Fantasy Annotation

The Winter of the Witch
by Katherine Arden

Winternight Trilogy #3
Genre: Fantasy
Publication: Del Rey (2019)
ISBN: 9781101885994
372 Pages

Summary:
Warning for unintentional spoilers.

Vasilissa Petrovna is gifted with the mysterious ability to see and communicate with the household gods. Yet, when the people of Rus turn away from their pagan beliefs towards Christianity, these gods' powers wane. As Vasya grows and is given the choice of marriage or a convent, she chooses neither; instead she goes on a journey to save these gods as well as the people of Rus from various threats to their livelihood.

“I have plucked snowdrops at Midwinter, died at my own choosing, and wept for a nightingale. Now I am beyond prophecy.” 

The Winter of the Witch immediately picks up from the second book, The Girl in the Tower; Moscow is still in flames from a previous invasion and in that chaos Vasya is to be burned at the stake. Escaping death comes at the price of the release of an earlier villain and it is up to Vasya to dismantle the ideas of Good and Evil to ultimately save Rus from a Tatar invasion.

This is the conclusion to the Winternight Trilogy and it's a worthy one. For only having ~360 pages of actual storytelling, it feels like 2 books in one--or at least one full novel with an attached novella. There is at least two fully formed plots and it was terrifying to reach one conclusion at about 60% in the book. I never wanted it to end.

Language:
The strengths of this series is very much Arden's language. She is perfectly descriptive without being wordy. Arden's true talent is in creating an immersive atmosphere. She takes a lot from Russian fairy tales and folklore and we can feel that winter chill and vast emptiness of the Russian fields.

Interspersed are bits of Russian vocabulary--Upyr for Slavic vampires for example--with a glossary at the end of the book. Notes on Russian nicknames are also included. I both read the physical book and listened to the audiobook. The Russian names and words can be difficult to comprehend (Polunochnitsa is one character's name for example); listening to the audiobook is recommended for those types of patrons.

Setting & Themes:
As a whole, Adren's Winternight Trilogy is set in 14th century Russia with the primary focus entailing the conflict between belief in the pagan, household gods and emerging Christianity. The Golden Horde's control of Russia is also present. We begin the trilogy with Vasya's birth and end around the Battle of Kulikovo in 1380.

The agency of women is called into question quite frequently; Vasya pretends to be a boy in an earlier book to the detriment of her family that follows into this conclusion. Russian aristocracy, marriage, and romance are all key components as well. The romance that was only slightly hinted at in the first book reaches a satisfying conclusion, to my happiness.

Characteristics of Fantasy:

• Set in medieval Russia, there is a strong presence of pagan and household gods, most notably the domovoi and the character Morozko, also known as Father Frost.
• Vasya has her own version of magic and mystical themes are present.
• The Good vs. Evil aspect is subverted, however. The conclusion is no one is good or evil and both are needed. Characters we have seen as evil are still 'evil,' but we learn to understand and accept their presence:
  “There are no monsters in the world, and no saints. Only infinite shades woven into the same tapestry, light and dark. One man’s monster is another man’s beloved. The wise know that.”
• The setting is darker, but not exactly Grim as expected from a medieval setting. As expected, there is optimistic hope throughout.
• Russian vocabulary is present, but it lends itself more towards the setting as opposed to the fantasy genre.

Read Alikes:
Uprooted by Naomi Novik
Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik
The Sisters of the Winter Wood by Rena Rossner
The Girl with Ghost Eyes by M.H. Boroson
The City of Brass by S.A. Chakraborty