The Girl in the Tower: (Winternight Trilogy)

Vasya is rash,arrogant and quick to anger. She is also very innocent and the reader remembers that this a young child barely into her teens. Young girls don’t stay innocent for long in a world filled with the wrong sort of men. Some girls blind themselves while others arm themselves. I read aghast when she rushes headling into violence or makes demands of unruly thugs with no thought towards self defence.She is also brave and determined to live life on her own terms. I find myself cringing at some of her silliness but also rooting for her wild, unbroken spirit

Evocative style, compelling love story set in a magic realm. I was reminded of the Russian folk tales I used to be read out when I was a child. I can't wait for the third installment!

Books seems old, the cover was scratched and bit oldish. This was my 2nd replaced copy and I didn’t wanted to go through the entire process so I didn’t replaced this one

Wonderful magical story with stunning and unexpected twists.... enjoyed reading it very much.... Can’t wait to start the last book....

Came across this series while browsing for a good fantasy series. A pretty good series to pick if you've read all the good fantasy books out there.

eagerly awaiting the third book in this trilogy..

I found the first book slow, but this really gallops along. Vasya makes a terrific protagonist too.

The book itself is awesome but the physical condition was questionable and even though I returned the first copy because of damage this wasn't that different

It's been many years since a book has compelled me to forget everything around me and to read all day and all through the night. Well, I finished The Girl in the Tower as dawn was breaking this morning (we had heavy frost during the night, perfect!). The first part of the trilogy, the Bear and the Nightingale, was superb, but this second story is even better. I was lost to the world of fading chyerti, the conflicted Morozco, talking horses, political intrigue, ice and folklore. It's a book I know I'll read again and again. Five stars doesn't do it justice.

After the excellent 'The Bear and the Nightingale', Katherine Arden continues her 'Winternight' trilogy with this absorbing fantasy adventure. The novel picks up straight after where the first left off, and you would definitely be best to read them in order. Once again, the story is set in medieval Russia, in a land of snow and Tartar invasions, Grand Princes in Kremlins (fortified settlements), and women firmly in their place. Not to mention magic and mystery, although the old spirits ('chyerti') are being gradually forgotten by a people who are moving more strongly towards Christianity.One woman who doesn't intend to be married off and shut away in a tower is the heroine, Vasya, who has been exiled from her home village following the events of the last book. Vasya's refusal to submit to the life of a 'girl in a tower' is an important theme of this second novel. Readers will be pleased that her sister Olga and brother Sasha have bigger parts to play in this novel, after being introduced in the first but then going out of it when they moved away. There are also the return of many other familiar characters - the conflicted priest Konstantin, Vasya's horse Solovey, and Morozhko the frost demon. New characters also arrive - mysterious prince Kasyan and Olga's spirited daughter Marya.There is action from the start, and it's a novel packed with event and that bowls along at a good pace. It's hard to put down so don't start reading if you've got some important chore you need to get done! It's easy to read and draws you in, the sort of book you hurry home to read and sit up late to have 'just one more chapter'. In terms of storyline, it does feel a bit of a bridging novel in some ways - to get us from the opener to the big finale - but it's still good enough to deserve a five star rating. At times Vasya's behaviour crossed the line from high-spirited to plain stupid, but hopefully that's just to give her a character arc.If you love fantasy, it's a must read. If you are indifferent about fantasy and only read the very best, this is one of the very best. If you don't like fantasy but do like fast paced novels with characters are care about, you might just find this is an exception to prove the rule. I hope Arden is writing hard on the third and final novel as I'm certainly eager to read it!

For some reason I'm finding this one very hard to review. I did enjoy it, though maybe not quite as much as the first one. It has the same magical feel to it but it is a very different beast. Honestly in the first book not a lot happened, it was very low key, almost slice of life. This book expands into the greater Russian medieval world. It continues pretty much where the first left off, Vasya is leaving her village and dresses as a boy to see the wider world. It's not long though that she gets drawn into bigger events and meets her brother Sasha and his friend, the crown prince of Moscow.I should have liked this more. There are battles, political manoeuvrings, more of the spirit world (we get a lot more Morozko) and basically a lot of action full stop. However I think it was the very poetic/prosaic (if that makes sense) feel of the first book that I really liked and was expecting more of the same. It's not to say that this was bad. I really enjoyed it and flew through it in a few days. The author really makes you feel for the characters, with one scene in particular very hard to read. The wider world is very interesting, and I like the push and pull of these vassal states to the Mongol empire, it's a part of history I know very little about and it is fascinating to read about, I hope we get more in the final book. The themes of old versus new and the role of women in this society are still front and centre, maybe even more so, with Vasya resenting it and her sister Olya trying to make the best of it.Overall a very enjoyable book, maybe not quite so magical as the first one but still very good. Looking forward to the finale.

The Girl in the Tower is the second of the second in the Winternight trilogy by Katherine Arden. I loved the first book, so was very keen to read the next two. This book continues with the adventures of Vasya, the protagonist from The Bear and the Nightingale. Vasya’s life appears to be one of either forced marriage or a life in a convent, believed to be a witch by the villages of her town. Both options mean a life cut off from the rest of a world living in a tower, in isolation. Vasya chooses a third option and flees her home. Vasya, chooses a life of adventure and danger exploring the world. She disguises herself as a boy and rides into the woods. After a battle with some bandits she comes into contact with the Grand Prince od Moscow, who believes her to be a boy. She reunites with her brother and sister in Moscow. Vasya gets caught up in political matters and is finally called upon to defend the city when it comes under siege.This is a beautiful fairy story where Vasya continues her journey discovering who and what she is. She straddles the unseen magical world and the human world, bringing them both together. I love the character of Vasya, she is wild and reckless, but also brave and compassionate. I liked the development of the relationship that the siblings have, the descriptions of the beauty of Rus and Moscow, beautifully written and very atmospheric. I also really enjoyed the relationship between Vasya and Morozko. Arden writes this beautifully and we see their relationship grow and develop.

Accused of witchcraft and falsely blamed for the death of her father Vasya has two options open to her, accept an arranged marriage or join a convent. Unsurprisingly neither of these choices hold much appeal to someone as independent as she is so instead Vasya disguises herself as a boy and, with the help of Morozoko, sets out on her own to travel the world and have an adventure. It's all going pretty well until she catches the attention of the Grand Prince and he insists on taking her back to Moscow where two of her older siblings are caught up in her lies and forced to help her continue her deception. And that's where things really start to get complicated.I absolutely adored The Bear and the Nightingale so I had incredibly high expectations for The Girl in the Tower and thankfully Katherine Arden didn't disappoint. The sequel had everything I loved about the first book and more and I was immediately sucked back into Vasya's world. These stories are just so atmospheric and really make you feel like you've taken a step back in time to medieval Russia and I enjoy exploring that world through Vasya's eyes. She's a great character who is so independent and who wants to live life on her own terms no matter how restricted women's lives were at that time. That reckless streak does get her in trouble on more than one occasion and it also makes things extremely difficult for her siblings but I could understand her desire for more than marriage or life in a convent.Morozoko continues to be one of my favourite characters and we get to see a lot more of his history in this instalment of the series. I'm enjoying finding out more about his character and I'm not going to lie, I'm totally rooting for him and Vasya to end up together! This series is going from strength to strength and I can't wait to see how it ends in The Winter of the Witch.