In the Far East, in medieval times, life went on in the rhythm determined by Mother Nature. The fact that Russia was - is still an extraordinary land, not only because of the flora and fauna, but also folklore and legends, convinces Katherine Arden in her Winter Trilogy.
The story Arden, an expert in Russian and French literature, spins, is really magnetizing. The writer can give a very convincing way to a special aura - beautiful, lyrical, but also somewhat weird, saturated with fantastic elements - thanks to which during reading we can say: "Yes, medieval Russia had to look exactly as it is described in the novels!". And what exactly will we find in them?
In "The Bear and the Nightingale” the first part of the trilogy, the author invites us to the family table of Peter Vladimirovich and his wife Marina, who will give her last breath almost simultaneously with the scream of her newborn daughter Vasislis. In this way, Arden makes us realize that death is a natural part of life. The appearance of a girl is connected with the sphere of magic, ancient beliefs - ghosts that in astonishing way manifest in medieval reality, sometimes as a snow blizzard, sometimes in the form of an aged wanderer who is looking for a fatal lover...
Peter had three more children - Alosz, Sasha and Olga. Each of them different, each in its own way unique. One will write religious enlightenment, the second will be taking care of the home bonfire, discovering family secrets. Arden has prepared difficult, painful events for her characters, but this is their fate - marked by blood and tears. Also tears of happiness. Their path is far and exciting, leading through wild forests and wilderness. However, the goal of the journey for each hero is different. The author has managed to outline a multi-threaded action that involves attention.
There are secrets on the pages of ”The Bear and the Nightingale". One of them is the origin of a sibling grandmother, an extraordinary person who does not know how, from somewhere in the past, she found herself at the Moscow court. Particular genes of the nestor family were transferred to Vasya who had the gift of seeing ghosts - watermen, waterlilies, lesoviks. Arden made magical creatures from Slavic folklore gain a second life. They function as patrons of various areas of life, but also as a symbol of old Russia. Beliefs that lose their meaning and are supplanted by Christianity.
The American author intuitively delineates the boundaries between what was, is, and what will be. The symbolic figure in this context is Anna, the second wife of Peter, God-fearing, devout, trying to eradicate the folk rituals in the boyar's household and his children. This contrasts with Vasya sensitivity, she is fascination with old beliefs has taken over after Duni, the old nanny. The greatest strength of the novel are the stories conveyed by the heroes. In the light of the moon and stars, at the home fireplace - in unusually favorable circumstances, to listen to the passages and legends.
Katherine Arden exhibits a unique talent for plotting stories in which the melancholy difficult to define clearly is perceptible, but also perversity, folk wisdom known even from the Pushkin fairy tales, which is referred to in the introduction of each volume of the trilogy. In "The Bear and the Nightingale", as well as in "The Girl from the Tower", there are also references to the story about Grandfather Morozko or the fairy tale known as "Twelve months". There is fascinating beauty in them, but also dark moods from the most ominous passages written by the Brothers Grimm.
Communing with Arden's prose is communing with heroes who gradually mature into various roles and attitudes. A wise, though doubtful monk, mystical, charismatic but crude warrior, good-natured mother, future ruler of the people.... In "The Girl from the Tower", the second part of the trilogy, we have a greater opportunity to see cultural, social, and political changes in the Grand Duchy of Moscow, over which the prince rules, is overwhelmingly influenced by representatives of the church, and on the horizon there is still the danger of Tatar troops.
The threat, quite real, is also associated with bandit robberies in the villages, which is the abduction of girls. People can be real beasts, although in "The Girl from the Tower" we will see that the gods patronizing death really exist. And they could be opposed by Vasya, who was recognized as a deceased and a witch in her home village. Exiled, cursed, meanwhile it may turn out to be a saint. Is she saint for everyone? And what does this sanctity contain?
Katherine Arden presents the images of medieval Russia in a meticulous way. Great, beautiful, dangerous. Paintings that resemble a mosaic are intertwined with truth and fiction, historical applications, but also legends and dark parables. The charm of history lies in the mystery that we discover together with the maturing heroes. People seeking their own destiny, but also universal truths, and yet in them, among other things, there is the unflagging power of fairy tales.