The Girl in the Tower

I'm not normally a fantasy reader, but I love this book. The first book in the series, The Bear and the Nightingale, moved at a very slow pace for me, and I struggled through the first half of that book. I ended up liking it, but it was not a fully enjoyable read. This sequel, however, is an enjoyment from start to finish.

In this second book of the Winternight series, the heroine Vasya has left home to find adventure and see more of the world. Along the way, she helps to save young girls from bandits and gets rewarded by the Grand Prince of Moscow. There's just one catch; no one but her siblings knows she is a girl. She must pretend to be a boy or else get locked away in a tower with the other women. In the meantime, a new evil threatens the kingdom, and only Vasya knows how to stop it.

I love the development of Vasya in this book. She gets to be herself, though ironically she must pretend to be a man to do so. The reader can see her wild spirit growing. She is a captivating character. Her relationship with the Frost demon Morozko develops into something much more intense in this second book. He is depicted in a much more human way in this part of their tale. I enjoyed the scenes involving the two of them.

The setting of the books in this series is magical. The winter landscape is depicted so thoroughly that I almost found myself feeling cold while reading. It is a perfect book to read in the winter.

Overall, I enjoyed this second book better than the first, but I would recommend both of them. If you like magic and folklore in your reading, this book will not disappoint.