‘The Bear and the Nightingale’ by Katherine Arden Review: A Combination Of Fantasy, Folklore & Reality

“The Bear and the Nightingale” is the debut of Katherine Arden on the writing scene. In her own words, she wanted to write a story set in Russia and having fairytale elements, from then on, the story started building itself. Here is the adventure through the eyes of the readers.

Amal El-Mohtar has shared a deep review of the book, showing both its strong and weak points. The NPR article reveals the main character Vasilisa Petrovna who is the daughter of a Russian noble and a heir to astonishing power. Her grandmother was married to a prince and had supernatural powers, which she has passed on to Vasya’s mother who died during childbirth and Vasya herself. She sees spirits roaming through the forest, lakes, stables and every other place where spirits are expected. Her stepmother can also see them, but she forbids Vasya from communicating with them, as she believes they are demons.

Goodreads shares that not long after the spirits have been shunned, misfortune befalls the village. Crops wail and evil spirits tend to come closer and closer to the village with each passing night. The long Russian night become colder with each passing moment and the only reaction of Vasya’s stepmother towards the changing nature is to impose crueler methods of shaping her daughter in either an acceptable wife or a member of a covenant. Vasya will turn against the will of her parent and will use her powers to save her village from an evil lurking towards them. An evil which was born in the darkest of fairytales she was raised on.

The majority of Amazon user reviews find “The Bear and the Nightingale” to be an astonishing book. It manages to combine fantasy, folklore and harsh reality in a way, which leads people through the pages without a struggle. Lost within the beauty of poetic descriptions, readers find themselves in an enchanted land, which seems familiar from the time they themselves were children. Even though the style turn dry in the last segment of the story and a lot of holes are left for possible sequels, this book is a spell of literacy, performed by a mage of old. “The Bear and the Nightingale” by Katherine Arden is available through the distribution network.

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