The Winter of the Witch by Katherine Arden

 

**This will contain spoilers for the two previous books in the Winternight Trilogy**

After finally finishing my last (very long) book, I decided it was time to pick up The Winter of the Witch and complete Katherine Arden's Winternight Trilogy. I've been slowly working my way through these Russian folklore-inspired fantasy novels over the past few months and have been mildly enjoying them--at least enough to be interested in finishing out the series. It's been a like-but-not-love situation with these books for me so far. As I headed into the last book, I was hoping to maybe feel a stronger connection to it than the previous ones.  

The plot of this novel picks up right where the second book leaves off, with Moscow reeling from the massive fire Vasilisa accidentally caused when she released the Firebird from its captivity. Although she was able to stop the fire with Morozko's help, and defeat the evil sorcerer menacing the city, the townspeople still consider her to be a dangerous witch and they immediately call for her execution. As a violent mob begins to gather outside the gates of Vasilisa's terem, she decides to leave to protect the rest of her family. She is unable to simply disappear, however, as decisions are being made in Moscow that will lead the country into a war with the Tatars. The army of the Tatars is vast, and Vasilisa knows that Russia's entire existence is threatened by this approaching conflict. While she is very tempted to disappear into Morozko's eternal winter and lose herself in her romance, she can't ignore the needs of her country. She decides to help Russia win the war.

Her journey to help her country takes her into strange, otherworldly realms and awakens a magical ability in her. Her new, fragile magic, however, is not enough to defeat the Tatars on its own. Similarly, Morozko's powers aren't strong enough to turn the tide in their favor. While he can help, this is not his season and not his fight.  So, in order to save Russia, Vasilisa must unite all of her people - the Christians, the Pagans, and the magical creatures hidden away across the land, and lead them to defend their country together. She must also decide whether or not to ally herself with an old enemy who could very well lead them to victory, or betray her and bring about certain defeat.  

I was pleasantly surprised to find that I really liked this novel. Vasilisa's mission to unite her people against their common enemy allowed the text to explore worthy themes, and it felt appropriately epic. I thought that Vasilisa's growth as a character showed through clearly. She really comes into her own this novel and is brave, selfless, and powerful. When I think back to the beginning of the series, when she was a frightened child with strange abilities she didn't understand, I can truly appreciate how far she has come. Arden did a nice job transforming her across the series. I thought the romance between her and Morozko was well written here too. There was just enough of it that you felt invested in them being together, but not so much that it took away from the overall story about the war. 

I enjoyed the feminist aspect of the novel as well. This story is set in medieval Russia. Women had few rights and were expected to be either wives or nuns in this time period. Vasilisa's independence, courage, and willingness to defy gender norms send a great "girl power" message throughout the text, even though they frequently get her into trouble. I also liked the theme of working together despite differences for a common good. This was my favorite book of the trilogy by far, and I was happy that the series ends here, on a high note for me.

I've read a few books based on Russian folklore over the years, and none of them have ended up being favorites for me. I think this trilogy is my favorite of these types of stories I've encountered so far, and that's really saying something, because I just don't love Baba Yaga as a character, and she was definitely present here. I still wish that I fell completely in love with Vasilisa, but I enjoyed the journey well enough and The Winter of the Witch was a satisfying ending. I'll be happy to donate all three of these books so that someone else out there will hopefully enjoy them a little bit more than I did. 

Challenge Tally

Clear the Shelves 2021: 8/50 (donate)

Total Books Read in 2021: 14

Our Mutual Friend by Charles Dickens

 

One of the prompts for the Back to the Classics Challenge this year was to read a new-to-you classic by a favorite author. This was an easy pick for me, as I dearly love Charles Dickens (most of the time) and I had Our Mutual Friend on my Classics Club list already. I was first interested in this novel because one of my literature professors in college claimed that this was Dickens's best work (she made us read Bleak House for the class though, which I ended up loving). I was curious to see if I would feel the same way as her. I think I didn't pick it up until now purely because of the length. My version was 800 pages of tiny print, and I knew it would take a long time to finish. However, as this is my final year of my Classics Club Challenge, I finally took the plunge this month and gave it a try.

