Vassa in the Night
Ratings7
Average rating3.4
“A dark, thoroughly modern fairy tale crackling with wit and magical mayhem.” —Leigh Bardugo, New York Times bestselling author of Shadow and Bone “An enchantingly twisted modern fairy tale, perfect for those who prefer Grimm to Disney. Inventive, darkly magical, and beautifully written, it will stay with me for a long time.” — Kendare Blake, New York Times bestselling author of Three Dark Crowns STEP INTO THE ENCHANTED KINGDOM OF BROOKLYN, WHERE MAGIC—AND DANGER—LURKS AROUND EVERY CORNER Sarah Porter's Vassa in the Night is a powerful and haunting tale for teen fans of urban fantasy, fairy tales, magic, and horror. When Vassa’s stepsister sends her out to buy lightbulbs in the middle of the night, she knows it could easily become a suicide mission. Babs Yagg, the owner of the local convenience store, has a policy of beheading shoplifters—and sometimes innocent shoppers as well. But Vassa has a bit of luck hidden in her pocket, a gift from her dead mother. Erg is a tough-talking wooden doll with sticky fingers, a bottomless stomach, and ferocious cunning. With Erg’s help, Vassa just might be able to break the witch’s curse and free her Brooklyn neighborhood. But Babs won’t be playing fair.... · YALSA Best Fiction for Young Adults Selection · Booklist Best Fiction for Young Adults Selection · Booklist Youth Top 10 SF/Fantasy Selection · Kirkus Reviews Best Books of the Year Selection · Kansas Reading Circle Selection
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If you thought “Alice in Wonderland” was a psychedelic trip, wait till you see what “Vassa in The Night” has in store.
You can read my full review on my blog: https://vicsense.wordpress.com/2018/01/13/vassa-in-the-night/
Vassa In The Night is a retelling of the Russian fairy tale Vasilisa The Beautiful. The main characters are pulled out straight from the original fairy tale but, the world behind the story couldn't be any different.
This book is so weird. Not a little bit weird, but like, genuinely and truly weird.
Weird can be good, but it can be terribly bad and hard to digest too. For me, Vassa In The Night sits right on the edge of those two outcomes. It's basically yet another Wonderland-esque world where really strange and nonsensical things keep happening to the heroine. My problem with it is that there were so many dense nonsense/dreamlike sequences that, if I had to interrupt my reading of it, whenever I started reading again, I was completely and utterly confused as to what was happening. If you read it in one continuous swoop, the nonsense makes sense; but stopping to breathe between chapters is not recommended.
Vassa in the Night is a modern retelling of an old Russian folk tale, and it is an enjoyable blend of magic and the real world. The plot was engaging and managed to involve a good number of unique characters despite taking place almost entirely in one small location. There were a few aspects of the story that seemed insufficiently developed, but not having read the original folk tale perhaps I was missing some references. Overall a good read for fans of modern fairy tales.
