The Girl in the Tower is a fantastic follow up to The Bear and the Nightingale. We leave the country for the city where spirits no longer have domain. Our favorite witch must navigate treachery and rely on her family to once again save Russia from the forces of evil.

Another strong effort from Katherine Arden. Readers of The Bear and the Nightingale will likely enjoy this continuation of protagonist Vasilisa's story.

Absolutely enchanting follow-up to The Bear and the Nightingale. Katherine Arden brilliantly continues Vasya's story in her newest novel of the Winternight Trilogy. The second novel in the series is just as magical and imaginative as the first. A historical fantasy novel influenced by Russian folklore, The Girl in the Tower is an extraordinary continuation of the book that readers all over the world fell in love with.

Fabulous book. Thoroughly loved. Highly recommend!

As dark and delicious and devastating as "The Bear and the Nightingale" this book more than delivers the goods. Katherine Arden has created a heroine for the ages in Vasya Petrovna the gutsy though somewhat misguided young woman who walks in two worlds. In the daylight she is the unfortunate looking last born daughter of a boyar from the Ruse wilderness who's intelligence and desire for independence might do worse than keep her from simply finding a husband. But by night she is the savior of the dying race of mystical and mysterious creatures from Ruse folklore and the beloved of the Winter King, a prince of death who protects and longs for her.

Arden has such a gift for description it is literally impossible not to feel the burning cold of a medieval Russian winter and marvel in its deadly beauty. Vasya remains a wonderful, strong (sometimes too strong) character though I would love it if she could catch a break at some point. I continue to love her relationships with her family, who love her but fight against her desires for independence and freedom from the staunch, restrictive societal laws they live with. Arden also skillfully walks the line of tolerance between Ruse's ancient pagan beliefs and the encroaching Christian church that, thankfully, isn't always seen as simply the horrible, repressive oligarchy stamping out everything "good" in its path.

What Arden does better than almost any other author I've read recently is tell a marvelous stand alone story while also setting up what I know will be an outstanding finale. Questions still remain about just who Vasya is and why she is so important to the old gods of Ruse. Will she be reunited with Morosko, the beautiful and cold prince of death who clearly loves her even if it means his own doom? Will she find the life she wants, one of freedom and adventure far away from towers and drunken lords who want to use her power for their own ends?

I can't wait to find out.

The continuation of Vasya’s story from “The Bear and the Nightingale” was extremely enjoyable and action packed. In fact, it was so action packed that it was surprisingly different from the first book. Where “The Bear and the Nightingale” was a slow, more atmospheric build, “The Girl in the Tower” was briskly paced and went from one action piece to another. This isn’t a complaint, although I wouldn’t have minded a few more moments to slow down and get to know the characters better. Outside of Vasya, I didn’t feel that the characters were as fully developed and real as they were in the first book. There were a lot of times that Arden seemed to fall back into a generalized description to give us the outline of the personality, especially for Sasha and Dmitrii. It wasn’t something that was super noticeable during the reading, but as I got to the end, I realized that all I knew about Dmitrii was that he was a prince, and acted thusly, and Sasha was a brave monk, and acted as such. Really, those are small quibbles that didn’t detract from my enjoyment. Arden does a good job of protecting the mysteries of the book while helping us to follow Vasya’s adventure. Looking forward to the next book!

I read The Bear and the Nightingale back to back with this sequel and it was a stellar experience. The Girl in the Tower started out with a bang and never faltered! I am highly anticipating the third book in this series.

Fans of Katherine Arden’s Winternight Trilogy and its first novel, The Bear and the Nightingale, will be pleased and excited at the publication of the second novel in the series, The Girl in the Tower, so quickly after the first was published less than a year earlier. And they will not be disappointed. The Girl in the Tower melds together the genres of historical fiction, fantasy, and mythology just as beautifully as the first novel did but in a different way.that is equally enjoyable. The novel continues the adventures of Vasya Petrovna in 14th century medieval Russia in a different way and introduces fascinating new characters to the mix. Here is how the novel begins: “Moscow, just past midwinter, and the haze of ten thousand fires rose to meet a smothering sky. To the west a little light lingered, but in the east the clouds mounded up, bruise-colored in the livid dusk, buckling with unfallen snow. Two rivers gashed the skin of the Russian forest, and Moscow lay at their joining, atop a pine-clad hill. Her squat, white walls enclosed a jumble of hovels and churches; her palaces’ ice-streaked towers splayed like desperate fingers against the sky. As the daylight faded, lights kindled in the towers’ high windows.” Vasya is a young woman who can see the spirit world full of creatures from Russia folktales and mythology. In the first novel, she acquires a magic horse, Solovey, when she is caught up in a battle between two gods from Russian folklore and her life is changed forever. No longer content to stay in her provincial area and live out the restrictive life of a woman in medieval Russia, Vasya disguises herself as a boy to protect herself, and sets off to see the world. It is a fascinating time in Russian history when pagan lords control part of Russia and Grand Princes control other portions. Along with the Grand Princes the church is spreading Christianity. Women have extremely restrictive and roles in this society where men rule. As Vasya sets out, she is helped by the frost demon, Morozko, who teaches Vasya how to fight and helps her survive. Morozko tries to distance himself, but feels a fatally human attraction to Vasya. Vasya comes across a group of bandits that is burning villages to the ground and kidnapping young girls. Vasya and Solovey rescue some of the young girls and they cross the path of Vasha’s brother, Sasha, who left to become a monk years earlier, and their cousin Grand Prince Dimitri. Sasha has been busy advising and protecting Dimitri and has not completely retired into a monastery. They, too, are trying to find these elusive pagan lords/bandits that are causing such destruction. Dimitri has never met Vasya, so does not see through her disguise. When the Grand Prince engages the bandits in a skirmish, Vasya plays a key part in their success and becomes part of his inner circle and he insists on taking Vasya back to Moscow. Vasya has never been there and Sasha warns her that it will be hard for her to carry off her disguise there. In Moscow, Vasya is also reunited with her older sister, Olga, living the restrictive life of an aristocratic wife and mother. Olga and Sasha both know that if Vasya’s true sex is every found out—their entire family will be ruined. In Moscow, Vasya has encounters with the spirit world and tries to help protect the Grand Prince and his subjects while keeping her real identity hidden. It was a riveting read, and I am eagerly looking forward to the third and final volume in the series. Thank you Random House and NetGalley for the Advanced Reader’s Copy of this book and for allowing me to review it.

atherine Arden has done it again in the second of her Winternight series, after such a strong start with The Bear and the Nightingale. Our heroine Vasaya, last seen fleeing on her hourse Solovey from angry villagers who want to burn her as a witch, makes her wayto her frost demon Morozko, only to be sent to make the choice between two towers - one as a nun, the other as wife. So Vasya chooses life as a man and ends up advising the Grand Prince of Moscow.

The book bravely mixes elements of Russian folklore, fairy tale, religion, art and history into a great and glittering work. Arden's crystalline, stylized prose makes an entirely seductive world of harsh winters, luxurious Muscovite palaces, endless dark forests with creatures who lurk waiting, and cities full of more wordly dangers. Vasya is a strong heroine who still has much to learn, and her relationship with her siblings is believable. Her bond with her horse is the fulfilment of every horse mad reader's dreams! The growing and tangled attraction between her and Morozko is tantalizingly developed and yes, left unfinished. Hopefully Arden will continue her epic work and give us another beautifully unique and seductive work where her ribbons of plot will make another beautifully woven piece of art.

The perfect book for a winter evening! This was fabulous, as good, if not better, than The Bear and the Nightingale.
This book is the perfect blend of historical fiction, with a touch of magic.
Highly recommended!

The story of Vasya and her horse Solovey continues from the first novel. In this one, there is a little less of the folklore that I loved in the first but the interaction with Morozko continues and we learn more about the sapphire and their relationship to each other, although leaving one eagerly wanting to know where their story will go.. A solid read, filled with action and adventure with historical medieval Russia as its background. It's not heavy on history although steeped in it and can be read entirely as a fantasy novel..

This book is everything I wanted from the first book and more. Vasya is now a young women in a world of men. Her options are marriage or a convent, so she chooses neither and decides to travel the world. But she's quickly pulled into the political struggles of Moscow and in a moment of quick thinking, pretends to be a boy.

I'm not sure why I struggled so much with the first book, perhaps it was that Vasya was so young for a good portion, or perhaps it was that I listened to it and stumbled over all of the Russian names. But the description of this book lured me in and I'm so glad I gave it a go, because I adored this second installment.

I loved seeing more of Sasha after being disappointed when he didn't appear again in the first book, also Vasya's relationships with her older siblings and dealing with how her decisions affect them. Plus, I can't get enough of this world and it's magic; there are not enough words for my love of Morozko.

I can't wait for the next book. I'll just be waiting impatiently.

Loved The Bear and the Nightingale and was looking forward to this one. I am so glad that this was just as good as the first. Now the wait for the third book! I love fairy tales and this doesn't disappoint!

Vasya is stuck between a rock and a hard place. She has few options, at least none that she’d want. She decides to flee, instead of settling for marriage or becoming a nun, and finds herself at the door of the frost demon’s home.