Our Mutual Friend is a novel with a vast cast of characters and many separate plotlines running concurrently. All of the action however, is connected with a large inheritance and a mysterious murder. At the start of the novel, we learn that an old miser named Mr. Harmon has recently passed away, leaving a large fortune behind. Having alienated his son John during his lifetime, he ends up creating a rather unusual will, designed to control him from beyond the grave. He leaves his entire estate to him, on the condition that he marries a young lady named Bella Wilfer. If he does not marry this woman, then he inherits nothing and the estate will fall to Mr. Boffin, a servant that helped manage the property for several years. John has never met this young woman before and knows nothing about her, but he decides to try the marriage anyway. However, as he is traveling to London to meet her for the first time, he is murdered by an unknown assailant. 

The murder of John Harmon sets off a chain of events that affect a wide variety of characters connected in various ways to the inheritance. Mr. Boffin, the former servant, suddenly becomes a very wealthy man and must learn how to live like rich people do. Bella Wilfer, disappointed to lose a fortune, becomes quite mercenary in her quest to find another wealthy man to marry. Silas Wegg, a new servant of Mr. Boffin, becomes obsessed with finding a way to weasel away some of the estate for himself. My Wrayburn, a lawyer connected with the estate, becomes enamored with the daughter of the man who found Harmon's body and must grapple with the attraction to someone below his social station. Mr. and Mrs. Lammle, two society people on the brink of bankruptcy, try to scheme their way into pocketing some of the fortune with the help of an unscrupulous moneylender. John Rokesmith, Mr. Boffin's new secretary, attempts to protect his boss's new fortune from all the different people looking to take a piece of it. There are several more characters involved here too--this is only a small sample of the madness that ensues around the Harmon inheritance. There are around twenty major characters followed throughout the course of the story and a similar number of minor characters that appear from time to time. What they have in common is that they are all touched by the often-corrupting influence of wealth, and their lives are all changed because of it.

Our Mutual Friend was Dickens's last novel, and it does feel like the sum of his writing experiences. It has all of the his signature elements: dastardly villains, virtuous orphans, hilarious buffoons, eccentric oddballs, and admirable heroes. Biting social commentary is here as well, with his feelings about the power and dangers of money taking center stage. The upper crust of society is also mercilessly lampooned, with several chapters dedicated to their silly and narcissistic social gatherings. Of course, layered in between all of the silliness is a compelling and emotional story in which the more realistic of the characters learn and grow, to their benefit, or don't, to their peril. It feels like a magnum opus. If you are a fan of Dickens, and a fan of Victorian literature, you will certainly like this book.

That being said, this wasn't exactly an easy read for me. I don't think I was in the proper mood to take on such a dense book, so even though I liked most of what I was reading, a lot of it did feel slow. I think this story is one meant to be savored and enjoyed at a leisurely pace. I wasn't in that place, so I felt antsy from time to time. I was also a bit bothered by some of the parts that didn't age so well. For example, there is a Jewish character in the story named Mr. Riah. He's one of the good guys. He doesn't have much money, but is rich in kindness, care, and patience. Since he is Jewish, however, most of the other characters in the book treat him abominably. The amount of antisemitism shown towards him is ugly, intense, and very tiring to read. I'm not talking about just a few pages of it here either. Almost every time Mr. Riah makes an appearance in the text, the antisemitic comments fly thick and fast. Obviously, the time period is to blame for this, and I'm used to making allowances for this sort of thing in classic novels. That doesn't make it pleasant to read though.

Another piece of the story that irked me was the paternalistic treatment of Bella Wilfer. A big part of the novel concerns her reformation from a wealth-obsessed character to a proper, virtuous lady. Many of the people around her assist with this transition through some pretty serious subterfuge and lying. She is treated with less respect than a child throughout the story. Of course, Bella is grateful for this treatment in the end, and I couldn't help but roll my eyes. Everyone around her was creepy and controlling and she didn't mind a bit. I don't want to get into specifics because I don't want to spoil key plot points, but the lies she is told are serious, cause her intense emotional distress, and come from the people closest to her. I couldn't help but feel like she should have been at least a little bit mad about it. This kind of treatment of women is another common trope of the time period, so I don't fault Dickens for including it, but it is one of those plot elements that are really not entertaining to modern audiences any longer. The men around her are so damn smug about teaching her a lesson and deceiving her "for her own good" that it spoiled a good chunk of the ending for me.

