11 January, 2017

Waiting on Wednesday: The Bear and the Nightingale by Katherine Arden


Waiting on Wednesday is hosted by Breaking the Spine. Today we are waiting for The Bear and the Nightingale by Katherine Arden!

New release! Fresh from the printers!


Publication date: January 10th, 2017
Publisher: Del Rey

At the edge of the Russian wilderness, winter lasts most of the year and the snowdrifts grow taller than houses. But Vasilisa doesn’t mind—she spends the winter nights huddled around the embers of a fire with her beloved siblings, listening to her nurse’s fairy tales. Above all, she loves the chilling story of Frost, the blue-eyed winter demon, who appears in the frigid night to claim unwary souls. Wise Russians fear him, her nurse says, and honor the spirits of house and yard and forest that protect their homes from evil.

After Vasilisa’s mother dies, her father goes to Moscow and brings home a new wife. Fiercely devout, city-bred, Vasilisa’s new stepmother forbids her family from honoring the household spirits. The family acquiesces, but Vasilisa is frightened, sensing that more hinges upon their rituals than anyone knows.

And indeed, crops begin to fail, evil creatures of the forest creep nearer, and misfortune stalks the village. All the while, Vasilisa’s stepmother grows ever harsher in her determination to groom her rebellious stepdaughter for either marriage or confinement in a convent.

As danger circles, Vasilisa must defy even the people she loves and call on dangerous gifts she has long concealed—this, in order to protect her family from a threat that seems to have stepped from her nurse’s most frightening tales.

RUSSIA! RUSSIA! RUSSIAN MYTHS? just give me everything Russian! I think Hannah will agree with me, definitely. We love books that feature Russia, Russian culture and myths, etc. She has an ARC of this book so she'll let you know soon if she liked it or not!

May I comment one little thing? I don't like the name Vasilisa... every time I hear it I can only think of vampires :P


Are you excited about The Bear and the Nightingale?