The Bear and the Nightingale by Katherine Arden
Rating: 4.5 / 5 stars
Very few books of this genre can surprise me these days. Even less can unsettle me. This one did.
I admit that I am unfamiliar with Russian folklore, so I didn't know quite what to expect. Even so, Arden painted a very vivid tale that brought these creatures to life and it made me uneasy reading at night. But I couldn't stop myself.
The book started out unremarkably enough with an old nanny telling an oft-repeated fairy tale around the family fireplace/oven. It is old Russia, in a time before tsars, when Grand Princes ruled over principalities with the approval of the Khan. The family of Vasilisa (Vasya) lives on the edge of the northern wilderness, far away from direct political influences but where ancient spirits still rule the land. Vasya is a girl on the cusp of adulthood, struggling to find her footing in a man's world where women have few options and even less say. Her people have adopted a new religion, but Vasya has the gift of seeing and communicating with the spirits of old and must fight both man and demon to protect her family as her world reacts to shifting ideologies.
Vasya is a gem. She is curious, unafraid, and daring. Fiercely protective of her family, even those who are against her (e.g. stepmother), Vasya risks her own safety to shield others from dangers of their own making. Unwilling to have her life chosen for her, she defies family and society, even if it means a life of exile. When an ancient evil is loosed upon her home, she bravely faces the winter-king to embrace her gifts fully.
The Bear and the Nightingale is cleverly written. I hung on to every word and finished the last half of the book late into the night because I couldn't put it down. The magic and mythical creatures seemed entirely possible. Usually science fiction carries that sense of "almost reality" because of its extrapolation of current events and technology. For a work of fantasy to carry that off is a noteworthy accomplishment, and as a debut novel no less. My one quibble is the rather abrupt ending. I am told it is the first of a trilogy (of course it is), so there is more to come. Still, after such a dramatic final confrontation, it left me in a lurch to be cut off so bluntly. Of course, that won’t stop me from reading the next one when it comes out. Katherine Arden is definitely an author to watch.
ARC provided by publisher via NetGalley for an honest review.