Fiction
Del Rey Books
January 10, 2017
336
"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"--
I got the Bear and the Nightingale as an audiobook. It seemed right up my alley, and it had a lot of great things going for it. However, I ultimately did not finish the book, and I likely never will.
The Bear and the Nightingale was very well-written. I expect great things from Katherine Arden in the future, and I actually feel bad about not liking this book because it was so well-executed.
For me, The Bear and the Nightingale goes in the category of too-stressful-for-me-to-finish. The characters are compelling and interesting. The plot is slow, which I think adds to the tension and suspense. The conflict was incredibly uncomfortable to me. The book was true to its fairy tale origins.
When I read the book, tension and stress were very much not what I was looking for. The main character has very little control over her life and decisions were made on her behalf left and right. Finally, a religious zealot entered the picture to condemn the girl for witchcraft, and I was just done with the book. As I said, it was well-written, but I was ultimately uninterested in being pulled too much into the world of this poor girl. I’m sure things may work out for her in the end, but because this is a fairy tale – maybe not!