The heartwarming cold

 

The Bear and the Nightingale by Katherine Arden (Book one)

The Winternight Trilogy by Katherine Arden.

I always get overwhelmed when thinking about trilogies or series, the hamster in my brain gets dizzy. I enjoyed a lot these books, Arden takes from different bags to add to the story. You have a fairytale style, with some very raw moments and social dynamics of historical fiction. Add family drama and adventure and you have a hell of a story. It has a neat balance and everything fits smoothly.

The characters a very well developed, the focus is on a few protagonists with a steady growth. Vasya and Morozko are awesome, they go on a journey of survival and self-discovery. The living conditions of the time setting and a rigid society that locks women in asphyxiating roles, living furniture to accommodate in marriage, convent and service give the book an edge. It is here that the apparently simple choice of not conforming has terrible consequences. It is a fine point, that here witches do exist, when in reality naming witches was a tool to punish women and to keep them in place. In the story, even the people who love Vasya, condemn her for wanting more of her life and it is baffling for Sasha for example, that she would want the same as him.

The Girl in The Tower by Katherine Arden (book two)

I got a strong impression of some of the main themes: family, friendship, conformity and belonging. Vasya carries an innocence in her relationship with her family that is heartwarming; she is the type of character who is as rash as open and kind and thus permeates her receptiveness and willingness to bond with nature. Her friendship with the horse Solovey is beautiful, forget Morozko, that is the epic love story (lol, but yeah). At times, I thought about it as a love song to life, even more poignant because of the harsh living, social pains and war looming over, both human and spirit wise. Life blooming like a nosebleed, red, painful and beautiful.

Random mumbling.

Spoilers ahead.

One interesting aspect I found is that many of these relationships are unbalanced. Like a prince and his subordinate friend, never only friend without the subordinate. Vasya and her brothers and sisters, the priest and his flock. It is explored very well, it gives the book a very nice human depth, although at times it leads to the unescapable unconditionality of love, which I find like a quick solving tool. Like Dimitri´s and Sasha´s relationship, ok, Dimitri is the prince and he would give harsh consequences to Sasha for hiding Vasya´s gender to him, that is no friendship at all and watching Sasha´s devotion is unsettling.

One detail I found very skillfully woven is the duality of perception to someone´s gender; the chilling reality of many people that if they view you as a male, everything is fun and games until the gender shifts to female and very nonchalantly is implied that some of those very good people could be forcing themselves to someone considered a comrade not long ago. Also chilling, is how natural that chain of thought emerges.

There is an idea developed in various stages of the books, the very Cristian notion of sacrifice. The reiterated choice of Vasya to sacrifice trying to save the people that condemn her and well… yeah, lynch, abuse and try to kill her. Very interesting, but it may be me, I find it troubling, it develops the idea and stops in the middle of the exploration and just concludes it is the right choice to do. Is it? In a way it is, but I don’t think it should be so blunt. I get you will want to save your family and friends, but the rest... hum. Maybe I am an ambiguous person but I do have much hope for humanity, however those terms of sacrifice are terrible, it removes the responsibility on humans as a group and the accountability of individuals for their actions in said group. It leaves a strange taste in the mouth.

End of spoilers.

The Winter of the Witch by Katherine Arden (book three)

The books are by no means perfect, there are some choices that the characters make that are not very grounded and some tropes that I found annoying. For example, it is very good to have an awesome female protagonist that isn´t pretty, but I don´t know, that constant reminder of her being “ugly but…” over and over again, makes it cheap, like it could be so unbelievable. I guess the “ugly but attractive because *insert quality*” trope is a sign we have some progress but we are not completely there yet.

The “lovable jerk” trope *Dimitri, I am looking at you* was a bit confusing. Maybe it is me, I understand charismatic people, but from there to I-will-die-for-you it is a bit of a stretch. I also understand a bit Sasha´s case, they were childhood friends, but when not… a mystery indeed.

And then...

Some details aside, it was a pleasure reading the books. Even when some points turn troublesome for me, it gives a big opportunity and space to think about it and… well, that is what I love about books. Giving a “right” answer is not the point at all, where is the fun in that?

 Highly recommended, lots of stuff going on here.