The Bear and the Nightingale

What a solid blend of historical fiction, fantastical folklore, pre-industrial Russian atmosphere, and love of horses.

I really enjoyed this book. I've never read any Russian folktales or fantasy. One particular theme I enjoyed was the tension between the old religion and the new.

Amazing!

4,25

4.0? 4.5? need to think about it

Different, and highly enjoyable. The first third or so of the book were a little plodding, but the ratcheting up of the tension as the winters worsen was great. Vasilisa was a great protagonist, and the historical groundedness of the fantasy felt great.

Beautifully written Russian fairy tale about the power of both fear and courage and about the fight of a young girl for her freedom to choose. Some unexpected turns and twists surprised me as the witch-child Vasya strives to save her people from the dark fear and hunger of winter.

Vasya is a wonderful protagonist, wild, free and with her own sense of how things ought to be. I particularly enjoyed her connection to the horses.

And neither the Winter King nor the priest Konstantin were what I expected.

The stories flows quickly toward the inevitable and still surprising ending.

A somewhat conventional fantasy story based on Russian folklore. I especially liked the strong sense of place and time, and the descriptions of desperately cold winters in the forest. The pacing is a little off and Vasya, the main character, is a bit too much of the stereotypical Chosen One and Not Like Other Girls characters. Other seemingly important characters vanish midway through the book, which feels like an awkward setup for sequels. I enjoyed reading this, but there was not enough depth in it to really stick with me.

A novel, with a strong female protagonist, loosely based on Russian fairy tales. A couple of people had gone to see the author at a talk in the burbs, and said that she'd written it because she was bored. And had written too much and had taken the first third of her manuscript and rewritten that as the first novel of a trilogy.

An excellent first volume, very well written, deftly using Russian folktales to create an appealing heroine and a cracking story

Audiobook.
This book is fantasy but a lot different from the stuff I usually read. In this case, it was a nice change. The story is engaging and the setting so out of the norm that it keeps the interest. The narrator for this book is fantastic, I feel she added to my enjoyment and it's possible I'd have dnf'd this if I had eye read it.

A fantastic debut. Great for cold winter nights. Go on & read it already!

http://fedpeaches.blogspot.com/2017/01/warm-stories-for-cold-nights.html