Dear Reader Reviews

by Katherine Arden

One of my absolute favorite genres to read has always been retellings of folklore and mythologies. Even as a child I always myths and fairytales and reinterpretations of them, and not just because of how much I loved Percy Jackson. I’ve lost track of how many different Greek and Roman heroes I’ve read about, countless iterations of Chiron’s students and the Trojan War. So, recently, I made it my goal to read these retellings rooted in the lore of other cultures.

I’ve read books based in Chinese fairytales (Daughter of the Moon Goddess by Sue Lynn Tan), Hindu mythology (Kaikeyi by Vaishavi Patel), and Norse folklore (The Witch’s Heart by Genevieve Gornichec). I have books on my reading list based on African, Indigenous American, and Eastern European lore. Because of this goal of mine, I was delighted when my fantasy book club chose a novel based on Russian fairytales and demonology: The Bear and The Nightingale.

Published in 2017, Katherine Arden’s debut novel tells the story of Vasya, a girl with a special relationship with the spirits of her home and the surrounding forest. She has a classic fairytale evil stepmother, only hers is dedicated to the church in an attempt to save herself from the creatures she too can see. Vasya must save her town and family as she alone serves the various spirits of the village and wood, sustaining them despite the efforts of a skeptical priest.

The leader of the book club mentioned that this book and its sequel were both published in the same year, so we theorized that perhaps it was written as one long book and was split into two by Arden’s editor. This made some of the critiques I had of the book make a bit more sense. The ending, a large final battle ending with a father’s sacrifice, felt very rushed and inconclusive. And several of the storylines weren’t really explained or ended, for example, I was curious to learn more about the witches before Vasya, her grandmother in particular, but we never came back to her. We also never got any real follow up from the older brother and sister who moved away, despite their importance in the first act of the book.

There were plenty of things I loved about the book and Arden’s writing. I thoroughly enjoyed ever second of Arden’s descriptions of the landscapes and woods, of the snow and winter. I actually felt cold while reading at times, January is definitely the time to read this book.

I also loved the various spirits and demons Vasya venerated and befriended, though I wish we had spent even more time with them. My favorite was the vazila, the spirit of horses, who looks rather like a gnome (at least in my mind). One of the most interesting parts of Arden’s interpretation of spirits and magic in the novel was Vasya’s relationship with the vazila and horses. This was no stereotypical chosen girl can talk to animals fantasy trope, Vasya spent years cultivating a relationship with the horse and their spirit. Overtime Vasya learned to speak the language of horses and eventually the beasts themselves taught her how to ride.

The conflict between the church and the spirits, the new ways and the old gods, was central to the story. While I would have enjoyed an even deeper dive into this conflict, more theology and a greater conflict of faith from the icon painting monk would have been really interesting, she still did some interesting things with it. However, I loved how aware Vasya was of the role of men in the expansion of the church. She routinely calls out Father Konstantin for his own self-serving evangelism.

But I think you should be careful, Batyushka, that God does not speak in the voice of your own wishing. We have never needed saving before.

A self-appointed task, in service of your own pride. Why is it for you to say what God wants? The people would never revere you so, if you had not made them afraid.

And then, of course, there are the old gods. Two warring brothers, Medved and Morozko, the bear and the frost, are fighting for control and for Vasya. The girl unknowingly wakens the one-eyed bear, the old god of chaos from his captive slumber as a child. Morozko, the handsome god of winter and Death himself, works to keep his brother under control. I enjoyed learning bits about the traits of these old lords of Rus’ and how Arden rendered the fluid gods, one minute a man, the next a monstrous bear or the bitter north wind.

I had fun reading this book and it was a very quick read, I finished it in two days. Enjoyable as it was, I don’t know if I’ll be picking up the sequel. I would like to know what happens to Vasya, but not enough. There are simply too many other books I’d like to read, too many other myths I want to discover.