Hi friends, happy Wednesday, I hope you’re having a good week so far! Today I’m posting my review of The Girl in the Tower, the second novel in the Winternight trilogy by: Katherine Arden.

You can read my review of book one: The Bear and the Nightingale

The Girl in the Tower by: Katherine Arden: After her short-lived victory, Vasya is accused of being a witch. Her only options are to either get married or join a convent. Wanting neither of those things, she chooses to dress as a boy and take off on her stallion. After an encounter with a group of bandits, the Grand Prince of Moscow praises her for her bravery. Now, tangled in her web of deceit, she can’t reveal she’s a girl for fear of the awful consequences that would not only befall her, but her family as well. This trilogy keeps getting better and better. It didn’t exactly start off that way; this second novel started off slow, giving set up for what’s to come. The reader was worried the whole book was going to fall under second book syndrome where it was just lead up to the final book, but it really turned around in the second half. This exceeded any expectations the reader had because the first book was so well done, they didn’t think it could get any better, but it did; this one was even better. The plots in this were exceptional; they had the reader on their toes, never quite knowing what was going to happen next. The Russian folklore again was enriched really well into the story and Arden’s writing was superb; the reader really felt immersed in the world.  Not only were the plots really good and kept the reader invested in the story, but it was the characters who really shined and brought this novel to life. The developments we got from already established characters was excellent; it was so good to see them again and to learn more about them; in the first novel they felt more like snapshots of people, this one we really got to know them better. Just when the reader thought we couldn’t get any eviller with the characters, this novel introduced us to an even more wicked character, who really turned this story on its head and left the reader feeling all riled up. We also had new characters come into play and some of them really brought out different sides to our main character, while also having us fall in love with them. Our main character was even more fierce in this, if that’s even possible, but she was. The things she had to go through this novel really put her through the wringer, and yet she never gave up on the things she believed in or the people she cared about the most; she has so many layers to her that she’s truly one of the best character’s this reader has ever read. The reader has no idea what’s in store for the final novel in this trilogy, all they know is they are not prepared, nor are they ready to say goodbye to this world. As for this novel, this was so well thought out and executed, with brilliant characters and amazing writing.