Book Review: The Bear and the Nightingale, a Slow, Dark Folkore Story
In the spirit of making a dent in my already quite lengthy physical TBR, I finally picked up The Bear and The Nightingale by Katherine Arden. It’s been recommended to me so many times, and I do love a good folkore/fairytale retelling. However, I was not prepared for how abysmally slow it was in the beginning. I almost gave up, but since it’s a pretty short read, I decided to power through, and I’m glad I did. Four stars.
Things to Know:
Fairytale/Russian Folklore retelling
Winter setting
Book one of a completed trilogy
Character driven
What a slow, slow start. I was questioning everyone who recommended this book to me during the first quarter to half of this novel. I couldn’t get into it.
“Wild birds die in cages.”
I honestly think this would make such a great movie. Trim down the first half of the novel. There’s some great complex villains. And Arden does such a wonderful job of painting an immersive place, I really could see the little village and forest and creatures.
You will also probably get frustrated while reading this. I was. Vasya is a young girl with the typical fairytale story of growing up without a mother and dealing with a troubled, but honestly pretty wicked stepmother. We are constantly reminded that the only purpose for a woman in their society is to be married off and have “strong sons”. In fact, her father laments more than once that if she was a son he’d be proud of the way she rides horses, etc. He disappointed me on many occasions throughout the story.
“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.”
Then there’s the prideful priest banished to their village, who can’t seem to stay away from Vasya, but is at the same time repulsed by her.
This is not a happy fairytale. It’s dark folklore at its finest. There are vampires, and creatures who lead weary travelers astray…danger abounds. And even the protagonists are complex. But the last half was much more fast paced with more action as Vasya comes into her own strength and confidence.
Am I going to continue the series? Yes, the ending piqued my interest enough to continue, so stay tuned for future reviews. If you don’t mind a bit of a meandering, but beautifully written story, this series might be for you too.
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