"The Bear and the Nightingale" by Katherine Arden is a "Must Read"

In The Bear and the Nightingale by Katherine Arden, Vasya is the youngest child of a large family in Russia.  Her mom died soon after she was born.  She loves the forest and she loves the animals.  But the forest contains spirits that are evil!  Vasya will have to use the special gifts that she inherited from her mother to keep her family safe at all costs!

Teaser from page 15:  "I have only a little of her gift," Marina went on, ignoring her old nurse.  Dunya knew her lady well enough to hear the regret.  "But my daughter will have more."



This book is based on a Russian folklore.  I LOVED this book!  I was engaged from page 1!  Vasya is a great character and I was always anxious to get back into this book.  The good news is I have book 2 in this series and the 3rd one comes out this year!  I highly recommend this one as a "must read."
(Gerard's review, 5++ stars)

Karen's review:
The Bear and the Nightingale by Katherine Arden is a whimsical story incorporating Russian folklore. Vasilisa is a girl who does not want to be told what to do and has a special gift to see the demons others do now. There are several different types of demons, who live in the forest, in the river and some in households. Vasilisa lives in the wilderness with her father, stepmother, brother and half-sister after her mother died and her older sister and brother married. When Father Konstantine arrives, he scares people with his preaching except for Vasilisa. Will she be able to keep her family safe?

This book has a lot of Russian names that were confusing to me at the beginning, but that petered out as the book progressed. The plot in this story is like a fairy tale so doesn’t make much sense; however, there were parts I liked very much. I liked the house demon, the stable demon, the horses talking to Vasilisa, and the time at the invisible cabin with Morozko. The demon creatures in this book are not all evil and the house demon reminded me a bit of Dobby, the house elf in the Harry Potter series. This is an entertaining read. (3 stars)

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