Introduction

A remarkable young woman blazes her own trail, from the backwoods of Russia to the court of Moscow, in the exhilarating sequel to Katherine Arden’s bestselling debut novel, The Bear and the Nightingale.

Katherine Arden’s enchanting first novel introduced readers to an irresistible heroine. Vasilisa has grown up at the edge of a Russian wilderness, where snowdrifts reach the eaves of her family’s wooden house and there is truth in the fairy tales told around the fire. Vasilisa’s gift for seeing what others do not won her the attention of Morozko—Frost, the winter demon from the stories—and together they saved her people from destruction. But Frost’s aid comes at a cost, and her people have condemned her as a witch.

Now Vasilisa faces an impossible choice. Driven from her home by frightened villagers, the only options left for her are marriage or the convent. She cannot bring herself to accept either fate and instead chooses adventure, dressing herself as a boy and setting off astride her magnificent stallion Solovey.

But after Vasilisa prevails in a skirmish with bandits, everything changes. The Grand Prince of Moscow anoints her a hero for her exploits, and she is reunited with her beloved sister and brother, who are now part of the Grand Prince’s inner circle. She dares not reveal to the court that she is a girl, for if her deception were discovered it would have terrible consequences for herself and her family. Before she can untangle herself from Moscow’s intrigues—and as Frost provides counsel that may or may not be trustworthy—she will also confront an even graver threat lying in wait for all of Moscow itself.

Praise for The Girl in the Tower

“[A] magical story set in an alluring Russia.”—Paste

“Arden’s lush, lyrical writing cultivates an intoxicating, visceral atmosphere, and her marvelous sense of pacing carries the novel along at a propulsive clip. A masterfully told story of folklore, history, and magic with a spellbinding heroine at the heart of it all.”—Booklist (starred review)

“[A] sensual, beautifully written, and emotionally stirring fantasy . . . Fairy tales don’t get better than this.”—Publishers Weekly (starred review)

“[Katherine] Arden once again delivers an engaging fantasy that mixes Russian folklore and history with delightful worldbuilding and lively characters.”—Library Journal

Editorial Review

An Amazon Best Book of December 2017: We chose Arden’s The Bear and the Nightingale as a Best Book of the Month earlier in 2017, and Arden now continues her glorious medieval Russian fantasy series right where the first book left off. Vasya, a potential witch, has been exiled from her village on the edge of the wild woods, the death of her father weighing on her soul. Her desire to escape the destiny of her gender—to be a wife or to live in a cloister—and to experience the wide world puts her in boy's trousers and on the back of a magical horse, but Vasya's tendency to act first and think later tangles her up in bandit clans, a budding war between wizards, and the vast ambitions of the young ruler of Moscow. Even as she rejects the constricting rules of society and her own family, Vasya’s troubles are magnified as her actions spawn repercussions that will upend not only the human balance of power but the supernatural equilibrium, too. Arden’s writing is as feverishly beautiful and poetic here as it was in her first novel, and it's a thrill watching a perfect bud of a fantasy tale blossom into a powerful epic. --Adrian Liang, Amazon Book Review

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