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I have, most likely, given The Bear and the Nightingale one of the few low grades you will find for it. I did not do this lightly nor did I do it without reason. Part of it is simply that the book was badly marketed, at least for this reader. Hailed as being like Naomi Novik’s Uprooted, the story is instead a rather mundane telling of a brutal Russian folktale. Rather than a loving and enchanting heroine, who discovers her own power along the way, this tale has the completely commonplace feisty, independent, doesn’t-want-to-marry heroine. In place of a fast paced story full of magic, mystery and romance there is a “literary fantasy” with pedantic prose and a pompous message belonging in some dry, liberal, anti-religion text. On the bright side, it made the other fantasy takes on fairy tales I read the last few months look really good by comparison.
We begin with a messianic birth. Marina asks for a magical child and the Russian gods basically answer by giving her a “special” child whose delivery costs her life. I would normally at this point say “note to self, never ask a Russian god for a baby” but what kind of damned fool would do that anyway? This woman had been raised on the folklore of her people and knew that congress with their gods came at a high price. She had four healthy, beautiful children. There was no need for this baby but she was determined to have it, turned down an abortion her servant offered in order to do so and died for her stubbornness. Picture me with steam coming out of my ears and we are only 5% into the tale.
Vasilisa, the “special” baby, gets along with the hearth gods, loves nature, loves playing like a boy over being a “boring” girl yada, yada, yada denigrating of everything remotely smacking of femininity ad nauseam. She winds up with a step-mother and local priest who want her to stop practicing her old religion and embrace the new, which brings tragedy down on the heads of all until the heroine fixes everything and we all limp to the closure grateful to have survived.
For those that don’t know, Russian folktales are not happy things. The old Russian gods were even less benign than the faeries of European legends and received a lot of their “worship” through the spilling of blood. The stories almost always involve a death of some kind, if not of the hero/heroine then of something/someone else beloved. This book is no exception. Moreover, while European tales often involve the clever outwitting of evil by good, Russian tales straddle a far more gray line. Most often there is no good, whoever wins just wins and justice is not achieved even if some sort of balance is restored. While shades of gray can often make a tale more intriguing, in high fantasy it almost never works. It doesn’t here.
What really turned me off in this tale, though, was the agonizing pacing and its thoroughly modern heroine. The book meanders from one point to the next. This could be because it is based upon the extremely short tale of Morozko and the maiden given to him for his bride, and the longer length doesn’t suit it. But regardless of the reasons why, this thing dragged. Then comes problem two: Vasilisa, our heroine, seems to exist simply as a referendum against the male dominated culture of her time. I don’t like referenda in my novels. I read for entertainment and feel strongly that if you want to write a treatise, non-fiction is the way to go. While it is natural for folktales to include a lesson, a fantasy novel is a different kettle of fish. It can include a lesson but its primary purpose is to engross and delight, not educate. This book felt less like entertainment and more like a reminder that traditional womanhood is bad.
Lest I sound like some kind of antifeminist traditionalist who believes a woman’s place is in the kitchen, let me explain. There is a huge difference between creating an independent, intelligent, powerful female character that inspires readers to roar and writing a book that belittles much that women hold important even today while simultaneously depreciating the roles women of the past held. Many times I feel “feminist” characters empower women less than they idealize men. Their message seems to be that a strong women must be just like a man, and I’ll admit, I take a lot of issue with that.
While the prose in The Bear and the Nightingale is lyrical, that is only one of the elements of fiction. The others, such as the plot – which is painfully lacking in real action – and adventure, and the characters – who were quite stock – had nothing to recommend them. If you are someone who simply likes to read prettily written books or to whom bragging about reading “literary “novels is important, this might work for you. Otherwise, I’d give it a pass.
Grade: C-
Book Type: Fantasy
Sensuality: Subtle
Review Date: 13/01/17
Publication Date: 01/2017
Recent Comments …
Yep
This sounds delightful! I’m grabbing it, thanks
excellent book: interesting, funny dialogs, deep understanding of each character, interesting secondary characters, and also sexy.
I don’t think anyone expects you to post UK prices – it’s just a shame that such a great sale…
I’m sorry about that. We don’t have any way to post British prices as an American based site.
I have several of her books on my TBR and after reading this am moving them up the pile.
I've been an avid reader since 2nd grade and discovered romance when my cousin lent me Lord of La Pampa by Kay Thorpe in 7th grade. I currently read approximately 150 books a year, comprised of a mix of Young Adult, romance, mystery, women's fiction, and science fiction/fantasy.
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Hi.
Its really nice to find a critical review of this book which highlights some of its problems, as well as some modern trends in fiction generally.
I was a little more generous to the book in my own review, though I agreed with several of your points.
Btw, shameless plug, find my review
here: https://www.fantasybookreview.co.uk/Katherine-Arden/The-Bear-and-the-Nightingale.html
For fairy tale retellings, have you read Juiliette Marillier’s Daughter of the forest? A retelling of the seven wild swans myth with a truly awesome protagonist, one furthermore whose awesomeness directly relates to what at the time would’ve been considered “women’s work,” but who is probably one of the finest examples of pure heroism I could possibly imagine.
I also disagree with this review.
As I read, I never thought there was some sort of feminist agenda – it was just stating the realities of the time.
Vasya wasn’t “boyish”, she was described as “wild” – but still a woman. Just more in tune with the nature in and around her.
And I don’t think there is an anti-religion subliminal message being sent to us through the pages, but I suppose it might make some Christians feel someowhat uncomfortable?
I couldn’t finish the book because it was too long but this is a really honest review. Some people would disagree with me on this.
Thanks! These were my real feelings, even if they weren’t how everyone else felt about it.
