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Second installment of the Winternight Trilogy, The girl in the tower story begins a few months after the ending of The bear and the nightingale.
Vasya left her village: despite having fought to save it from the darkness, the villagers say she is a witch, and Vasya struggles for new adventures, so she decides to go and discover the world.
The medieval Russia reserves only a few choices for a woman: nuns of mothers and wives, so Vasya disguises herself as a boy when approaching the villages and cities. In the areas near the capital, the boy Vasya meets the prince and his warriors, and among them her brother Sasha, who left the village to become a priest.
In the meanwhile, some villages are devastated by bandits’ raids, and all the girls are kidnapped to be sold as slaves, and a dark menace impends on the city of Moscow.
Vasya will end up fighting for the city, her family and her freedom, helped by the folklore spirits and by the frost demon, Morozko.
As in the previous novel, the setting is build up with precision, both folklore and historical elements help in improving the setting and the plot. Here we meet again some characters of The bear and the nightingale, but grown up and changed accordingly to their own story. The plot is engaging and fast paced, a perfect follow-up of the first novel of the series. Now I’m waiting for the last book.
Thanks to the publisher for providing me the copy necessary to write this review.
* The Girl in the Tower by Katherine Arden ★★★★★
*I read this book in english