At the edge of the Russian wilderness, winter lasts most of the year and the snowdrifts grow taller than houses. But Vasilisa doesn’t mind—she spends the winter nights huddled around the embers of a fire with her beloved siblings, listening to her nurse’s fairy tales. Above all, she loves the chilling story of Frost, the blue-eyed winter demon, who appears in the frigid night to claim unwary souls. Wise Russians fear him, her nurse says, and honor the spirits of house and yard and forest that protect their homes from evil in Bear and the Nightingale.

After Vasilisa’s mother dies, her father goes to Moscow and brings home a new wife. Fiercely devout, city-bred, Vasilisa’s new stepmother forbids her family from honoring the household spirits. The family acquiesces, but Vasilisa is frightened, sensing that more hinges upon their rituals than anyone knows.

And indeed, crops begin to fail, evil creatures of the forest creep nearer, and misfortune stalks the village. All the while, Vasilisa’s stepmother grows ever harsher in her determination to groom her rebellious stepdaughter for either marriage or confinement in a convent.

As danger circles, Vasilisa must defy even the people she loves and call on dangerous gifts she has long concealed—this, in order to protect her family from a threat that seems to have stepped from her nurse’s most frightening tales.

The Bear and the Nightingale had a lot of potential when I started it, but it really fell flat for me.

It’s recommended for lovers of Naomi Novik’s Uprooted, which you might remember that I loved last year, and I can see why. It had a lot of similar elements, with a village girl helping to save the village to save her own family.

This had a lot of potential to be a five star read for me. I loved the idea of the house spirits, and the misguided priest. However, I felt like I was watching this story fly by from the sidelines, only half-interested in what was going on throughout the book. I also saw the plot twists coming way before Vasya did.

For that reason, I have to give it three stars. This may be someone else’s cup of tea, but it wasn’t mine.You can pick up a copy through Amazon, Indiebound or your other favorite bookseller!

Disclaimer: All links to Indiebound and Amazon are affiliate links, which means that if you buy through those links, I will make a small amount of money off of it.