![]() ![]() ![]() We also find that many of the names in The Bear and the Nightingale will be a heavy mouthful or even unpronounceable. We quickly meet our central characters, a noble family headed by the force that is Pyotr Vladimirovich. We are immediately transported into this cold, snowy landscape that we know will be full of magic and mystery, and Arden has set a strong tone that some authors never find. From a writing standpoint, this is a deft way to open a fairy tale novel because it invokes that special feeling that only fairy tales can impart. The Bear and the Nightingale opens in a medieval Russian household, where an old woman is telling fairy tales to the young children gathered around a hearth – an oven that serves as food-production, warmth, and a heated bed for the entire family. I’d have given it a perfect rating, but I love bears so much that I cannot abide seeing one as a villain. My complaint is a good problem to have in a fantasy tale that is nearly flawless. The biggest issue I had with The Bear and the Nightingale is that the titular Bear is not identified until halfway through, and the Nightingale does not make an appearance until the final fourth of the book! Does that make this a poorly titled novel? No. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |