Katherine Arden: The girl in the tower (2018)
362 pages
English language
Published Nov. 17, 2018
"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"--
I need to process but if I could give this book more than five stars, I would. It's beautifully written with action and complex relationships. I love this one even more than the first.
Though set long ago, The Girl in the Tower is very much a novel of our time. The restrictions Vasya’s society has placed on her don’t feel so distant; while modern women certainly enjoy more freedoms than Vasya would have in feudal Russia, the inequality between the sexes lingers. As we follow the impetuous young woman into a world much bigger and more threatening than she’s ever known before, Katherine Arden spins a beautiful and relatable fairytale that reads something like a high fantasy novel bolstered by meticulous historical research. It’s instantly absorbing, full of magic and adventure at every turn.
See my full review at the Barnes & Noble Science Fiction & Fantasy blog.