All that being said though, I did like parts of this novel a great deal. I certainly agreed with Dickens' point about wealth being a corrupting influence on people, and his large, quirky cast of characters were fun to get to know. No one can create a circus of personalities like Dickens can, and his intricate storytelling is a pleasure to watch unfold. Thinking back to my professor who said this was Dickens's finest work, I think she was probably right. Our Mutual Friend is absolutely masterful. All things considered, I enjoyed Bleak House a bit more than this, but this is certainly worth the read for anyone that considers themselves a fan of Dickens's work. It's a long, twisty journey, but it is worth the time.

Challenge Tally

Back to the Classics 2021 (New-to-you Classic by a Favorite Author): 4/12

Classics Club (#55 on my list): 86/100 books completed

Total Books Read in 2021: 13

February Wrap Up

 

So, February was not the most successful reading month I've ever had. I ended up finishing four books, reading a bit more of Les Misérables, and made it through a chunk of Our Mutual Friend. While I did like most of what I read, most of my selections for the month weren't quick or easy, and I ended up going through a bit of a reading slump as a result. I still read every day, but I wasn't getting through as many pages as usual and I actually struggled to stay awake many days. Here's the breakdown of what I read:

Winter's Tale by Mark Helprin

Iola Leroy: Shadows Uplifted by Frances Ellen Watkins Harper 

The Bear and the Nightingale by Katherine Arden

The Girl in the Tower by Katherine Arden

At least 100 pages of Les Misérables - Done!

Our Mutual Friend by Charles Dickens - In progress

My favorite book of the month was...none of those, actually. I didn't dislike anything I read, but I didn't love anything either. If I had finished Our Mutual Friend, that would be the top book of the month. It's very funny and clever so far. I'm liking it a lot. It's 800 pages though, so it's quite slow going.

My least favorite of the month was...none of those again. There were things I didn't like about all of them, but none of them were "bad." 

What a bland month of reading! I am hoping that I have better luck in March. This is what I have planned so far: 

Finish Our Mutual Friend by Charles Dickens

Under the Greenwood Tree by Thomas Hardy

To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf

At least two books chosen from my owned-not-read list based on my mood

At least 100 pages of Les Misérables

I'm happy for the fresh start that March will bring. I'm ready to try and find a book that I will truly get lost in! Hopefully I'll have better luck than I had this month.

The Girl in the Tower by Katherine Arden

This review will contain some spoilers for the first book in this series, The Bear and the Nightingale

For my next read, I decided to carry on with Katherine Arden's Russian folklore-inspired Winternight Trilogy, which I started earlier in the month. The Girl in the Tower is the second book in the series. I liked the first book, The Bear and the Nightingale, and I already owned the other two sequels, so I figured now was the best time to continue the story. I started my reading off hoping the enjoy this one a little bit more. One of the things I was hoping to see more of in this series was romance, and since Vasilisa is older in this installment, I thought that I might get my wish.

This novel picks up directly after the events of the previous book. Vasilisa, having saved her village from the bear demon, sets off on her own to escape the expectation of marriage and to explore the world. She disguises herself as a boy and travels on horseback through the Russian wilderness. She enjoys her explorations until she stumbles across a terrible situation. Villages are being burned down all throughout the countryside by a mysterious and unbeatable groups of bandits. Aside from torching everything, these bandits are murdering scores of townspeople and kidnapping young girls. Vasilisa feels called to try and help, and her involvement brings her all the way to a palace in Moscow, where she is plunged into another fantastical situation with a dangerous demon. This time however, court politics are in play, and Vasilisa must untangle the complex schemes and power plays in order to save the city.

