A Magical and Enchanting Adventure in Old World Russia

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The perfect follow-up to the lovely fairytale of The Bear and the Nightingale. The Girl in the Tower possesses all the same wonder and magic from the very opening of the prologue.

Where Vasya seemed so young and innocent and utterly wild in The Bear and the Nightingale, here—appropriately and refreshingly so—Vasya has refocused her vision of the world, or begins to do so, and puts on her big girl spectacles to see everything with experienced and sophisticated eyes. Vasya is the perfect heroine to guide us through this inspiring world connecting Old World Russia and the magical realm Arden has fastened onto it.

Here again, there is such a beautiful and lasting quality to Arden’s writing. She strikes just the perfect note to balance all the magic, beauty, timelessness, wonder, and mystery within her books. Her characters are simply vibrating with life, and Arden is clearly skilled enough to handle all the heft she injects into her story.

The Bear and the Nightingale was a cozy, mystical introduction to this world and its wondrous characters and places. There was an untamed innocence to it that drew you in. The Girl in the Tower has all that I loved from its predecessor, plus more action, suspense, adventure, and momentum. The steady hum that built throughout The Bear and the Nightingale becomes a pounding drumbeat, all leading us to what I can only imagine to be an emotional and magical finale in the next of the trilogy.