Fairy tales within a fairy tale

I often do not like the middle books in trilogies or series - they usually feel like story fillers, not a proper story in itself. The Girl in the Tower is one of the few exceptions.

The story continues immediately after the first book. Or rather, it starts somewhere around the last third or quarter of the first book, but in Moscow, following Vasya's two older siblings, Olga and Sasha. We get a few more different perspectives in this book compared to the first, and Katherine Arden's medieval Russia became grander, bloodier, and slightly more cruel.

Vasya's stubborn challenge on medieval gender roles features prominently in this book. Understandable as Vasya is now sixteen but still wild and headstrong, refusing to live her life walled in either by marriage or the convent. Also more prominent in this book is romance, or rather strong hints of it. I didn't mind either, but the one thing that I missed more of was the old spirits. There are a couple of domovois and banniks, and even a new dvorovoi, but these encounters are few and far between. They are fading in Moscow, but not gone. The struggle between old golds and new carries on.

Yes, this book is a continuation of the first, and is a foreshadowing of the next. But it is also a book in itself. There is another story in this story about fairy tales; and that one (arguably) began and ended in this book. And that is why The Girl in the Tower, despite being in the middle of a trilogy, can stand on its own.

Kathleen Gati's voice remains soft and dreamy. I realise now that the prose itself is lyrical, and perhaps the narrator is building from that. But now she also had hard edges and shrill panic and breathless excitement. Much improved.

Although I love the first book more (largely because I love the girl Vasya more than the teen one), I don't think I loved a middle book as much as I loved this one. If you've read The Bear and the Nightingale, you know you need to read The Girl in the Tower. Get this. Now.

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I wished it would never end

Newly discovered for me, a stunning trilogy... how will I be able to wait a whole year for the final part?

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waited a whole year for it..I was not disappointed

I was dying to get my hands on this book for almost a year and a half ...and it did not disappoint !! a masterpiece in which my favorite author and the best story teller cam together in one work of art and fantasy 💞💞 the story was very engaging to the point that i could not sit still without knowing what's next !! i love it and i love vasia and the snow demon and the love story that ignited between them 😍💖😭😭

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It just sucks you in.

I enjoyed the first (audio) book. And it's always comforting to hear the same narrator for a series.
My goodness though, this second one. I am eager to start on the next/last book. But I shall be so sorry to finish this trilogy.

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