Winter of the Witch

[psocoptera]

The Winter of the Witch, Katherine Arden, 2019, last part of the trilogy that began with The Bear and the Nightingale and then The Girl in the Tower (links to my posts). Much more like the first one than the second one - I read it in a single day, non-stop forward momentum, we are more like back to many of the arcs and conflicts of the first one although very much informed by what was developed in the second one, which I think in retrospect just had some middle-book problems. I mean, I look back at it more generously now that I see more of the work it was doing. Arden is back to being my fave for the Campbell unless Chakraborty or Kuang really wows me, I guess. Anyways, I recommend the trilogy if you like fast-paced fairy-tale-element fantasy. Content notes for major animal harm and also probably rape threats although honestly this one felt much less rapey than either of the previous two, most of the threats in this one were more like straight-up murder threats, which I find less unpleasant to read.

Some vague spoilers: The special-girl problem (Vasya and Marya get to escape the patriarchy because they have the magic sight but everyone else is just stuck in it because they don't) is still a thing here, but Varvara's backstory was interesting and I think shows that Arden is definitely thinking about this stuff. (Without being too specific, Varvara is born outside the patriarchy but doesn't have the magic sight and ends up choosing a servant role in order to live among people, but with more freedom than noblewomen.) I would have liked more Olga... I would have liked a post-book conversation between Olga and Varvara, honestly, but I guess that's more of a fic thing than a book thing. Maybe I'll write it sometime. ::grin::