Bear and the Nightingale

by Katherine Arden

No cover — Katherine Arden: Bear and the Nightingale (2017, Penguin Random House)

464 pages

English language

Published Nov. 6, 2017 by Penguin Random House.

ISBN:: 978-1-78503-105-2

(66 reviews)

"In a village at the edge of the wilderness of northern Russia, where the winds blow cold and the snow falls many months of the year, a stranger with piercing blue eyes presents a new father with a gift - a precious jewel on a delicate chain, intended for his young daughter. Uncertain of its meaning, Pytor hides the gift away and Vasya grows up a wild, willful girl, to the chagrin of her family. But when mysterious forces threaten the happiness of their village, Vasya discovers that, armed only with the necklace, she may be the only one who can keep the darkness at bay."--

7 editions

sidra reviewed The Bear and the Nightingale by Katherine Arden

Review of 'The Bear and the Nightingale' on 'Storygraph'

1 star

i was going to give this 2 stars but why bother? it's... underwhelming; i was bored to tears, the plot picked up in the last 20 pages or so and i did not care about the characters at all. vasya, lyoshka, & sasha were more tolerable than the rest. but... nothing more, i just DID NOT CARE for anything or anyone.

that being said, the author did a brilliant job at setting up the story, the environment, & the atmosphere. i'm not well-versed with russian folklore so it was good to know about that & it 'seemed' incorporated nicely into the story.

loppear reviewed The Bear and the Nightingale by Katherine Arden (Winternight Trilogy, #1)

Review of 'The bear and the nightingale' on Goodreads

4 stars

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

CuriousLibrarian reviewed The Bear and the Nightingale by Katherine Arden (Winternight Trilogy, #1)

Review of 'The bear and the nightingale' on 'Goodreads'

3 stars

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.

Geekess reviewed The Bear and the Nightingale by Katherine Arden (Winternight Trilogy, #1)

Review of 'The Bear and the Nightingale' on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

Amazing!

Axl reviewed The Bear and the Nightingale by Katherine Arden (Winternight Trilogy, #1)

Review of 'The bear and the nightingale' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

4,25

the_lirazel reviewed The Bear and the Nightingale by Katherine Arden (Winternight Trilogy, #1)

Review of 'The bear and the nightingale' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

4.0? 4.5? need to think about it

matt reviewed The Bear and the Nightingale by Katherine Arden (Winternight Trilogy, #1)

Review of 'The bear and the nightingale' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

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.

Yashima reviewed The Bear and the Nightingale by Katherine Arden (Winternight Trilogy, #1)

Review of 'The bear and the nightingale' on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

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.

Laura Lemay reviewed The Bear and the Nightingale by Katherine Arden (Winternight Trilogy, #1)

Review of 'The bear and the nightingale' on 'Goodreads'

3 stars

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.

AliCorbin reviewed The Bear and the Nightingale by Katherine Arden (Winternight Trilogy, #1)

Review of 'The bear and the nightingale' on 'Goodreads'

2 stars

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.

TimMason reviewed The Bear and the Nightingale by Katherine Arden (Winternight Trilogy, #1)

Review of 'The Bear and the Nightingale' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

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

kim karma reviewed The Bear and the Nightingale by Katherine Arden (Winternight Trilogy, #1)

Review of 'The bear and the nightingale' on 'Goodreads'

3 stars

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.

Pentapod reviewed The Bear and the Nightingale by Katherine Arden (Winternight Trilogy, #1)

Review of 'The bear and the nightingale' on 'Goodreads'

3 stars

Coincidentally, the second book I've read lately that includes oupyr, the Russian version of a vampire. This is a fairy-tale-like fantasy story set in the home of Pyotr, a local lord. His wife Marina dies after bearing him Vasilisa, a final daughter who will be like her mother - possessed of "the sight", able to see the domovoi, those creatures of Russian folklore who help around the house and lands. As Vasilisa gets older, she gets to know all the domovoi and learns from them. But when her father remarries, his new wife Anna also has enough of the sight to see the domovoi, but has been raised as such a fundamental Christian that she believes they are evil demons and is terrified by them. When a priest who is exiled from Moscow comes to work in Pyotr's village, he decides a way to gain respect in the eyes of the villagers is by making them fear the domovoi. As the village turns away from the domovoi, they begin to starve and leave, leaving the villagers' homes unprotected from the true evil beings. Only Vasilisa sees the value of the domovoi and tries to save them, and protect the village.

That's a very simplistic summary of the book, mostly it's charming because it feels like reading a fairy tale and the Russian folklore spirits are so charming you wish they were real. I didn't rank it higher than "liked it" however because the stubborn blindness of the Christian characters (mainly the wife and the priest, but also all those who go along with them in contradiction to all their old beliefs and traditions) is just so infuriating that I found it a bit hard to swallow.