REVIEW: The Bear and the Nightingale by Katherine Arden

This was the first book I read for The Reading Frenzy's "Run Away With the Circus" July challenge, fulfilling the "Menagerie" prompt. You can read about the challenge in my last post!

I really loved this book - it was an absolute delight to read, and I find myself already craving more! I have plans to order the next book in the series very soon.

CHARACTERS
Each of the characters in this novel gets their chance to shine and share their perspective, but the main character is Vasilisa - Vasya for short - the youngest child of her parents and a rather odd girl, who is referred to as anything from a witch to a wood spirit. She is a bit of a wild girl in her connection to the nature surrounding her home, but it is quite clear that she loves her family and the villagers, and wants to protect them in any way she can - that just happens to be by talking to the house spirits and those of the woods. I love her so much, and would gladly read much more about her.

Besides Vasya, the characters include her family (brothers, sisters, father, stepmother), a priest sent by the Grand Prince who takes it upon himself to "save" the village, the children's old nurse Dunya, and the many spirits of the woods and home. Oh, and the warring brothers Morozko and Medved, gods of winter. Each character is realistic, sympathetic, and unique; I loved Vasya's large family and the duality of Morozko and Medved captured my attention.

PLOT
The plot of The Bear and the Nightingale is deceptively simple: the evil winter spirit Medved is creeping up on the little village where Vasya's family lives, killing animals and raising the dead. However, the plot is really much more involved than this, and every character's choices are involved in moving it forward. The plot is not something that simply happens to the characters, but rather something that is effects by their actions. I found this aspect in particular very refreshing and dynamic to read.

As for the actual events, I was nearly on the edge of my seat to see what happened next! Each choice made by Vasya, her father, stepmother, and the priest Konstantin seemed to lead to something, even if I did not know what it was. It is the stepmother's forbidding of leaving offerings to household spirits that begins to kick off the main plot, but she is only there because Vasya's mother died giving birth to her. And this happened because her mother wanted "a child like [her] mother" - a wild, nature-driven girl. Everything is so interconnected in a wonderful way. Not to mention: the idea of the Christian god and the household/wood spirits existing at the same time is very pleasing to me.

WRITING
I'm not the first to say this, but I will anyway: Arden's writing is pure magic. From the first page I felt as though I had been put under a spell, entranced by the beautiful, lyrical writing. I can best describe this writing style as the feeling of a fairy tale - for an entire book. I loved it.

RATING
Five stars. Added to my favorites list. In fact, I even added the other books in the trilogy to my to-read list before I finished this one, that's how much I liked it!

RECOMMENDATION
Please read this book, especially if you love fairy tales, folk stories, and the grand struggle between good and evil, nature and man, the future and tradition. All of these struggles are present in the novel, and are explored in interesting ways.