Katherine Arden
The Bear and the Nightingale by Katherine Arden is a magical fantasy combining elements of Russian folktales, fairy tales, an indigenous belief system, and Christianity. The folk and fairy tales are deeply rooted in the inhabitants of a small, isolated village in 14thC Russia (known as Rus) where winter is harsh, lasting most of the year and bringing with it fierce snow drifts that virtually paralyze the community.
Into this setting enters Vasilisa, a daughter born to Pyotr, the leader of the community. Her mother dies giving birth to her. She is raised by a kindly nurse who nourishes her love of fairy tales and folk tales. Even as a child, Vasilisa is different. She sees and talks to spirits and demons no one else can see. She honors ancestral traditions and feeds the household spirits to strengthen them as they fight to ward off evil. She defies gender norms of the time through her rebellious spirit, and by romping in the forest, riding horses, preferring the company of animals to people, and harboring an indifference to her appearance.
Conflicts arise when her father re-marries a woman who is ostensibly a devout Christian but who is haunted by demons. The conflict is exacerbated with the coming of a new priest determined to rid the people of their traditional beliefs while urging them to accept Christianity. Vasilisa straddles both worlds. She attributes the ensuing crop failures, harsher winters, and evil spirits lurking ever closer to her home to the abandonment of the traditional beliefs and rituals that nourished her community for centuries. A fiercely independent Vasilisa sets off on a quest to fight the force of evil to save her village. As this is the first book in a trilogy, the ending of the novel promises more adventures for Vasilisa.
The novel has many strong qualities. The blending of folklore, fairy tales, and the characters who populate them was interesting. The description of the setting with its harsh winters, heavy snow drifts, and the hungry family huddling around the oven for warmth effectively transport the reader to a different time and place. But the plot was unnecessarily confusing with its many twists and turns, talking horses, spirits coming back from the dead, household guardians, a dark god in the form of an evil bear whose brother is the not-so-evil winter demon king. There was too much happening, too many characters, with too many incidental details that did little to contribute to the main story line. The plot would have benefited from a tighter focus, fewer distractions, and stronger character development.
Recommended for readers of magical realism.