The Bear and the Nightingale

Blending Russian fairy tales and modern concepts, The Bear and The Nightingale transports the reader to the dark forests and hearths of medieval Rus’ where spirits both great and small still linger. Though slow to start, this atmospheric book lays bare the weaknesses of people everywhere – that fear can consume us and our worst demons rule us.

In the northern region of medieval Rus’ winter’s cold stretches for most of the year. Into this unrelenting landscape is born Vasilisa, the last daughter of Pyotr Vladimirovich and his first wife Marina. When Marina passes away during child birth, the raising of Vasya falls to their mother’s old nursemaid and her older siblings.

Without her mother to rein her in, Vasya grows up wild and show more head strong – more likely to be found out roaming the forest than attending to her mending. Having inherited the gifts of her grandmother, she can see and hear what others cannot. All around her people are spirits of the house who protect them in exchange for gifts of crust or milk. In the forest live their more dangerous brethren who might confuse a travel into wandering the forest lost until they die or drown them in a pool to feed off their fear. Vasya speaks to them and knows them all.

Unable to control his youngest child and eager to seek a match for his eldest daughter, Pyotr travels to Moscow. When he returns with a devout and fearful second wife, Vasya’s carefree childhood comes to an abrupt end. Seeing evil everywhere in the remote settlement, Vasya’s stepmother Anna grows harsher and harsher when dealing with her wayward stepdaughter.

Into this comes Konstantin, a charismatic and plagued priest who is determined to make the inhabitants of the remote settlement fearful of god. Believing Vasya is willingly tempting him from his vows and falling prey to the whispers of an impostor deity, Konstantin feeds the flames of Anna’s fears. Together they forbid the following of the old ways and so starve out the helpful household spirits that Vasya has come to realize only she can see. With the weakening of the spirits comes the faltering of the defenses the settlement unknowingly relies on, and so starts the beginning of their struggles.

Facing cold, starvation, and death, Vasya must defy her family and their way of life in order to protect them all. In the face of this hatred and rejected by her own people, Vasya maintains integrity and bravery in the face of terrifying ordeals that would cower grown adults. A strong and vibrant girl, she refuses to bow to the conventions of her time and be limited by a traditionally defined woman’s role.

Despite a slow beginning which focuses on the origins of Vasya, her family, and the culture and political climate of medieval Rus’, once this book gets going it roars to the end. Stick with it, you won’t regret it.

[Crossposted from https://allusoryreviews.wordpress.com] show less

Summary:A magical debut novel for readers of Naomi Novik’s Uprooted, Erin Morgenstern’s The Night Circus, and Neil Gaiman’s myth-rich fantasies, The Bear and the Nightingale spins an irresistible spell as it announces the arrival of a singular talent with a gorgeous voice.

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 show more 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 nearer, 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.

I received this book through the publisher via Netgalley. It is not being released until January 2017.

The Bear and the Nightingale is one of my favorite books of the year. It is magical and cozy and utterly perfect. Arden evokes numerous Russian folktales about the spirits of hearth and forest and brings those beings into direct confrontation with Christianity. Russia itself figures as a setting and a character; this is a book that will make you feel the intense, deadly cold of a Russian winter—with the undead on the prowl.

Vasya is the heroine, a girl who carries on the magical legacy of her mother by being able to communicate with the spirits around her. The immediately evokes some tropes—you know that the village will likely come after her with torches and pitchforks—but the book still engages and surprises. Vasya is fantastic and strong, a young woman who will never be content to idle at home and bear sons. I loved her all the more when she formed a special bond with horses. FYI: magical horses come into play. I was reading this on a plane and I had to resist the girlish urge to squeal in joy.

Let me make clear, though, that this isn't a novel that is all light fairytales and enchanted horses. No, this book gets DARK. Like I mentioned earlier, the undead are roaming about in the thick of winter. It's intense, horrific at times, but it doesn't dwell there long because Vasya is in control of her own fate. She won't let her own story dwell in the darkness.

One of my other favorite books this year was The Queen of Blood by Sara Beth Durst. If you love that book, do yourself a great kindness and get The Bear and the Nightingale. They both feature brilliant, fresh takes with magic, blood, and powerful women. show less

The Bear and the Nightingale was the perfect book to read on a day where I could see snow falling through the window. Arden's writing is lush and beautiful. I adored the fairy-tale feeling of this story. Everything was vivid from the characters to the Russian setting. I was completely immersed.

The book started off a bit slow for me. The writing was exceptionally gorgeous from the beginning, but I had to get used to a slower pace and lots of characters. Once, I was a few chapters in though, I was in for the long haul.

Our whole cast of characters was intriguing. Vasya, her father, step mother, brothers, sisters, nurse, Konstantin, Frost, and many more characters play a part. Vasya is wild, independent, and strange. She's the (somewhat) show more underdog you have to root for.

One of our main conflicts is the church vs common local beliefs in spirits and fairytales. When a renown priest comes and strikes fear of God into the hearts of the townspeople, the spirits grow hungry and restless as they are ignored and forgotten. Vasya knows this isn't good. And she can see these spirits, and she is also the target of a great evil.

Overall, I cannot recommend The Bear and the Nightingale enough. If it starts off feeling slow to you, persevere! I was so glad I did. This is a magical, well-researched, intriguing read. If you love medieval Russia, fairy tales, religion and myths, and atmosphere, pick this book up! I cannot wait to see what Arden does in the sequels.