Morozco, the frost demon, is one of my favorite parts of this series. Can you fall for a frost demon? All I know is I sure have. He is limited by his role and his immortality and even magic itself but something about Vasya stirs feelings in him and I loved how he wrestles with this.

This book marks a new aspect to Vasya’s relationship to him. Whereas they danced around a possible romance in The Bear And The Nightingale, here they start to explore it. But what hope of a future can a girl and a frost demon have together? Once winter ends, he’ll go away until it returns. And anyway, Vasya wants adventure and freedom. No matter her confused feelings about Morozco, she sees marriage as something that will chain her down.

Understandably so. This second book makes it even more clear how limited the options are for girls and women, especially in Moscow. There’s no hiding from the sexism and misogyny that permeates the culture and whereas most people say, “this is just the way it is,” Vasya refuses to accept it. She wants to travel and explore and to have a future of her own determination. She takes more and more ownership of her life and in the process, she gains a better understanding of who she is and what her gifts are.

Morozco advises her to disguise herself as a boy while traveling so she’ll stay safe and this leads to the kind of adventures and battles she’d never even imagined. She is ultimately reunited with her brother and sister, who are scandalized by her disguise even if they admire what she was able to accomplish. But she’s still expected to toe the line, no matter the troubles surrounding the Grand Prince of Moscow or how she can help. This was so frustrating to see! I wanted Vasya to get the recognition and admiration she deserved, not in spite of being a girl but because of it.

I really enjoyed The Bear And The Nightingale but Girl In The Tower exceeded my hopes for where Arden would take her story. Vasya and Morozco are such compelling characters in and of themselves. Neither can be fully contained, albeit for different reasons, and Vasya’s burgeoning awareness of her strengths and abilities was marvelous. I loved how they were connected to one another, how they didn’t fully understand how they should relate to each other and whether there could or should be something more. Nothing is really as it seems in this world and that adds another layer of intrigue to the whole story. Plus, I continue to love how Russian fairy tales and folklore are woven in.

Arden again explores the divide between good and evil, the power of love, and the importance of women having ownership in their lives and futures. The feminism permeating the pages was so empowering. The character growth was incredible and I’m really looking forward to seeing what happens to Vasya and Morozco next.

I was provided a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest and fair review.

This action-packed fairy tale was an intriguing, and at some points dark, story of a young woman coming into her full potential. Vasilisa (Vasya for short) sets off on a journey and ends up involved in another other-world plot of doom. Along the way she finds her feelings for Morozko, the frost demon, growing unexpectedly. The beginning of this book I found a little hard to delve into. Even after I enjoyed the first book in the trilogy so much, the beginning of this book jumped right back into the story and it took me a minute to remember where we had left off. After I was able to get back with the story though, I couldn't put this down. Once you're able to push past the first approx. 50 pages of the book, it just drags you right into this other world of magic and snow and danger. The narratives in this novel are amazingly descriptive without being overly wordy (in my opinion) and, while at times the story is quite dense, the text includes a wealth of details that really enrich the story line and the world created to transport the reader. The author really brings the magic alive in this book  and creates some heart-pounding action scenes as well. 

I just have to say too, I think this series would move SUCH an AMAZING movie series if it was done correctly. Vasya's vibrancy contrasting with the stark, snowy wilderness and also the bustling metropolis of Moscow would be an amazing picture to see on the big screen. 

I thought this was an amazing book and a great continuation of the story line. I can't wait to see where the author takes us in the conclusion of the trilogy, The Winter of the Witch, coming in August 2018.

The Girl in the Tower is the sequel to the very popular and well regarded book The Bear and the Nightingale; and it does not disappoint. This book is even better than the first one. The story is truly superb and really grasps at you, it is impossible to put down. The character of Vasya has grown so much over the course of the books and you deeply care about her and what happens to her family. I cannot wait to read the final book in the series.

Well, this will probably be the last book I finish in 2017 since there is only 40 minutes left in the year. It took me a long time to read this book. This is not a book you pick up for a quick read. This is meant to be savored. The sequel of The Bear and the Nightingale, you definitely need to read the first book in order to understand the consequences and meaning behind what is going on in this book. If you loved the first book, you will love and be even more invested in the characters in this book. It will be the only thing that gets you through the slower paced middle part of this novel. There is still the suppression of women and the fear of different women or witches. Vasa is still the heroine and unaware of all that is going on in the world and how she affect the world and people around her. I love this story and want to see it to the end.

I received a free advanced copy of this book for review consideration.

I was definitely not disappointed with this book. When I saw that The Girl in the Tower involved Sasha and Olga (two characters who disappeared near the beginning of The Bear and the Nightingale and who I really wanted to get to know), I was so in. The fact that Vasya was dressed as a boy was also a plus, because when would I ever say no to a book with crossdressing women?

