Welcome to another First Impression Friday. In case this is your first time, here’s the rundown:
• Based on this sampling of your current read, give a few impressions
and predict what you’ll think by the end.
• Did you think you’d love and ended up hating it? Or did you think
you’d hate it and wound up loving it? Or were you exactly right?
• Link back to Storeys of Stories so I can enjoy reading all the
First Impression Fridays out there!
Let’s talk about The Bear and the Nightingale by Katherine Arden.
“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.”
This is one of those books that I knew nothing about going into it except that a lot of people seem to really love it.
That alone wasn’t enough to put in on my TBR. But a reading prompt of “read a book during the season it’s set in” had me looking for books set in winter. This one popped up.
Knowing nothing about it and unsure that it’s something I would normally be into, I started with reckless abandon. That’s how I do.
So far, I find it very difficult to keep the characters straight. Most of the names are VERY Russian, which usually makes me pause to figure out if I’m pronouncing it right, and also trying to remember if it’s a boy’s name, girl’s name and which boy or girl the name belongs to. However, I find myself charmed by many of the characters, as well as the setting, and I’m excited to hear more stories from Russian lore.
This whole series has been on my TBR and I haven’t picked it up yet! I am anxious to see what you think of it!
I started reading this one last night and got as far as page 20 and … gave up! I might give it another go at a later date.
I really want to at least try this series. But I’m waiting to get my hands on a second hand copy. Something about this one makes me want to sit with a physical book.
I read the ebook on this one, and you’re right. I would have preferred a physical on this one. Also would have preferred sitting by a roaring fire while reading. lol
Yeah I get the impression that the cold snowy Russian setting would make you wish for a fire even in the middle of Winter 😄
*Summer
Obviously you want a fire in Winter 🙄🙈