The Bear and The Nightingale

(Winternight Trilogy)

De: Katherine Arden

Narrado por: Kathleen Gati

Random House presents the unabridged, downloadable audiobook edition of The Bear and the Nightingale by Katherine Arden, read by Kathleen Gati.
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Beware the evil in the woods...

In a village at the edge of the wilderness of northern Russia, where the winds blow cold and the snow falls many months of the year, an elderly servant tells stories of sorcery, folklore and the Winter King to the children of the family, tales of old magic frowned upon by the church.

But for the young, wild Vasya these are far more than just stories. She alone can see the house spirits that guard her home, and sense the growing forces of dark magic in the woods. . .

Atmospheric and enchanting, with an engrossing adventure at its core, The Bear and the Nightingale is perfect for readers of Naomi Novik's Uprooted, Erin Morgenstern's The Night Circus, and Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials.
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Now with over 100 5* reviews, readers are spellbound by this magical story:

'This book stayed with me, I didn't want it to end'

'A beautifully written story'

'An entrancing story, which swept me up from the very first chapter'

'Full of magic'
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Make sure you've read all the books in the acclaimed Winternight Trilogy

1. The Bear and the Nightingale
2. The Girl in the Tower
3. The Winter of the Witch

Reseñas de la Crítica

beautiful literary fairytale...incredibly lyrical prose...a joy to read. Arden opens her imagination wide and succeeds in transporting the reader to an evocative world...with a heroine it's impossible not to love...

[A]n enchanting wintertime read... fierce and otherworldly[.]

Wonderfully inventive

Arden’s debut novel has the cadence of a beautiful fairy tale but is darker and more lyrical. The novel is deceptively simple, but its characters and plot are sophisticated and complex. Arden explores what happens when fear and ignorance whip people into a furore, and how society can be persuaded to act against its own interests so easily. It’s a rather apt tale for our times.

An extraordinary retelling of a very old tale. A Russian setting adds a unfamiliar spice to the story of a young woman who does not rebel against the limits of her role in her culture so much as transcend them. A wonderfully layered novel of family roles and the harsh wonders of deep winter magic. (Robin Hobb)

A beautiful deep-winter story, full of magic and monsters and the sharp edges of growing up.

Haunting and lyrical, The Bear and the Nightingale tugs at the heart and quickens the pulse. I can’t wait for her next book. (Terry Brooks)

A thrilling tale...perfect...

A beautiful snowy Russian fable set at the border between myth and reality; a cast of demons, priests and royalty centre around a girl fighting to find her own path. Magical, thrilling and entrancing.

...so detailed and vivid you can practically feel the chill numbing your fingers. Beautifully written and richly textured, it’s a beguiling read.

A fantastical tale

This, I think, is my first full review despite having listened to and loved a number of stories here in audible. I am doing this mostly because that publisher's summary above is not quite right and it annoyed me a bit.

Vasya was already a wild, willful young girl when the blue-eyed stranger gave her father the necklace. Pyotr did not hide it from her - he gave it to Dunya, their housekeeper and the children's carer, for her to give to Vasya. Both Dunya and Pyotr knew that it was no ordinary trinket, and that the stranger was no ordinary man, and were afraid. It was Dunya who kept the necklace from Vasya, sorrowfully giving it to her when the time was right.

It's not a big deal and does not affect the main story at all, but I just wanted to correct that for some reason.

That being said and out of the way, The Bear and the Nightingale is a wonderful tale. It feels (to me at least) like a newly-discovered Russian folk tale, with bits of various old Russian and Slavic mythologies masterfully weaved through. It starts off slow however, and even a little boring. It took me more than three attempts before I managed to get past the first couple of chapters.

It starts from the very beginning - before Vasya was born - as typical fairy stories do. This gave me an opportunity to get know the characters. I grew to like them and understood why they made their decisions later on in the story. Vasya is a strong female lead, and I rooted for her until the very end. I especially loved the interactions with the traditional fairy-tale creatures.

This story touches on the uneasy mix of the old gods and new - of tradition and religion, paganism and Christianity. It reminded me that some of today's Christian religions' beliefs actually have pagan roots. Also, with Vasya being such a headstrong female character, this story has bits of gender role challenges inevitably thrown in.