In any case, this book played out as a direct continuation of the events in The Bear in the Nightingale. Cast out by her village, Vasya pretty much runs away, finds Morozko, and gets trained by the frost-king to fend for herself. This would have been a problematic scene if not for the fact that not all of the "training" was practical, and some of it ended up being hijinks anyway, which I love, because why wouldn't I love something like a possible romance between a witch's daughter and an immortal death god? (Not that much happens, mind, this is going to be a slow-ass burn romance, isn't it? DAMN YOU, ARDEN.)

It doesn't start with Vasya, though. In fact, it starts with Olga and then Sasha and what they've been up to while the events in Bear took place. At this point, because of the way information traveled in medieval Russia, Olga and Sasha don't find out about their siblings until they encounter Father Konstantin, who's not quite done with causing trouble with his crazy-talk. Olga is a political game-player in her own right, a princess of Moscow, and Sasha is the right hand man (and monk) of Rus' Grand Prince. While Olga is satisfied in her tower, Sasha is dissatisfied with staying in a monastery, and finds himself traveling with the Grand Prince in order to find out what's been burning nearby villages. This is when Sasha meets up with Vasya, only...she's dressed as a boy and that's a scandalous thing. A very scandalous thing!

Like Bear, the book has a fairy tale feel to it, the kind of feel you get when you're sitting near a fireplace--or, in my case, bundled up in a warm blanket and cozying up in bed--and sipping some hot cocoa. It is not meant to be a fast, action-paced read, and for the most part, Arden spends most of her time building up to the climax. When all the pieces are put in play, though, it becomes awesome and I admit I practically squeed a few times when she paid even more homage to Russian fairy tales by adding even more well-known figures in. (I won't mention which ones, because SPOILERS.)

The characters were fun to read, even Father Konstantin had a storyline that gets tied into the narrative. I would love to see more of Midnight's role in the story, and I feel like things are soon going to come to a head with what happens at the end of the story. Winter is waning, and with that said, so are Morozko's powers. This means the Sleeper is waking, and I. Cannot. Wait.

Thank you to Netgalley for the ARC.

I read The Bear and The Nightingale more so on a whim. I heard good things and I thought I would give it a try. I was absolutely blown away, by the story, the characters, the setting, etc. I could hardly wait to read the sequel and I must say I was not disappointed. The book starts a little slow, in fact it starts with us catching up with two of our main character Vasya's older siblings, Olga and Sasha, both of whom she hasn't seen since she was a child. Just as you are starting to wonder if Vasya will ever appear, she finally does. Since the events of the last book she has chosen to leave her village and see the world, since staying home would mean she must either marry or go to a convent, neither of which appeals to our headstrong heroine. Although the frost demon, Morozko, (who we realize is keeping a few secrets from Vasya as the book moves along) wishes her to stay in her village, Vasya goes regardless, first hoping to see the aforementioned siblings who now live in Moscow. It does not take long for Vasya to get caught up in the political unrest and invaders that plague Moscow, while also continuing to encounter the fantastical, demons and spirits alike, that few others can see.

This second outing by Katherine Arden most certainly met my high expectations, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Why 4 instead of 5 stars? I take one away because of the setting. One of the things I loved about the first book was the village setting that is Vasya's home. With its surrounding dense woods that are home to Morozko, to her warm house and stables that were home to the spirits she encountered and befriended. It was world that was both full of possibilities and yet restricted due to her village's few expectations of her as a young woman (married or convent). I loved the descriptions and balance of both. Her travels around Moscow were of less interest. The world there has fewer spirits for her to encounter, since many of the people who live there no longer believe in their existence so they have faded away. But don't get me wrong, new spirits do appear, good and bad, which I'll leave it at that (no spoilers!).
The book has some of its best moments when Vasya makes trips into the woods and encounters Morozko. He is one of the best characters that you will read ever, and you will wonder what secrets he has yet to tell. The hints of romance that were present in the first book become a bit more prevalent here, although he may not be in the book as much as some readers would want.

Overall, I definitely recommend. If you are worried it doesn't live up to the first book, don't be. Despite my one star take-away for setting this is still a book I will read many times over, and I am sure many others will too.

Katherine Arden continues the Russian fantastic Russian folktale from The Bear and the Nightengale with The Girl in the Tower. Vasilisa, the sister of Brother Sasha, has paranormal powers and is accused of being a witch. Morozko, wnter demon, to preserve her life teaches her self defense and she and her human speaking horse rescue Russian children and join forces with the prince of Muscovy, Dmitrii. Meanwhile a sorceror conspires against Dmitrii and mayhem results. Wonderful use of Russian folklore.