I think I ended up liking The Girl in the Tower a little bit more than the first book in the series. There was a more romance in the storyline, and I thought that the plot moved along at a pretty good pace. While the story was still quite serious in tone, it didn't feel quite as heavy to me as the previous installment did, which I appreciated.  I was consistently engaged in the story and I liked it enough to want to continue on with the final book, so overall, I had a good time with it. 

I still didn't love this novel though, and much like with The Bear and the Nightingale, I was disappointed by that. It just didn't grab me on a deep level. I liked the story and I read the book pretty quickly, but that's all. I'm finding that I don't have much to share about it here. No big observations, compliments, or issues to explore. It's kind of rare for me to feel so uninspired to write about a book, but I can't force feelings I don't have. It makes me wonder what I'm missing though, because so many people absolutely love this series and rate it very highly. I'm just going to chalk that up to the old "not every book is for every reader" idea and move on.    

In any case, I am glad to have read another book from my shelves. This one will join my donate pile along with its predecessor. I'm still going to read the final book in the trilogy to finish out the story. Who knows? Maybe I will feel more interested to write about that one.

Challenge Tally

Clear the Shelves 2021: 7/50 (donate)

Total Books Read in 2021: 12

Iola Leroy: Shadows Uplifted by Frances Ellen Watkins Harper

 

One of the categories in the Back to the Classics Challenge this year is to read a novel by a BIPOC author. I didn't have anything that was old enough to count as a classic for this category sitting on my shelf that I hadn't already read, so I had to do a little research to find something that qualified. I found a great list on Book Riot of BIPOC classics, and I ended up choosing Iola Leroy by Frances Ellen Watkins Harper. I'd never heard of this book or this author before, but I was intrigued by the fact that this it was one of the first fiction novels published by an African American woman. Hoping to broaden my literary horizons, I started reading last week.

The plot of the novel follows a handful of characters, but it mostly focuses on Iola Leroy, a young woman who is a slave on a South Carolina plantation. At the start of the story, the Civil War is ending. The Union army is has fought its way into the area and has set up came near her town. Slaves are running away in droves to join the Union army, and one of these slaves mentions Iola's situation to the Union commander. He immediately orders her release, and she is brought to the camp to work as a nurse for wounded soldiers. Her appearance initially surprises the commander, as she looks completely white. Eventually, she shares her story with him.

Her history is a complicated and tragic one. Her father, Eugene Leroy, was a wealthy slaveholder. Years ago, he was stricken with a serious illness and was nursed back to health by one of his slaves named Marie. Marie had a white father as well, and appeared white herself. He fell in love with her, freed her, sent her away to be educated in the North, and married her. They had three children together, one of which was Iola. Eugene made the decision to keep Iola's true heritage a secret from her, so she grew up thinking she was white. When she came of age, her father sent her and her older brother to school in the North. He subsequently died, and even though his marriage to Marie was legal and his will stipulated that she and the children should inherit all of his wealth, his family managed to find enough loopholes to legally disregard his wishes. They took over his estate and Marie, Iola, and her siblings were all split apart and sold into slavery.

The rest of the novel follows Iola and her brother as they try to reconnect with each other and put their family back together after the Civil War ends and slavery is abolished. Most of the pages in the novel follow their discussions as they share their thoughts and feelings about the role the African Americans should play in the post-war era and the potential they have to become equal members of society. Iola Leroy is an interesting exploration of the issues newly freed slaves had to grapple with in the immediate aftermath of the Civil War, and a heart wrenching look at the pain and suffering slavery wrought upon their families.

After I finished reading, I was curious to learn more about Frances Harper, and to see how connected she was to the subject matter of this book. I learned that she was born free in Maryland in 1825. She published Iola Leroy in 1892, and in addition to writing, she was a teacher, an abolitionist, a suffragist, and a public speaker.  So, although she was never a slave herself, she did live through the time period depicted in the novel and spent a lot of time working against slavery. As such, I found this story interesting in a historical sense. Harper's writing, while perhaps a little overly sentimental, was a good example of what some African Americans and other abolitionists were thinking at the time. In that way, it was a bit of a window back to a different time that I don't know that much about.

