The Winternight Trilogy - My most long-awaited TBR trilogy

"I have plucked snowdrops at Midwinter, died at my own choosing, and wept for a nightingale. Now I am beyond prophecy."

-Katherine Arden

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Doesn't The Bear and the Nightingale make you just immediately want to pick it up and devour it? With such a beautiful title how could you not? Well, that's what happened to me.

One of the greatest joys I've gotten out of starting my bookstagram page was getting to interact with other book lovers and not only getting great book recs for stories I probably wouldn't have otherwise heard of but seeing such amazing book photography that it just makes me want to grab the book and read it without even needing to know what it's about.  The Bear and the Nightingale was this for me. But it took me so long to get around to it that two more book of the same series came out in the time it took me to get around to the first one. I was entring Trilogy territory for the first time since Lord of the Rings.

This story surpassed my expectations. Not only is it beautifully written but its such an intricate tale, tying together so many old beliefs and superstitions of medieval Russia. (I had a lot of fun picking my Ukranian coworkers brain on the proper pronunciation of some of these names... "Polunochnitsa" was a particularly difficult one). There's no way to describe it other than it is a fantastic tale. Full of wonder and fear and old magic. 

The clash of Christian faith with old world Pagan beliefs made for an interesting plot. Not only because of their vast differences but because the Russians from the forest communities not only worshipped at church, but left offerings for their house "demons" as well. Both worlds walked hand in hand.

What I liked

• The familial ties that grounded Vasya and seemed to be the thread that kept the children of Pyotr Vladimirovich sane and strong in times of strife. The relationship between siblings, the anger and protectiveness, jealousy and admiration. They could hate each other in moments and be so cruel but fight to the death to anyone who offended their siblings. It was relateable, my sister and I have been on both ends of the spectrum many times. 

• The ridiculous yet realistic aspects of human nature. Multiple times throughout the trilogy there's severe cases of "mob mentality" that seem so extreme yet the same type of situations are still happening in today's age which made these unbelievable scenes frighteningly accurate and eye opening to how easily people can be swayed under the words of one influential man. 

What I Did NOT Like

• The historical setting. It was very very loosely based on medieval Rus' during the time immediately after Ivan the Terrible and before Russia was all joined as one nation, still ruled and plundered by different hordes of the Great Khan. But other than those loose facts, I knew NOTHING of what Russia was like during that time as it's not a history I'm very familiar with and I feel like the author assumed we knew more than we really did..... like as if it should be as aparent to us as the history of our own country. I did a lot of research to place myself accurately in the story because I hate feeling misplaced.

• I loathed the second book. Like Outlander, it starts in a rustic/woodsy setting with old magics and mystery and then transitions into court life and an overcrowded smelly city where everything good and wholesome built up in the first book is ripped to shreds by interfering meddlers who don't belong in the plot. It took a long time for me to get through this one.... but the third book was worth the pain of the filler of a second novel. I promise you that.

Side Bar: One of my most favorite and also most hated characters of this book was the priest. He is introduced as young and cocky and beyond proud of his faith and his "standing" with God. Yet we begin to see the rot underneath, the uncertainty and the fear. He uses fear and risk of damnation to gain followers, if he can save them from their sinful ways, they'll never leave him. He banishes love and protection and makes them fear God "as they should".  But what he doesn't understand as quoted by our heroine is that: "It is a cruel task, to frighten people in Gods name." His characterization is what kept me reading even in the slower times (book two) because his hypocrisy was so hard to look away from.

Overall, beefs aside, this story was magnificent and magical and I would recommend it to anyone looking for an adventure in the cold mysterious magic that is Old Russia. Especially if you enjoy fairytales and myths. I'm now curious to branch off from my typical Norse/Classical mythology interest and discover new ones rooted in Eastern Europ and Asia.

~Honestly 4.5 stars for this. It was that good.~