Winternight Trilogy 1- The Bear and the Nightingale

<<’Yes, there is death in it, but not before joy, or glory. Will you stay here instead, and sing away eternity?’

‘Follow then’>>

-The Bear and the Nightingale, Katherine Arden

Synopsis

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.

Opinion

⭐5/5

Author: Katherine Arden

Serie: Winternight Trology

Pages: 323

Publishing house: Del Rey Books

ISBN13: 9781101885932

“Tells the story, that there was a family, where the father had remarried, after the loss of his first wife. Where the stepmother hated the daughter of her husband, because of her beauty. One night, she proposes her husband to wed his daughter with Morozko, the lord of Winter. When the girl was taken into the woods, a cold wind blew and a voice could be heard.

‘Are you warm, my beauty’

‘Quite warm, thank you, dear Lord Frost’ replied the girl, even if she was freezing. The cold blew even stronger.

‘And now? Warm enough, sweetheart?’ the girl barely could speak, but, she replied.

‘Warm, I am warm, thank you’.

The next morning, the girl cameback to her family house with gems, gold and silver ornaments. The stepmother, couldn’t believe it. So, she said, ‘The gifts that Frost has given to her are nothing he could give my girl’

That night, the father took his step-daughter into the woods. As the night before, a cold wind started to blew, and a voice could be heard. ‘Warm enough, darling?’

‘Of course not, you fool!’ Replied the girl.

The wind blew even harder, ‘And now, quite warm?’

‘But no, idiot! I am frozen!’ shouted the girl to the voice.

The next morning the girl didn’t cameback to her family house. At nightfall the stepmother send her husband to retrieve the girl. But, what the husband found was the dead body of his step-daughter. Lord Frost, touched the girl’s heart, and she fell dead on the spot.”

That was the story Dunya, the family’s nurse, to the children of Pyotr. That was the favourite story of Marina, Pytor’s wife. That was the night Marina told her husband she was pregnant. That was the last winter of Marina.

<< A warrior born, and a leader of men; Marina, I am fortunate in my sons>>

-The Bear and the Nightingale, Katherine Arden

Katherine makes you feel part of the book. Since the beginning of the book, Katherine’s words makes you imagine everything as you were there, you could feel the cold of the winter, or the warm of the sun in spring, you could feel the sadness, desperation that run through the characters, you could feel them as everything happens. The words she uses in this book are accurate in every sense. That is something I really love of this book.

The Bear and the Nightingale is located in a Russia of the middle age, where everything is rough and harsh, where people hope to survive another day. Is also a Russia that holds an empire, where the aristocrats have rights and connections, and the poor ones have to work to survive. It is also a Russia that still believes in their old gods and spirits, and Christian religion wants to change this, where there is a fight between religions and ideas.

The story of this book doesn’t happen in a couple weeks, it happen in a time lapse of years. For some, this story could turn up heavy, because of the amount of information it holds. But, this story has the exact amount of mystery that keeps you going. As I said before, it is located in the middle age, where were ignorant of many things. And, the characters are not the exception, they only know something is happening, but, they don't understand it at all, which add mystery and suspense in the story.

In fact, even if this is a fantasy story, this is not a story that has a lot magic, or fighting scenes, like wizards or gods with magical power. The Bear and the Nightingale, is a story, where mortals do not possess magic, they just see magic and the magical creatures. And, even if there are magical creature, they only appear a few times.

Our main character, Vasya, is a girl, who is cheerful, outgoing, curious, a free spirit, but, she is also a girl who can see all of these old spirits and gods. Is a gift given from his grandmother, a beautiful woman, who married the zar of Russia. Her mother, was a woman that possessed some of the abilities of her mother, And, Vasya, is the chosen one by his mother, to have all the abilities her grandmother had.

And, because of these abilities, she is pointed out as a witch. Things get complicated, when a priest appear in the town, and people stopped leaving offerings to the old spirits. What I like is that she never loses faith, that, when everything get more and more complicated she gets stronger, fighting against everyone, and she doesn’t doubt. That she is a strong character.

Another thing I like about this book, is the family bond they have. Even, if Vasya mother died when she was born, her siblings didn’t blame her. They took care of her, and they love her. And, even if their ways part from each other, they remember each other with love. The bond they share was built in love and trust.

This book hold many perspectives, not only the main character, it has the point of view of everyone that is involved, even the priest. So, you doesn’t miss anything, in a way you can understand the characters.

The Bear and the Nightingale is a book where magic is not magic, where two different religions have a fight between ideas and gods. Where the main characters never loses faith. And, mystery and suspense is everything you can get until the end of the book.

-Fer 🌻🌻