The Bear and the Nightingale
Apr. 24th, 2024 08:12 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jajalalaFinished The Bear and the Nightingale, book one of the Winternight Trilogy by Katherine Alden! Overall cool and atmospheric, with nice complex characters and worldbuilding.
The vibes of this book were heavier than I've been reading recently. A lot of it takes place in northern Russia some hundreds of years ago, and the constant oppressive vibe of the snow and winter certainly set a mood. Various characters die for various reasons. People are misunderstood or pushed to the brink.
Still, there's a fantastical element with a lot of Russian folklore creatures featured, and a main character who perhaps has a witch-like power. This is all still grounded in a cultural context steeped in misogyny and tradition. Like the main character is a wild sort of person with perhaps the power to save them all, but what use is it if the village starts whispering that she's a witch who's brought evil to them, or if the end state of any woman has to be married or sent to a convent? Seeing the main character have to face these expectations was frustrating but gave a strong sense of realism and increased the tension.
I loved the human antagonists in the story. Primarily there was a stepmother and a priest who both played a role in pushing the main character and the town to desperate straits. For both of them though, they are given a great deal of time and understanding from the narrative, so as a reader I completely understood why they made every choice they made, and how they think they're the protagonist of their own stories. And conversely, even the "good/supportive" characters sometimes made bad choices that I completely understood.
After reading a light and easy romantic comedy like Love, Theoretically where the antagonists were always pretty unambiguously "bad guys who suck", it was refreshing to read a narrative where the antagonists are written with nuance and thoughtfulness.
That was just the first book, which kind of felt like a really long prologue introducing the main character's whole childhood and growing up and how she learns of her own abilities/power and gets a super cool horse. It ends with her saying she plans to leave the town and explore the world, so I'm curious to see if the second/third book will be faster paced since now a ton of stuff has been setup and established. I think I'll read the second and third at some point, but it was somewhat heavy so I think I'll read some other books in between.
So next up on the list are some recs y'all on DreamWidth passed along. Ijust downloaded Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik, have not started it yet though. After that I may take a peek at Jane Eyre, though depending on how heavy Spinning Silver ends up being I might stuff a random fluffy romantic comedy in there to lighten things up.
The vibes of this book were heavier than I've been reading recently. A lot of it takes place in northern Russia some hundreds of years ago, and the constant oppressive vibe of the snow and winter certainly set a mood. Various characters die for various reasons. People are misunderstood or pushed to the brink.
Still, there's a fantastical element with a lot of Russian folklore creatures featured, and a main character who perhaps has a witch-like power. This is all still grounded in a cultural context steeped in misogyny and tradition. Like the main character is a wild sort of person with perhaps the power to save them all, but what use is it if the village starts whispering that she's a witch who's brought evil to them, or if the end state of any woman has to be married or sent to a convent? Seeing the main character have to face these expectations was frustrating but gave a strong sense of realism and increased the tension.
I loved the human antagonists in the story. Primarily there was a stepmother and a priest who both played a role in pushing the main character and the town to desperate straits. For both of them though, they are given a great deal of time and understanding from the narrative, so as a reader I completely understood why they made every choice they made, and how they think they're the protagonist of their own stories. And conversely, even the "good/supportive" characters sometimes made bad choices that I completely understood.
After reading a light and easy romantic comedy like Love, Theoretically where the antagonists were always pretty unambiguously "bad guys who suck", it was refreshing to read a narrative where the antagonists are written with nuance and thoughtfulness.
That was just the first book, which kind of felt like a really long prologue introducing the main character's whole childhood and growing up and how she learns of her own abilities/power and gets a super cool horse. It ends with her saying she plans to leave the town and explore the world, so I'm curious to see if the second/third book will be faster paced since now a ton of stuff has been setup and established. I think I'll read the second and third at some point, but it was somewhat heavy so I think I'll read some other books in between.
So next up on the list are some recs y'all on DreamWidth passed along. I
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Date: 2024-04-27 08:28 am (UTC)And Jane Eyre is one of my favourite classics. I kind of want to reread it now that you reminded me of it <3 and if you like Jane Eyre you might also enjoy Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier, another of my favourite gothiccy classics.
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Date: 2024-04-27 02:28 pm (UTC)Oooh I may add Rebecca to my list sometime after Jane Eyre then. I feel like I may want to alternate "classics"/older stories with more modern faster-paced stories so I get a nice variety. I think I once watched a YouTube video of someone talking about a musical adaptation of Rebecca, so I sort of know it a bit, but I'd like to see how it's written too.
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Date: 2025-03-20 11:11 am (UTC)I actually didn't realise it was the first book of a trilogy, I thought it stood well on its own and maybe I was eager to read something lighter or just in a world where people, women, get a better chance to make their own way. Loved the mythology, though!
(Hope you're keeping well! :) <3)
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Date: 2025-04-02 01:04 pm (UTC)Yeah I distinctly remember a particular line about the main character's father when he took on the new wife who was pretty young, and how he like, was having sex with her even though she was crying??? Because he was like "Well it's my/our duty to produce children." And I found that SUCH an interesting choice, bc in most other ways he seems like an upstanding character and a pretty good father, but it's BECAUSE he's trying to be upstanding and "do his duty" that he is hurting this poor young woman, ignoring her signs of distress bc of the misogynistic culture that they're all steeped in that makes him believe that he should just ignore that and "do what needs to be done".
The book definitely doesn't have any "morally perfect" characters, which I loved bc it's just like real life XD. And I appreciated that it did not shy away from certain uncomfortable cultural elements, but didn't immediately disavow or judge them... Certain historical novels tend to bring some "modern baggage" that's very audible in the narrative, but Katherine Arden has an expert touch in simply placing this sort of thing in the center but WITHIN the historical context and allowing the modern reader to judge for themselves.
I ended up reading the second book and enjoyed it as well! Though it's certainly also a heavy read with the misogyny throughout, it's also exciting because you get to see some POV of the main character's brother and sister in the city, and I think the sister (who's married and has children with a prince) is especially interesting in how she manages and wields what little power she has in this society. Again though, it's a heavy and frustrating read where the culture is fighting against the main character's desire for empowerment.
I'd like to read the third at some point, but haven't gotten around to it yet. Because it tends to be heavy I definitely feel the need to take breaks between the books.
(And yes, doing alright! Buried in classwork, but surviving. Hope you're doing well too!)
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Date: 2025-06-23 05:09 pm (UTC)I think I felt the longing for freedom the most in that second book and that is so relatable.
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Date: 2025-06-25 07:59 pm (UTC)It's funny that you commented about this so recently, as I just finished the third book!!! Absolutely loved it, as usual there are some dark and difficult sections, but I found Vasya was able to really grow into an adult and take control of her destiny by the end. Definitely a breath of fresh air after so many books where she's a child and/or "not allowed" to do things. Have fun whenever you get it! I think when I put a hold on it, it took a month or two before it became available...
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Date: 2025-07-16 06:51 pm (UTC)