The narration is soft, slow and melodic. This is the main reason it took me a long time to finish this audiobook. I felt like she was reading to get me to sleep. I learned to tolerate this and even liked her Russian accents. But towards the end, when things are getting exciting, her pace remained slow and her voice lulling. I would have liked to hear a bit of passion.

Overall, I felt like the story is genuine, despite all the fantastical elements in it. Like it could really have happened, once upon a time. If you like Naomi Novik and Neil Gaiman, you might like this one too.

Edit:
The story could have ended here and I would have been happy. But it does not, so off I go to book 2.

Starke Frau

Inhalt:
Vasya ist das jüngste Kind Marinas und Pjotrs, die am Rande des Waldes leben. Marina weiß, dass ihre Tochter sie das Leben kosten wird, ihr ist es aber sehr wichtig, diese Tochter gesund auf die Welt zu bringen.

Vasya und ihre Brüder wachsen auf, betreut von Dunja, der alten Kinderfrau der Mutter.

Dunja erzählt den Kindern alle möglichen Märchen, und Vasya lernt, dass mehr an diesen Märchen dran ist, als gemeinhin geglaubt wird.

Vasya wächst ziemlich wild auf, aber als ihr Vater erneut heiratet, brechen schwere Zeiten für sie an. Ihre Stiefmutter ist nur wenig älter als Vasya, und wäre lieber in ein Kloster gegangen, als zu heiraten, wird aber ein Opfer der Politik des Machthabenden in Moskau.

Anna ist sehr gläubig und fanatisch. Als ein gleichermaßen fanatischer Priester ins Dorf geschickt wird um die Leute zum Christentum zu bekehren, gerät nicht nur Vasya in Gefahr.


Meine Meinung:
Das Buch wurde empfohlen für Fans von unter anderem Naomi Novik's Uprooted -- ein Buch, an dem sich die Geister scheiden, das ich aber geliebt habe.


Ich wurde nicht enttäuscht. Im Buch geht es nicht nur um den ewigen Krieg des neuen (Gott)Glaubens gegen die alten Naturgötter und Fabelwesen, sondern es geht auch um das Selbstbestimmungsrecht der Frauen, und die typische Reaktion der Männer, die Vasya als Hexe abstempeln und verdammen, und mit Gewalt versuchen, sie unter Kontrolle zu bekommen.


Vasya lässt sich aber nicht unterkriegen. Glücklicherweise hat sie die Unterstützung ihres jüngsten Bruders, und ihrer Halbschwester.


Der ewige Kampf zwischen Gut und Böse, zwischen Glaube und Aberglaube, zwischen Liebe und Hass, zwischen Gier und Großzügigkeit, zwischen Mann und Frau ist hier wunderbar beschrieben.

Außerdem geht es um den Überlebenskampf in den berühmt-brüchtigten russischen Wintern, und natürlich treffen wir auf eine Form von 'Väterchen Frost'. Überhaupt trifft man auf so ziemlich alle Märchen- und Sagengestalten der slawischen Kultur -- manche alt bekannt, andere (mir) neu.


Die Geschichte selbst ist sehr langsam aufgebaut, so dass man jeden Schritt genau verfolgt. Möglicherweise hätte man hier und da etwas raffen können, aber ich fand die fast 12 Stunden Hörbuch sehr unterhaltsam.

Die Sprecherin, Kathleen Gati, erzählt das Ganze mit einem russischen Akzent. Anfangs dachte ich, es wäre eventuell ihr Akzent, aber dem ist nicht so.

Warum sie sich dieses Akzents befleißigt hat, kann ich nur vermuten: möglicherweise dachte sie, es klinge authentischer.


Mich hat es anfangs sehr irritiert, und es machte es schwerer, alles zu verstehen, da viele Wörter merkwürdig ausgesprochen wurden.
Insgesamt ist es aber ein schönes Buch.

lovely

I really enjoyed this book. highly recommend it if you like faerie tales. it has a fresh yet old feeling to it.

A bit boring

She was a witch the whole time, but only did witchy things for like 10% or the whole story. An interesting story about Christian missionaries destroying the land with fear and control, but just overall kind of boring for what it was.

enthralling

Such an enjoyable book. the narrator takes you to another world where anything seems possible. magical