I haven’t read this yet, but I often like mythic fantasy and fairy tale retellings, so I will eventually check this out.
I would like to thank Maggie for making the controversial observation below:
There is a huge difference between creating an independent, intelligent, powerful female character that inspires readers to roar and writing a book that belittles much that women hold important even today while simultaneously depreciating the roles women of the past held. Many times I feel “feminist” characters empower women less than they idealize men. Their message seems to be that a strong women must be just like a man, and I’ll admit, I take a lot of issue with that.
I agree with this, and maybe because I’m in my fifties and life experience contributes to my perception. I’ve encountered this issue in a lot of recent releases (and not just fantasy and romance). It’s frustrating and does indeed bother me. I don’t see this issue being called out enough.
I read reviews after I finish a book to see what other people thought of it, and I felt completely the opposite of this review! I thought it was a magical little book, very enjoyable. Yes, the priest Konstantin wasn’t fleshed out very well – although it started off like he might be – but he ended up being more of the stereotypical plot devise of a religious figure who couldn’t cope with his own desires and thus tried to do away with the cause of his desire. But overall I really liked this and am going to start the sequel tonight to see where that goes. I liked Uprooted as well, which the reviewer mentions here, but liked The Bear and the Nightingale more – it reminded me of how I felt reading fairy tales when I was younger.
I think this comes down to personal taste. I absolutely loved Uprooted. This book didn’t work for me. That happens. Novik’s newest – Spinning Silver – is my latest obsession. I hope you enjoy the sequel to Bear and Nightingale as much as I have loved the followup to Uprooted.
So, don’t read this book after being obsessed with Uprooted and basically inhaling Spinning Silver? I’m looking for something of the same caliber and it’s been difficult to find.
That would depend on what you enjoyed about Uprooted and Spinning Silver :-) For me, the magic of those tales lay in their ability to conjure a near Brother’s Grim feel to the stories. I felt like I was reading what “really” happened, not just the condensed versions for kids but what Beauty and the Beast and Rumpelstiltskin would have actually been like. Other books that I felt did this well were Mercedes Lackey’s Five Hundred Kingdom books and her first four or five Elemental Masters novels. Orson Scott Card’s Enchantment did a good job with that too. Beastly, Cloaked and A Kiss in Time by Alex Flinn are also excellent. Impossible by Nancy Werlin. I also liked the Jessica Day George series which starts with Princess of the Midnight Ball.. Sarah Beth Durst does an interesting retelling of East of the Sun, West of the Moon with her book Ice. Althea Kontis Woodcutter series books are good.
Hope that list is of some help.
I can’t believe I forgot to include A Thousand Nights by EK Johnston. It’s a retelling of the story of Scheherazade and it is BRILLIANT.
How funny this review is! I suppose the author thinks Vasya is unlikable because she’s independent, strong willed and brave, and the book is anti-religion because it criticises those who use religion to frighten people into blind obedience. Obviously they have a very simple view of the world.
I just finished your book and I have to say I completely feel the exact opposite of you, maybe because I didn’t go in hoping it’d be like another book. I enjoyed the fact it wasn’t a typical fantasy, there are plenty of those. I found Vasya a unique and interesting heroine. She might not have has over the top powers but I found the fact that she was armed with nothing but courage and care even more thrilling, she isn’t going to cast a spell to save the day, you really don’t know how she will accomplish anything, it makes it more interesting and more inspiring because she isn’t that different from a normal person. I also found the lessons subtle and not forced at all. Vasya was “boy like” but I don’t think that was idealized, look at her sisters. I think the book just pointed out that despite that fact many characters scrutinized her manners they would have been in awe of them if she were a man, due of course to the fact it takes place in old Russia. Also to the “anti religion” portion it takes place in a time where people were being forced out of their religion into Christianity, its not anti religion so much as pro freedom. The entire book is about freedom from fear and is really inspiring in my opinion. Freedom to be a traditional woman or not freedom to worship or not but choose without fear.
Well said, Elma.
I can appreciate Maggie’s opinion, but must respectfully disagree. This book and its sequel have been my very favorite of the year. Probably for all the reasons that this reviewer found it objectionable.
I truly appreciated a narrative that shed light on an old-world religion unknown to most American readers. It wasn’t anti-religion at all. Just not specifically pro-Christian. Vasya, herself, seems to have no beef with Christianity. It’s just a few characters acting out of fear and using religious objections as an excuse to try to change someone they didn’t understand that may have cast a shadow on the Christian viewpoint in the story. It felt true to the period.
As for Vasya’s boyishness… *is* she boyish? Do girls not get to be feminine and also play outdoors and have adventures? Vasya’s refusal to be anything other than herself was at the time of the story’s setting unheard of, but even now there is a general misunderstanding that women who do not embrace domestic life and want to raise families themselves must, therefore, not appreciate those qualities in other women. This simply was not a path for which Vasya was suited.
The story resonated with me in a way that few other stories have.
I had read some mixed reviews for this one, and the negatives Maggie mentioned gave me pause because I am often frustrated by those very qualities in many YA fantasy heroines. I’m happy to report that now after finally reading this my impressions are more aligned with Hannah’s. I’m almost done with the second book, which I like even more (it expands so much more on the themes and setting) and can’t wait to read the third.
Don’t know what you expected–I greatly enjoyed this as a read–the descriptions, the cherti, theme and place, the magic, the beliefs of the times…..i have read it twice and enjoyed it in different ways–wondered about the mysteries in the world.
Thanks you for this review. I was on the fence about this but your well articulated review hit many of the points on my “No List”.
Brilliant and honest review! I started this and thought, while the prose is pretty, the plot seems lacking. Think I won’t my time on this.