I read The Bear and the Nightingale earlier this year and fell in love with the story within the first few paragraphs, so when I heard that there were two more books coming out, I watched and waited patiently for the release of the second book. Sure enough, I found The Girl In The Tower on Netgalley and was approved for it. You can see my review of the book below.
The Girl In The Tower by Katherine Arden
Blurb: The magical adventure begun in The Bear and the Nightingale continues as brave Vasya, now a young woman, is forced to choose between marriage or life in a convent and instead flees her home—but soon finds herself called upon to help defend the city of Moscow when it comes under siege.
Orphaned and cast out as a witch by her village, Vasya’s options are few: resign herself to life in a convent, or allow her older sister to make her a match with a Moscovite prince. Both doom her to life in a tower, cut off from the vast world she longs to explore. So instead she chooses adventure, disguising herself as a boy and riding her horse into the woods. When a battle with some bandits who have been terrorizing the countryside earns her the admiration of the Grand Prince of Moscow, she must carefully guard the secret of her gender to remain in his good graces—even as she realizes his kingdom is under threat from mysterious forces only she will be able to stop. – Goodreads
- Hardcover: 384 pages
- Publisher: Del Rey (December 5, 2017)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 1101885963
- ISBN-13: 978-1101885963
My Review
Brave Vasya, older and wild as ever, is faced with a choice to either marry or live in a convent as a nun. Neither choice seems applicable to her and she would rather die riding in the frozen wintry forest than be stuck living a life that doesn’t fit her. She’s been deemed a witch and questions still loom regarding her father’s death. Vasya needs to discover who she is and as she embarks on a journey alone with her horse Solovey against Morozko’s wishes, she takes risks, experiences danger with violent bandits, witnesses burned and destroyed villages, meets the Grand Prince, and even reunites with family. Only time will tell if she’s made the right decisions and the commitment may be more than she can bear.
This second installment has more action and adventure, the addition of new characters, and clues that offer insight to some of the events in the first book. It’s just as enchanting and a little darker than the first. I enjoyed the characters and relationships, especially Vasya’s relationship with Morozko and her horse Solovey. When I first began reading, I felt as though I was right back in the first book again and had to remember a few of the characters. It doesn’t take long to pick up and as Vasya’s traveling begins, there’s no telling what will happen next and the book is far from predictable.
The Girl In The Tower is written in the same enchanting prose as The Bear and the Nightingale and I did enjoy it, but it didn’t captivate me as much as the first. As this book closed with an unexpected ending, I’m even more excited for the third. 4 ****
I’d like to thank Netgalley for providing me with an ARC of this book to read and review.
You can find this book on Goodreads and Amazon
It’s set to be released early January 2018
About The Author
Katherine Arden is the author of the national bestseller The Bear and the Nightingale. Born in Austin, Texas, Arden spent a year of high school in Rennes, France. Following her acceptance to Middlebury College in Vermont, she deferred enrollment for a year in order to live and study in Moscow. At Middlebury, she specialized in French and Russian literature. After receiving her BA, she moved to Maui, Hawaii, working every kind of odd job imaginable, from grant writing and making crêpes to guiding horse trips. Currently, she lives in Vermont, but really, you never know.
Find Katherine Arden @
Goodreads | Amazon | Website
You can find The Bear and the Nightingale on Goodreads and Amazon
Great review, Mischenko!! You covered a lot of points that readers need to know and I cannot wait to read this series😊!
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Thanks, Noriko. I can’t wait to hear your thoughts on it. ❤
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Great review! So glad you loved it. I just finished the first book.
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Thanks, James. You might want to head right into this one! ❤ The first still remains my favorite though…
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Great review and can’t wait to read it myself! 🙂
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Thanks! I hope you love it. 🙂
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Great review! I’m so looking forward to this – I really enjoyed The Bear and the Nightingale 🙂
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Thanks, Jo! I hope you enjoy it. 😉
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Like always a wonderful review!
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Aww, thanks! 👍💗
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My pleasure!
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Wonderful review Jenn! I still need to read The Bear and the Nightingale, agh there are not enough hours in the day/weeks/months/years!
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Thanks, Claire. I feel the same! Too many great books and not enough time… 😉
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Hi! ❤ I so need to read both books!! I think I will save them for winter break…they sound perfect for reading all cozied up in front of the fire!!I'm headed back home from vacation today, boo! But I did a post on my blog today just because I missed it so much, lol! I go back to work/school on Thurs (yuck) but am going to try to post something once a week even if it's just thoughts. Who knows!! Anyway, I've been spending my entire car ride making blog rounds! It's a 5 hour drive! Talk to you later…actually, I will head off to answer your email in a few after a couple more blogs!! 🙂 ❤ I hope you are well!!
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Hey, Stephanie! I hope you had a wonderful vacation and I’m glad you’re back! ♡
I think you’ll love these books and can’t wait to hear your thoughts! These are perfect for winter reading. I read the first in front of the fire and it was awesome. 😉
My time is limited now too, but I hope to still keep up! Have a safe trip home and chat soon! ❤
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I did! It was relaxing and very fun!
Oh they sound wonderful then! I guess I’ll need to get them ready for winter break…Dec 13th I’m already counting down, lol!!
Thank you! I’ll be glad to be home…miss my boys and hubby ❤❤ Talk soon 💕💕
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This sounds like a great follow up book! I so need to read both books!! ❤ I've heard a lot of buzz about The Bear and the Nightingale…
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I would definitely recommend! I’m really looking forward to the third book now, lol. 🙂 ♡ Hope you enjoy!
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You always seem to find such fascinating books! I’ll have to see if this is at the library, since I am not allowing myself to buy new books for awhile.
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Thanks, Vanessa. 🙂 It releases in early January I think. Hope you enjoy! ♡
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Great review. I am going to have to check out the first book before tackling this one. Thanks for adding to my TBR mountain.
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Thank you! Can’t wait to see your thoughts on the first. It’s definitely my favorite. 🙂 ♡
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Just reserved it at the library.
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Awesome! Will watch for your review. 🙂
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Great review! I am looking forward to this one!
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Thanks so much. 😉 Hope you enjoy! 💖
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Thanks! ❤
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I’m reading this book at the moment. I’m still at the beginning and I’m struggling with remembering everything that happened in the first book. Good to know I’m not the only one with that problem! 🙂
Loved your review!
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