Russian Along

Apr 2020
The Girl in the Tower - Katherine Arden – Del Rey, 2017
* * * *
In my review of the The Bear and the Nightingale, I praised the depiction of mediaeval Russian politics and village life but was less enamoured by the invented folk tale elements. Pleasingly, Arden has leaned into the former and downplayed the latter in this second volume, making for a more grounded and interesting story. But it has revealed a mismatch between the setting and the protagonist which may be a problem.
( Read more... )