In the sequel to The Bear and the Nightingale, Vasya, Vasilisa Petrovna, riding Solovey becomes a traveler as she has always wished. Morozko, the Winter King, allows Vasya to go free even after he warned her that being a traveler is less romantic and harder than she believes it to be. Vasya doesn't care about the trouble. She wants to be free to go where she will and see the world, be a part of the world not bounded by the chyerti, the beings that have populated her world, nor does she wish to be burned as a witch as the priests would have her be because she is able to see what they cannot--or will not. Vasya wishes to be free of the constraints of her narrow existence and truly free to be who and what she will be.
Vasya finds herself in the midst of burned villages and kidnapped girls and rides to their rescue, invading the bandits' camp at night to rescue 3 young maidens and return them to their mothers. While Solovey leads the bandits astray, Vasya, dressed as a boy, steals in and rescues the girls, riding for their village. She ends up in the monastery where her brother, Aleksander, and many of the dispossessed villagers have taken shelter, hands over the girls to the monks, and convinces Aleksander to keep her secret from the Grand Prince of Moscow. Fighting by the Grand Prince's side, they hunt the bandits and fight alongside the people to protect their villages.
A boyar from the north wanting to avenge his own people and their villages burned by the bandits lured the Grand Prince Dmitri to the north where Aleksandr is forced to continue keeping Vasya's secret. When the Dmitri's forces return to Moscow and to Olga even Olga must keep Vasya's secret in order to keep the deception going. The priest who was determined to burn Vasya as a witch is also in Moscow. As soon as he discover's the witch is in Moscow, he will continue his desire to see her burned as a witch and he will tell everyone that Vasya consorts with demons.
Morosko, who is bonded to Vasya will continue to live on as long as she wears the jewel he fashioned from ice; he will remain immortal as long as she is his. Vasya will soon discover that she is restricted by more than social custom and that the jewel she wears is as constricting as being a girl in the society of Rus'. Into this maelstrom of deception as the world she knows is strengthened by her blood fed to the chyerti, it is Vasya's wild nature and desire for freedom that will prove the downfall of the Tatars, the bandits, Morosko, and the old ways that will save Vasya and her niece, who also shares her gift of seeing, and keep Moscow from burning to the ground in the end.
Adding details and texture to the history of Rus' and the lives of rich and poor alike, Katherine Arden shares a glimpse of what the medieval world was that provides the bedrock upon which those of eastern Europe during the time of Genghis Khan's empire and the lands where the Russians lived, bred, and died to conquer. Arden's use of fairy and folk tales from the frozen fields of Siberia and the north increase knowledge and render the world of eastern Europe and Asia in bright and fully realized dimensions that echo down through time and now in readers' hands and minds. Bravo! The history and mystery of a world most westerners never see unfolds with beauty and grandeur and comes to life in a unforgettable manner that readers will remember and be therefore enriched. 5/5 stars and the bonus of brilliance and remarkable artistry that will hold up through years of readings. Consider Katherine Arden for a permanent place among the stories you read to your children. We need more writers willing to enlighten us all with stories from the northern steppes.