I also enjoyed how Harper discussed so many different social issues relevant to the time period. Topics such as biracial children, interracial marriage, temperance, "passing," and reconstruction were all explored. I found it pretty disheartening to see how little some of the injustices and stereotypes people of color have to face have changed over the years. Many of the comments and problems the characters talked about still exist in some form today. For its perspective on social issues alone, Iola Leroy was a worthwhile read. 

As a work of narrative fiction, however, the text itself was not very entertaining. The story is dominated by character discussions, with almost all of the action taking place off-page and being described afterwards. Conflicts also seemed to be resolved too easily and unrealistically. There wasn't really any sense of suspense or tension throughout the story and the writing was quite fussy and proper. This was more of a chance for Harper to put her ideas about race and inequality out there - the actual plot of the novel felt secondary. 

Obviously, it's awful to be critical of this novel. It was a huge accomplishment for Harper to be one of the first published African American female authors and her characters' views on social issues of the day were an interesting look at the past. At only 220 pages, Iola Leroy isn't too much of a time commitment, so any readers interested in expanding their knowledge of the African American literary cannon would probably enjoy checking this one out.

Challenge Tally

Back to the Classics 2021 (A classic by a BIPOC author): 3/12

Total Books Read in 2021: 11

The Bear and the Nightingale by Katherine Arden

 

After my last, super-dense read, I was in the mood for a lighter fantasy novel. While searching my shelves for the perfect match, I stumbled across The Bear and the Nightingale by Katherine Arden. I picked this book up last year on the recommendation of basically everyone I watch on BookTube. The story is based on Russian folklore, and set during a harsh, icy winter. As I love fairy tale retellings and am currently living through the harshest winter of my life, I figured that now was the perfect time to give it a try. I went into my reading hoping to get lost in a magical tale and hopefully find a new favorite.

The plot is set in medieval Russia and follows Vasilisa, a young girl living in a small, isolated settlement in the wilderness with her father and siblings. Her mother died giving birth to her, so she has mostly been raised by her older sister Olga and her elderly nurse Dunya while her father, leader of their village, handles his many responsibilities. As the novel begins, Vasilisa has spent most of her childhood exploring the woods around her home, sneaking freshly baked cakes from the kitchen, and listening to Dunya tell old fairy tales around the oven at night. Her family is Christian, but they still pay homage to the old gods, leaving little sacrifices around their hearth for the spirits that keep their house safe. 

Vasilisa has always been a bit different from her brothers and sisters. She's a little more mischievous, a little more wild, and seems to have an otherworldly quality about her that she inherited from her late mother, a woman with a mysterious (and some say magical) past. As she begins to grow into womanhood, Vasilisa's father decides to remarry. He is hopeful that having another woman in the house to guide his youngest daughter will help her shed some of her wildness and improve her chances of finding a husband. The woman he settles on, however, ends up bringing nothing but trouble to his family.

This new wife, a devout Christian, is determined to turn Vasilisa into a proper woman or send her to a convent, and her methods become increasingly aggressive as time goes on. She also insists that the family stop paying tribute to the old gods, an act with bigger consequences than anyone imagines. Soon, things out of fairy tales start becoming real before Vasilisa's eyes. An old evil has been waiting in the woods for a chance to rise again, and now that the old gods' influence has been weakened, he has an opportunity to strike. Vasilisa, with her strange connection to this spirit world, is the only one able to see what is happening to her family and her town, and she must break all the bounds of convention to try and stop it.

I did end up liking this novel, but it took me a little while to get into it. I'm used to devouring stories like this in just a few days, and that wasn't the case here. I'm not sure why it didn't click with me right away. It has literally all of the things I love in a fantasy novel - deep connections to old folklore, detailed, beautiful writing, and an independent, interesting heroine that you want to root for. I think it might be because the story is so dark and so heavy. Medieval Russia in the middle of an unusually harsh winter is a bleak setting, and Katherine Arden does such a good job describing it that the story often felt quite gloomy and oppressive. The plot was similarly dark, with misfortunes and disappointments happening on many of its pages. It was a good read, but not a light or fun read. 

