My Thoughts

So many emotions while reading THE WINTER OF THE WITCH. So many. First, I take back what I said in my review of THE GIRL IN THE TOWER of finding someone else I hate more than Brother Konstantin Nikonovich. There is no other character I hate more in all of literature except for Professor Umbridge.

This story was beautiful and sad and intense and romantic and spiritual and ethereal all in one go. I’ve really learned to love the characters in this trilogy. I wish we got to visit some of the characters from The Bear and the Nightingale again, but I understand why Vasya stayed away. Instead I loved her brother and sister, Sasha and Olya, and the Grand Prince of Moscow, Dmitrii. I also loved little Marya and her propensity to act like Vasya. I loved Olya’s servant Varvara.

Then, of course, there’s the unseen characters. I adore Morozko and my only complaint about this trilogy would be that he wasn’t in the stories more. My favorite part of the story is when Morozko calls Vasya “beloved”–swoon. I love sweet Solovey, Vasya’s bay stallion. Pozhar was a force to be reckoned with and I enjoyed learning more about her and the other horses. I really loved the mythos of the chyerti; all they wanted to do was survive in a world of men and growing Christianity. I trusted them much more than the humans. Because of that, they quickly wormed their way into my heart.

I especially loved the fiction intermingled with the 14th century Russian history. I again adored the Russian setting. The language, buildings, scenery, clothes, food–they were a joy to read about. I also liked that the ending was left open enough that Arden can revisit this world again if she wants to.