The Girl in the Tower

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Manufacturer: Katherine Arden
Brand: Fantasy Fiction, Historical Fiction
Brew: Audiobook
Steeping Time: 13 hours 10 minutes
Tea Service: Personal Choice
Strength:

Synopsis: Vasilisa has grown up at the edge of a Russian wilderness, where snowdrifts reach the eaves of her family’s wooden house and there is truth in the fairy tales told around the fire. Vasilisa’s gift for seeing what others do not won her the attention of Morozko—Frost, the winter demon from the stories—and together they saved her people from destruction. But Frost’s aid comes at a cost, and her people have condemned her as a witch.

Now Vasilisa faces an impossible choice. Driven from her home by frightened villagers, the only options left for her are marriage or the convent. She cannot bring herself to accept either fate and instead chooses adventure, dressing herself as a boy and setting off astride her magnificent stallion Solovey.

But after Vasilisa prevails in a skirmish with bandits, everything changes. The Grand Prince of Moscow anoints her a hero for her exploits, and she is reunited with her beloved sister and brother, who are now part of the Grand Prince’s inner circle. She dares not reveal to the court that she is a girl, for if her deception were discovered it would have terrible consequences for herself and her family. Before she can untangle herself from Moscow’s intrigues—and as Frost provides counsel that may or may not be trustworthy—she will also confront an even graver threat lying in wait for all of Moscow itself.

Vasya is at it again, and what a wild ride she takes us on this time.

If you haven’t read my review of The Bear and the Nightingale, you can check that out here. If you haven’t read The Bear and the Nightingale, you might want to read that first. The Girl in the Tower is the second book in the Winternight trilogy. You’ll definitely need to read these in order as the second (and third, I’m guessing) doesn’t work well as a stand-alone book.

Fair warning, there are spoilers for The Bear and the Nightingale after this point. Like, in the next sentence.

For this installment in the series, we follow Vasya as she heads out on her own after fleeing her village at the end of The Bear and the Nightingale. Adventure is her choice, as neither marriage nor a convent sound like a life worth living. She wants to see the world, and she has every intention to do so. Morozko tries to convince her to go back home, but as we all know, Vasya is strong-willed and cannot be swayed.

After Morozko brings it to her attention that she cannot travel alone as a young woman, he supplies her with boy’s clothes and all of the goods she needs for her travels. Disguised as a young man, she will not face the advances of men on the road. With the weight of danger slowly dawning on Vasya, she prepares herself to leave. Together, Vasya and Solovey head out on a grand adventure.

Things do not go as planned, however. Vasya instead finds herself hailed as a hero by the Grand Prince after she rescues a few children from raiding bandits. She is also reunited with her brother, Sasha, and together they all travel back to Moscow. A charade that kept Vasya safe now becomes one that might be her undoing. Lying to the Grand Prince of Moscow is never a wise choice. Knowing that her secret, if revealed, could spell disaster for her brother and her sister Olga who awaits them in Moscow, Vasya must hide her identity. The stakes are high from start to finish.

Just like The Bear and the Nightingale, this book is long-form storytelling.

There are heavy detail and dialogue, but I don’t feel that any of it was unnecessary. Katherine Arden weaves the story so beautifully. It’s like being entranced in a snowstorm, absolutely captivated by the swirling snowflakes, or in this case, words. Somehow she masterfully combines a slow pace with constant high tension.

I fell in love with Vasya all over again, and my deep love for Solovey only intensified. I also developed a love for Morozko during the course of this book. While I liked him in The Bear and the Nightingale, we get so much more of him in The Girl in the Tower. I was craving more scenes of Vasya and Morozko in the previous book, and I was heavily rewarded in this one. Katherine also introduced us to a new character that I instantly adored, Olga’s daughter Marya, also called Masha. She is such a vibrant young girl who simply wants to live life to her fullest potential. Again, we are reminded of the time that this story is set in. Poor Marya is kept indoors nearly all of the time. They are living in a mans world, where women and girls are only seen when wanted.

Unfortunately, and fortunately, for storytelling’s sake, our most-hated man makes a return.

Konstantin is always there to remind me that you can’t actually punch a fictional character in the face, and I’ll always have to live with that fact. Rude. But if I could, good Lord, I would. A few other formidable foes join the ranks, as well as some new magical beings, which I’m always game for.

Just like with The Bear and the Nightingale, events of the story come crashing together in the last quarter of the book. In a deafening crescendo, secrets are unveiled, identities revealed, and the truth is finally set free.

I adore Katherine Arden and her knack for making me feel as though I am walking beside her characters, fully immersed in their world. Her language is colorful, her characters deep, her world full of magic. I’m so excited to have one more book to read, giving me one more chance to experience this world with new eyes.

My only struggle with this book has to do with the names. This isn’t a rag on the book itself, but just a fact about Russian names if you aren’t familiar with them. If you are like me and struggle to keep them straight, check out the author’s note before reading the book. She gives a little more detail on how names work in Russian culture, and I think that would have been helpful from the very start.

If you’ve read The Bear and the Nightingale and are wondering if you should pick up The Girl in the Tower, I’d say do it.

But don’t do what I did and read seven books in between them. There is so much detail that I had forgotten by the time I picked up the second book. I will not be making that mistake with The Winter of the Witch, the final installment of the Winternight trilogy. I’ve already got it in hand, and I can’t wait to dive in.

Have you read The Girl in the Tower? Leave a comment and let me know what you thought about it! Want to read it for yourself? Click here to get a copy of your own.
Cheers,
Lydia