Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

In which I rant about the heroine

The Girl in the Tower by Katherine Arden

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I was about the day I finished The Girl in the Tower-years old when I realized two things: one, this series is YA darkish fantasy romance; and two, I don’t especially care for YA darkish fantasy romance. The problem is that there are a few characters I do want to see what happens to and the setting is interesting, with its mix of Russian folklore and history. I also do like the conflict from the first novel, not so much present here, between the old […]

Marriage, Convent, or Freedom?

The Girl in the Tower by Katherine Arden

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What a wonderful continuation of the “Winternight Trilogy” by Katherine Arden. We don’t only follow Vaysa in this one, we follow her brother and sister. We also get a couple of appearances from the fallen priest from book #1 and even more insight into Morozko. I wanted to see what the future held for Vasya and the Winter King and now in part two we get to follow Vasya after she rejects a typical life for freedom on the road with her stallion Solovey. Unfortunately, […]

A defiant girl in a man’s world

The Girl in the Tower by Katherine Arden

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4.5 stars Spoiler warning! This is book 2 in a trilogy, and the story pretty much follows on directly from the ending of the previous book. This book, while very good, doesn’t really stand on its own, you would do much better to start at the beginning, with The Bear and the Nightingale.  There are roving gangs of bandits travelling the countryside around Moscow, pillaging and burning the villages and abducting young girls. Prince Dimitri sends his cousin, brother Alexandr, affectionately known to his family as Sasha, […]

This series is just so atmospheric.

The Girl in the Tower (The Winternight Trilogy, #2) by Katherine Arden

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I need to remember when it comes time to read #3 in this series that I will need at least a week to get through it. Arden’s writing is lovely and her story fascinating and absorbing, but I find it stressful as hell, and I kept having to put it down before I could keep going again. Basically every bad thing that can happen, does. (But by the end, you get a nice sense of resolution, which is necessary because of all the previously mentioned […]

Hearts and Thoughts They Fade, Fade Away

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I loved The Bear and the Nightingale, and rather than doing my usual plunge straight into the sequel, I have been holding off on this on to try to extend and savor the story more.  However, once I saw Aquillia’s review of The Girl in the Tower, I decided I was done waiting since I wanted to be able to have a discussion. Looking back, I have noticed that while everyone seems to like The Bear and the Nightingale, the responses to certain details have […]

It doesn’t even have to be snowy to love this book

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I read The Bear and the Nightingale earlier this year when winter storms rocked Britain and loved nature’s contributions to the wintry atmosphere. I read the sequel, The Girl in the Tower, in Scotland’s sunniest month (May–somehow it’s always May) and loved this one even more–even if the weather didn’t contribute quite as much to the feel of it! The Bear and the Nightingale was loosely based on Russian folklore, following Vasilisa Petrovna and her family during a particularly harsh winter, as they fought the forces of […]



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