*Received for free from LibraryThing Early Reviewers*

4.5/5 Stars show less

Gorgeous and lyrical. Arden reimagines the Russian fairy tale of Vasilisa the Beautiful but melds it with traditional stories of the fey folk. Instead of a doll, Vasilisa has brownies, and nymphs, and dryads, and others. I loved this melding of different folk tales, and it added depth to Vasya's story, that she have the sight and able to see the magical creatures, and that this is placed into context of the Christianity causing the old ways to die.

As is true of Russian literature, this is not a light book. There is an air of oppressive darkness throughout, which is in line with the harsh winters and the danger of death through cold or starvation -- even before the addition of a mythical Bear-demon who creates undead vampire wraiths.

I show more read this book slowly, though it is not very long. The plot is not quick and I did not want to rush it. Arden takes the time to set the stage and it is a slow build -- so slow, in fact, that when the book's denouement arrived, it was over too quickly. I wanted more; I wanted to spend more time with these characters and to see what happens next to Vasya.

This is Arden's debut book and I'm very impressed. I look forward to seeing what else she writes.

Review copy courtesy of the publisher via Netgalley. show less

Set in a bitterly cold winter in a small medieval village in Russia, The Bear and the Nightingale by Katherine Arden is full of Russian fairytales and folktales. The villagers have been making offerings to the household spirits for generations and are wary of what dwells in the dense forests.

However the arrival of a new priest from Moscow changes the household completely as magic is essentially outlawed and the Christian Priest Konstantin is intent on purging devils and witches from the town.

The villagers are forced to choose between their Christian beliefs and salvation or their mystic traditions of old and certain damnation.

Unfortunately for our protagonist Vasya, Konstantin is frighteningly effective:

"His voice was like thunder, yet show more he placed each syllable like Dunya setting stitches. Under his touch, the words came alive. His voice was deep as rivers in spring. He spoke to them of life and death, of God and of sin. He spoke of things they did not know, of devils and torments and temptation. He called it up before their eyes so that they saw themselves submitting to the judgment of God, and saw themselves damned and flung down.

As he chanted, Konstantin pulled the crowd to him until they echoed his words in a daze of fascinated terror. He drove them on and on with the supple lash of his voice until their answering voices broke and they listened like children frightened during a thunderstorm. Just as they were on the verge of panic - or rapture - his voice gentled." Page 149

Vasya knows the harm that will come if the old traditions aren't upheld and risks her life to save her family despite their distrust of her abilities. Vasya's connection with horses was one of my favourite elements of the book, and reminded me of Poison Study by Maria V Snyder.

According to her father Pyotr, Vasya is destined for either marriage or a convent and she vehemently wants neither. Convinced the villagers are in trouble, Vasya will do anything for agency over her life:

"I am told how I will live, and I am told how I must die. I must be a man's servant and a mare for his pleasure, or I must hide myself behind walls and surrender my flesh to a cold, silent god. I would walk into the jaws of hell itself, if it were a path of my own choosing. I would rather die tomorrow in the forest than live a hundred years of the life appointed me. Please." Page 367

The Bear and the Nightingale by Katherine Arden is a coming of age story and a tribute to storytelling and fairytale. I really enjoy a novel that blends historical fiction in a tale inspired by folkore so if you enjoy books by Kate Forsyth or Naomi Novik, you'll love this.

It's difficult to believe this is the author's debut with descriptions like this one:

"The winter half of the house boasted huge ovens and small, high windows. A perpetual smoke trickled from its chimneys, and at the first hard freeze, Pyotr fitted its window-frames with slabs of ice, to block the cold but let in the light. Now firelight from his wife's room threw a flickering bar of gold onto the snow." Page 13

The Bear and the Nightingale by Katherine Arden is the first in the Winternight trilogy, and I look forward to reading The Girl In The Tower next. show less

So much time has been spent taking old oral histories, moralities and religions and turning them into goofy, whitewashed vehicles for american self-justification. It's delightful to find someone who can build and reimagine with respect. I love this timelessness, the complex family relationships, the beautiful points of freedom and autonomy and loyalty, and I love that the actual bad guy was... who it so often actually was.

What a fantastic gem of a book! It takes place in the frozen, snowy depths of Russian in the time long before the Revolution, when Czars were jockeying for position and each land-holder was in charge of his own lands and his own people. Into this land comes a young woman who does not quite fit into the Royal Court and who instead finds deep, passionate love with Pyotr and travels to his home.

They have several children, and before she dies she gives birth to her youngest, Vasya, who has her mother's magic in her eyes. As Vasya grows she confers with the household dieties: the domovoi who lives in the giant oven that also serves as the family bed; the vazila, who lives in the stable and sees to the health of the horses; and the sly show more rusalka who lures unwary men to their watery deaths.

Into this family comes Anna from the Court, who also sees spirits but sees them as demons, and Konstantin, the overpious Priest from Moscow. Their conflict with Vasya's Sight, and their own demons that they invoke, play against a Russian fairy tale of the Winter King and his brother, the One-Eyed Bear. When the Bear gains domination, fear grips the heart; when Konstantin prays against demons, the people of the village stop feeding their little spirits of their household and instead whisper against Vasya and her magics.

I will admit to worrying over and over about Vasya's fate, to the point where I snuck a peek at the end of the book. But where her story takes her is beyond anything I could have dreamed, and is completely absorbing in its intensity. show less