Thursday, September 13, 2018

The Girl in the Tower (Winternight Trilogy #2) by Katherine Arden




Publication: December 5, 2017
Publisher: Del Rey (Random House)
Source: Publisher & Purchased my own copy


Synopsis:

The magical adventure begun in The Bear and the Nightingale continues as brave Vasya, now a young woman, is forced to choose between marriage or life in a convent and instead flees her home—but soon finds herself called upon to help defend the city of Moscow when it comes under siege.

Orphaned and cast out as a witch by her village, Vasya’s options are few: resign herself to life in a convent, or allow her older sister to make her a match with a Moscovite prince. Both doom her to life in a tower, cut off from the vast world she longs to explore. So instead she chooses adventure, disguising herself as a boy and riding her horse into the woods. When a battle with some bandits who have been terrorizing the countryside earns her the admiration of the Grand Prince of Moscow, she must carefully guard the secret of her gender to remain in his good graces—even as she realizes his kingdom is under threat from mysterious forces only she will be able to stop.



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I didn’t think it was possible, but I fell in love with Vasya a little bit more in this book. She is bold, loyal, and has such an adventurous spirit. She also has a way of finding trouble, or for trouble to find her; whichever way you want to look at it. Vasya is wise in some ways and in other areas a little naïve. It frustrated me a little when the characters would refer to Vasya as a child (or young), but as soon as she made a mistake, they were quick to say that she should have known because she was old enough. But who did she have in her life to guide her and tell her the rules of society and of life in general?

I loved the writing and descriptions of the world around Vasya. There were even a few moments where I almost cried. Vasya has definitely grown some on her journey since the first book. With no real place to call home, Vasya wants to travel and see the world, something a lady does not do in her time period. Especially by herself. She does not want to be married off or locked away in a convent. Of course the road she travels is not an easy one, and she encounters trouble along the way. But with the help of her loyal horse Solovey, and even Morozko on occasion, she feels confident she can handle what comes her way.

The Girl in the Tower is a wonderfully unique and atmospheric tale, that I thoroughly enjoyed. The Bear and the Nightingale is still my favorite out of these two books, however I found TGITT to be a good continuation to the events from TBATN. The ending for TGITT was well done. It tied some things up, but there were enough questions left unanswered that I was left wanting more. I am excited to see how everything else unfolds in the third and final book, The Winter of
the Witch, releasing January 9, 2019.



RATING: 4 out of 5.



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