The Winter of the Witch by Katherine Arden
The Winternight Trilogy by Katherine Arden are fantasy novels I genuinely enjoyed. I seldom read this genre and I’m grateful to have ventured on a journey with this trilogy that concluded with pure satisfaction and love for the characters. The Winter of the Witch is the final book of the trilogy, and it wasn’t until I read the author’s notes at the very end I learned of the historical fiction content; so interesting and unexpected!
The trilogy takes place in Russia with the main character, Vasilisa Petrovna, at the center of this story with her beloved horse, Solovey. Vasilisa is a young girl who transforms into the most amazing young woman. She is independent, dedicated to her family, and gifted with magic. As a child she dreamed to travel, and when she finally does, she meets many friends and enemies on her journeys. These stories contain a great deal of fantasy and magic with the flare of a fairytale.
In what I perceive as a liberty of imagination, Arden opened a world of unique characters and languages. Talking horses and mushrooms! Maybe the language of the Tatar is real, it doesn’t really matter to me, as it’s an example of the creative environment Arden developed. I became so lost in a fairytale I no longer cared what could potentially be real and what was derived from pure imagination. I appreciate that Arden included a dictionary in the back of the book to explain a lot of the words used throughout the book. A very thoughtful addition for any younger readers.
The Winter of the Witch closes the trilogy with a lot of suspense, action, and surprise. Not to mention both grief and love. This was a unique experience for me and I’m glad I ventured on this journey.
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