Rating: ★★★★☆
Audience: Fantasy
Length: 320 pages
Author: Katherine Arden
Publisher: Del Rey Books
Release Date: January 10th, 2017
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

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.

STILL HOLDS UP.

This is a reread review because I read this originally before starting this blog!

Y’ALL. Five years later and this book still captivates me. I absolutely love the winter setting and the atmosphere of the entire novel.

And all of the characters are fascinating. Complex and intriguing. It does take a little bit to nail down who’s who, but after that, it’s smooth sailing. I love Vasya’s family and all the intricacies of her siblings, parents, and step mother. For a book mostly set in a small town far away from everything, PLENTY happens. It’s incredibly well written.

Vasya is one of my favorite FMC’s. She is resilient and strong. I love that even during the chapters when she’s little, you can feel the essence of who she is and how well Vasya embodies those pieces. And those later chapters when she’s fully grown are the best. I love when Morozko shows up too!! The relationship between them is this hesitant partnership that you can see the inklings of friendship brewing.

It’s all here. And I know the series only gets exponentially better.

Overall audience notes:

• Fantasy
• Language: a little
• Romance: mentions of closed door (not involving main couple)
• Violence: medium
• Trigger/Content Warnings: loss of parents, loss of loved ones, animal attacks, physical altercations, weapons violence, brief child abuse

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