Once I got used to the dark tone and heavy writing though, I enjoyed it. The story was consistently interesting, if a bit slow in parts, and I was engaged enough in what was happening to want to know the end. As Vasilisa is a young girl for most of this novel, romance wasn't a big element throughout a lot of the story, and I missed that. Fairy tales and romance belong together (for me, at least).  I wish the story had been centered more on her as a young woman so that the romance that does eventually show up would have had a longer time to develop. This is the first book in a trilogy though, so I suppose there will be more chances for that in subsequent books. I already own the other two novels in the series, so I'm going to continue on with them and see if I like them any better than the first.

Aside from my bland, in-the-middle kind of thoughts here, I don't have much more to say about The Bear and the Nightingale. It was good, but not great for me. I'm disappointed that I didn't love it, but it's still a worthwhile read for those that are into fairy tale-style fantasy. This one will most likely land in my donate pile, but I'm not sorry I read it.

Challenge Tally

Clear the Shelves 2021: 6/50 (donate)

Total Books Read in 2021: 10

Winter's Tale by Mark Helprin

 

I decided to kick off my February reading by tackling one of the longer books left on my Classics Club list, Winter's Tale by Mark Helprin. This novel was published in 1983, making it one of the youngest books in my challenge. I do think that considering any book out of the 1980's as a classic is pushing the definition a little bit, but when I was researching classic fantasy novels, this one kept coming up. My husband had previously read most of it and enjoyed it, plus we already owned it, so I figured I'd give it a shot. 

Winter's Tale is a magical realism novel set in New York City. The plot is very difficult to describe as it spans across at least 100 years and deals with multiple characters and very intellectual concepts. It starts, however, in the late 1800s with a thief and master mechanic named Peter Lake. As the story begins, Peter tries to rob the home of a wealthy family living in the city. He believes the residence to be empty, but in reality, the eldest daughter of the family, a young woman named Beverly Penn, is inside. When Beverly and Peter stumble across each other, they fall deeply in love. They know that their happiness can't last, because Beverly is dying. However, their short, tragic romance kicks off an intricate story that spans a century and comes to include time travel, magic, and even a flying horse.

It's tough to summarize the story much more than that as it follows a long and winding path through plot events both improbable and impossible. I don't mean that in an entirely negative way either, this is just one of those stories that defies a simple explanation. One of my students saw this book sticking out of my bag and asked me what it was about and I literally had no idea how to answer that question in a way that an 8th grader could understand. The best explanation I could think of was, "It's an epic love story set in a magical version of New York." That doesn't really capture how complex and deep this work is though. The book is about 750 pages long and full of whimsy, lofty ideas, and philosophy. Is it actually entertaining to read though? 

That answer is going to vary wildly from reader to reader.

For me, this was not a particularly fun read. I fully recognize that the writing was beautiful and the work was very ambitious. I enjoyed a lot of the characters and I thought the bits of magic that floated through the text were lyrical and intriguing. There were parts that I really liked and thought were clever and fun. Where I struggled however, was with putting all of these elements together to understand the overall story. I don't think I ever fully understood the central narrative here. Things would frequently happen in this novel and I would have no idea why or where those things would lead. Of course, I know that the hazy plot is intentional. Helprin is writing in a style that requires readers to use their imaginations to fill in the gaps. I've tried several books structured like this over the years, and I've never been particularly satisfied by any of them. I like connections, explanations, and rules. I like fully understanding a plot. A Winter's Tale is just not that kind of book, and 750 pages of a style you don't particularly like is not very rewarding to get through.

I know that the elements I didn't like within this novel are what some people like the most about it. Readers that love wordy, beautiful prose and vague plot points imbued with a sense of wonder will undoubtedly fall in love with this story. I do believe that it is probably a masterpiece in its style. It's just not for me. I enjoyed it at times, but most of the time I was just reading to finish. I settled on giving it three stars overall, because while I know it's well-written, it wasn't a good fit for me. I'm glad to have experienced it once though, and I'm even gladder to be able to cross it off my Classics Club list.

Challenge Tally

Classics Club (#49 on my list): 85/100 books completed

Total Books Read in 2021: 9