The Girl in the Tower by Katherine Arden picks up immediately after The Bear and The Nightingale. Knowing she will never enter a convent nor be married off unwillingly, Vasya leaves her home to settle the people there who fear she is a witch. Too much has happened, and it’s best if she leaves. She is not without struggles. Her horse, Solovey, a gift from the frost demon, can speak into Vasya’s mind and understand humans, but is her only companion. Yet, even a determined mortal young woman cannot survive in the frozen landscape of what is now Russia without help.
Vasya isn’t the only one who needs assistance. Bandits ravage the area, burning down villages and kidnapping little girls. In Moscow, Vasya’s brother, the monk Alexsandr, serves unusually as advisor to the Grand Prince of Moscow. Their closeness is almost brotherly. And when a strange minor prince rides up requesting help after his village was burned down, the monk and Grand Prince gather men to find and destroy the bandits.
Meanwhile, Vasya discovers some of the missing girls held captive by the bandits in their most recent raid and makes a daring and clever attempt to rescue them. She succeeds, and when Vasya takes the girls to the nearest holding, it’s no surprise that she runs into her brother and the Grand Prince looking for the same bandits. While moderns readers may be thinking, “You go, girl!” keep in mind that the setting is long ago, before Russia is actually a country and instead maintained by lords and princes of smaller landholdings. Vasya shouldn’t be saving children; she shouldn’t even be on a horse. Knowing the consequences, Vasya hides her hair and impersonates a boy, much to the annoyance of her brother, who finds his sister’s lie blasphemous.
Once again, Katherine Arden crosses genre lines beautifully. We’re still in fairy tale territory, but we also get a ghost story and a mystery, for no one knows who these bandits are or who controls them. More so than The Bear and The Nightingale, this second book in the trilogy reads more feminist. You’re rooting for Vasya in her boy disguise and want everyone to leave her alone about gender and instead praise her deeds and skills.
When the group under the Grand Prince of Moscow return to the city, Vasya is able to see her sister Olga for the first time in years. Olga is also peeved that a girl should compromise her dignity such as Vasya is doing. Both siblings want Vasya to leave as a boy and return as a maiden to be held in the towers with other women, never to see or interact with men until married. But a chilling part of the novel, one Arden writes beautifully, challenges gender norms:
You are a monk. I don’t see you in a monastery, Brother Aleksandr. Shouldn’t you be growing a garden, chanting, praying without pause? Instead you are here, the nearest adviser of the Grand Prince of Moscow. Why you, brother? Why you and not I?
Arden points out the hypocrisy of gender roles in this ancient setting — Vasya’s brother is a monk who doesn’t behave like one, isn’t doing what is expected of him, but he gets away with it because he’s male. Yet Vasya can (and does) advise the Grand Prince during her time in the city with just as much wisdom as her sibling. Even though the group killed some bandits, there’s clearly a foul plot still going on with a mysterious leader.
While there’s a bit of an unconventional love story lurking in the background, it’s not the focus of The Girl in the Tower. Each genre is used to effect, making me eager to see how different threads — the mystery, the ghost story, the love story, the historical aspect — play out. And, annoyingly Brother Konstantine comes back from the book, so you have to wonder what havoc he’s going to wreak. An excellent second novel in the Winternight trilogy by Katherine Arden.
Grab the Lapels 
I haven’t read any Russian historical fiction earlier than Tolstoy, so your review sent me off to Wikipedia and early Russian history. Moscow was the central city of Russia from the 1400s (and the reign of Ivan III, ‘the Great’, if I remember correctly). It’s always interesting for historical fiction to take a feminist slant even if it takes us into the realm of what might have been rather than what was.
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So, these novels take places just before Russia became a country. It’s still known as Rus’ which refers to a people and culture rather than a place, based on my understanding. The last is still broken into different little kingdoms, with the leader in Moscow known as The Grand Prince.
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Interesting- this one actually sounds more appealing to me than her first book. I actually own it too so I guess I’ll have to bump it up the TBR. Great review!
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Thanks, Sarah! We get a lot more interaction between Vasya and the gods, and different family members come back, so the book feels different from the first in terms of characters and setting.
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Glad this doesn’t fall into the dreaded sequel trap – I usually find in some trilogies that the second book is weaker than the first and third! This sounds even more interesting than the first and I hope to pick this series up soon.
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I enjoyed all three novels. Part of the success might be attributed to Arden writing the trilogy as one big stand-alone novel, but the editor suggested breaking it up.
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This sounds excellent – this one interests me even more than the first novel in the trilogy because of the feminist angle. I find it so impressive when authors are able to balance good writing/plot with meaningful social commentary.
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The best feature of the book, which I now realize I failed to write about in my review, is just how immersive it is, one of those books that make you forget you’re reading.
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Oh, I love books like that!! (and haven’t had that experience since reading Real Life at the beginning of August)
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It’s strange, the cover of this second book makes it look more like a fantasy series than the first book did. I love seeing that feminist storyline though, it’s appearing more and more these days, in every kind of genre, so I’m hoping this takes affect on our younger generations, gives them hope, drive, etc.
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I agree — book 2 and 3 both look more fantasy, whereas book 1 looked very much like a fairy tale to me. She weaves many genres together, which is why I think he work is so good; she uses the best of what each as to offer.
I always hope that when little girls, like your daughter, grow up they will read Anne of Green Gables, but as much as I like Anne Shirley, I have to remember how very vain and full of self-doubt she could be. Perhaps that isn’t so much a weakness or anti-feminist as it is a realistic person, one who compares herself to others and hopes she’s doing the right thing.
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Hmm yes, I think Anne of Green Gables errs on the side of realism (unfortunately) haha
Have I mentioned to you I’ve never actually read those books? It’s shameful, considering my name and my country of birth hahah
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They’re just really funny and delightful to read. I spent a whole summer reading them a couple of years ago and ranted about how all of the even-number books were not up to part with the odd-number books.
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Ah, fairy tale + ghost story + mystery sounds PERFECT. Plus feminism and pushback against gender norms! This sequel looks just as good as the first book, which is incredible- often the second book in a trilogy is my least favorite, but I don’t think that will be the case with this series. Great review!
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Jackie @ Death by Tsundoku and I have lamented many Valdemar tales in which the middle book of a trilogy feels like a flub fest.
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The second book just always feels like it’s bridging a gap rather than doing any proper work!
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The wonderful mix of genres and the writing were just so good. I too thought that Brother Konstantine is super annoying. Off to read about book three!
x The Captain
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Oh, man! And Brother K comes back in ALL the dang books! He just won’t go away. I really liked how he starts to realize that he’s willing to help a demon because God isn’t answering him anyway. It also makes me wonder just how much faith he had in the first place….
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