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The Bear and the Nightingale (2017) by Katherine Arden ⭐⭐⭐⭐
My copy of The Bear and the Nightingale is paperback and was published by Del Rey. It is a 2024 edition, and includes a glossary of Russian terms, book club discussion questions, an interview with the author, and an excerpt out of her brand new book Warm Hands of Ghosts, which I have already purchased and will be reviewing after I am done with this series.
The Bear and the Nightingale is a beautifully written novel about Vasilisa (nicknamed Vasya) who has a special sight – she can see all the magical creatures that guard every aspect of life in Rus’. It takes place in Russia in the 14th century, and is filled with wonderful folklore elements. It reads like a fairytale — one of the old fairytales where not everything is bright and shiny. In fact, often it is a cold world of suffering and death, but also a world filled with warmth and love.
This is Katherine Arden’s debut novel. It is a novel that is geared toward adults, as opposed to her later Small Spaces series, which was written for middle-grade and was reviewed on this blog starting with Small Spaces. I think The Bear and the Nightingale is a wonderful debut, and I’m so glad I gave this one a chance. It was hard at first to get into it (for me) because I couldn’t relate at all to anything Russian, but I quickly became invested in the characters and the gorgeous storytelling. I think one of Katherine Arden’s strong points is character development. I felt strong emotions toward each character in this book, be it human or creature, because of her amazing descriptions and the way this gives them life.
The blurb on the back of the book really doesn’t do the story justice. I urge you to just take the plunge and read this novel if you love folkloric creatures, cozy, fantastic writing, and making friends with your storybook characters.
I got mine at Barnes & Noble, but I’m sure you can get it at any major bookseller.
Nice review! 🙂