Self-sacrifice is another key theme of the story.Īrden’s characters shine. It’s a powerful depiction of the self-sacrifice necessary in real relationships. Yet their love perseveres, because at the core of it is selflessness. Their relationship goes through trials, many of them the fault of one or the other, and the two suffer arguments, estrangement, and, of course, magical ordeals. One example was her portrayal of a romantic relationship, in which the two partners both love each other deeply but also struggle to communicate. It’s difficult to find books that discuss sexuality in a manner that I as a Christian find both meaningful and tasteful, but this series did. The book also dealt with themes of sexuality, not by way of graphic content, but through romance, depictions of gender roles in the time period, and the consequences of Vasya cross-dressing for a portion of the second book.
The upiry (so named according to Russian folklore) exist enough as monsters in a fairy tale world that I was able to get through it-though I did have an alternate book for middle-of-the-night nursing sessions. (For context, my tolerance for both is well below the average adult reader.) The vampiric undead creatures, normally a hard pass for me, were tempered by the fairy tale feel of the story. The book tested my limits for certain content, namely horror and sex. It is ultimately a representation of Russian culture, not a commentary on Christianity as true or false.) (For the concerned Christians in my audience: Christianity is not presented as the evil, and throughout the trilogy there are good and wicked men and creatures on both sides of the coin. The overarching conflict of the story is one of faith: what happens when Christianity begins to drive out the folk religion of the Rus’? Vasya arises as a protector of the “house-demons” of the old faith, who are needed in turn to protect her people from supernatural threats. Vasilisa, or Vasya, her protagonist, is spirited, courageous, and kind-everything you could want in a heroine. Katherine Arden set her story in a thoroughly researched medieval Russia, drawing her fantasy elements from Russian folklore and writing in high quality, beautiful prose. The Bear and the Nightingale, The Girl in the Tower, and The Winter of the Witch comprise a historical fantasy trilogy which was one of the best things I read last year.
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