Arden

The Winter of the Witch by Katherine Arden

Published: Del Rey | Publisher: 3rd October 2019 | Cover Design: Head Design | Cover Illustrations: Aitch | Source: Bought
Katherine Arden's Website

Following their adventures in The Bear and the Nightingale and The Girl in the Tower, Vasya and Morozko return in this stunning conclusion to the bestselling Winternight Trilogy, battling enemies mortal and magical to save both Russias, the seen and the unseen.

The Winternight Trilogy introduced an unforgettable heroine, Vasilisa Petrovna, a girl determined to forge her own path in a world that would rather lock her away. Her gifts and her courage have drawn the attention of Morozko, the winter-king, but it is too soon to know if this connection will prove a blessing or a curse.

Now Moscow has been struck by disaster. Its people are searching for answers—and for someone to blame. Vasya finds herself alone, beset on all sides. The Grand Prince is in a rage, choosing allies that will lead him on a path to war and ruin. A wicked demon returns, stronger than ever and determined to spread chaos. Caught at the center of the conflict is Vasya, who finds the fate of two worlds resting on her shoulders. Her destiny uncertain, Vasya will uncover surprising truths about herself and her history as she desperately tries to save Russia, Morozko, and the magical world she treasures. But she may not be able to save them all. From Goodreads

My other reviews of The Winternight Trilogy:
The Bear and the Nightingale (#Ad) | The Girl in the Tower (#Ad)

WARNING! I cannot review this book without spoiling the others in the series. Read no further if you're planning on reading this series and don't want it spoilt for you.

Trigger/Content Warnings: This book features sex scenes - one scene fades to black and another is one sentence, animal cruelty and death, mob mentality, violence against women, descriptions of bloody violence, threat of rape, sexual assault, attempted murder by burning, torture, suicide, and murder of a pregnant woman and child destruction.

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Review: The Girl in the Tower by Katherine Arden (#Ad)

I received this eProof for free from Ebury Publishing via NetGalley for the purposes of providing an honest review.

The Girl in the Tower by Katherine Arden

Published: 25th January 2018 | Publisher: Ebury Publishing | Cover Design: Head Design | Cover Illustrations: Aitch | Source: NetGalley
Katherine Arden's Website

For a young woman in medieval Russia, the choices are stark: marriage or a life in a convent. Vasya will choose a third way: magic...

The court of the Grand Prince of Moscow is plagued by power struggles and rumours of unrest. Meanwhile bandits roam the countryside, burning the villages and kidnapping its daughters. Setting out to defeat the raiders, the Prince and his trusted companion come across a young man riding a magnificent horse.

Only Sasha, a priest with a warrior's training, recognises this 'boy' as his younger sister, thought to be dead or a witch by her village. But when Vasya proves herself in battle, riding with remarkable skill and inexplicable power, Sasha realises he must keep her secret as she may be the only way to save the city from threats both human and fantastical... From Goodreads

My other reviews of the Winternight Trilogy:
The Bear and the Nightingale (#Ad)

WARNING! I cannot review this book without spoiling the others in the series. Read no further if you're planning on reading this series and don't want it spoilt for you.

Trigger/Content Warnings: This book features fire and arson, crossdressing/woman pretending to be a boy, transphobic undercurrents, slavery, burned bodies, abduction, threat of rape, forcibly removing a woman's clothing in public, sexual assault, stillbirth, and violence against women.

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Review: The Bear and the Nightingale by Katherine Arden (#Ad)

I received this eProof for free from Del Rey via NetGalley for the purposes of providing an honest review.

The Bear and the Nightingale by Katherine Arden

Published: 5th October 2017 | Publisher: Del Rey | Cover Design: Head Design | Cover Illustrations: Aitch | Source: NetGalley
Katherine Arden's Website

At the edge of the Russian wilderness, winter lasts most of the year and the snowdrifts grow taller than houses. But Vasilisa doesn't mind—she spends the winter nights huddled around the embers of a fire with her beloved siblings, listening to her nurse's fairy tales. Above all, she loves the chilling story of Frost, the blue-eyed winter demon, who appears in the frigid night to claim unwary souls. Wise Russians fear him, her nurse says, and honor the spirits of house and yard and forest that protect their homes from evil.

After Vasilisa's mother dies, her father goes to Moscow and brings home a new wife. Fiercely devout, city-bred, Vasilisa's new stepmother forbids her family from honoring the household spirits. The family acquiesces, but Vasilisa is frightened, sensing that more hinges upon their rituals than anyone knows.

And indeed, crops begin to fail, evil creatures of the forest creep nearer, and misfortune stalks the village. All the while, Vasilisa's stepmother grows ever harsher in her determination to groom her rebellious stepdaughter for either marriage or confinement in a convent.

As danger circles, Vasilisa must defy even the people she loves and call on dangerous gifts she has long concealed—this, in order to protect her family from a threat that seems to have stepped from her nurse's most frightening tales. From Goodreads

Trigger/Content Warnings: This book features discussion of abortion, death in childbirth, people freezing to death, the dead crawling out of their graves, death by vampire, and sexual assault.

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