" “All my life,” she said, “I have been told ‘go’ and ‘come.’ I am told how I will live, and I am told how I must die. I must be a man’s servant and a mare for his pleasure, or I must hide myself behind walls and surrender my flesh to a cold, silent god. I would walk into the jaws of hell itself, if it were a path of my own choosing. I would rather die tomorrow in the forest than live a hundred years of the life appointed me.”

— 4.85 ★

Whimsical, enchanting, magical. I don’t know how else to describe this masterpiece, I absolutely loved every page of this book with my whole heart. The beautiful writing and delightful atmosphere made me fall in love with the story, full of Russian folklore. I mean, I’m a sucker for myths and fairy tales, but god, this book made an amazing work retelling them. Really recommend it.

I will definitely be picking the sequel next month, when cold finally settles in and I can read it with my blanket and my hot cup of coffee on a windy evening.

“In Russian, Frost was called Morozko, the demon of winter. But long ago, the people called him Karachun, the death-god. Under that name, he was king of black midwinter who came for bad children and froze them in the night.” "

― Katherine Arden , The Bear and the Nightingale (The Winternight Trilogy, #1)