The Winter of the Witch: A Novel (...

Synopsis: NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER · Following their adventures in The Bear and the Nightingale and The Girl in the Tower, Vasya and Morozko return in this stunning conclusion to the bestselling Winternight Trilogy, battling enemies mortal and magical to save both Russias, the seen and the unseen. "A tale both intimate and epic, featuring a heroine whose harrowing and wondrous journey culminates in an emotionally resonant finale."--Publishers Weekly (starred review) NAMED ONE OF PASTES BEST FANTASY BOOKS OF THE DECADE Vasilisa Petrovna is an unforgettable heroine determined to forge her own path. Her gifts and her courage have drawn the attention of Morozko, the winter-king, but it is too soon to know if this connection will prove a blessing or a curse. Now Moscow has been struck by disaster. Its people are searching for answers--and for someone to blame. Vasya finds herself alone, beset on all sides. The Grand Prince is in a rage, choosing allies that will lead him on a path to war and ruin. A wicked demon returns, determined to spread chaos. Caught at the center of the conflict is Vasya, who finds the fate of two worlds resting on her shoulders. Her destiny uncertain, Vasya will uncover surprising truths about herself as she desperately tries to save Russia, Morozko, and the magical world she treasures. But she may not be able to save them all. Praise for The Winter of the Witch "Katherine Ardens Winternight Trilogy isnt just good--its hug-to-your-chest, straight-to-the-favorites-shelf, reread-immediately good, and each book just gets better. The Winter of the Witch plunges us back to fourteenth-century Moscow, where old gods and new vie for the soul of Russia and fate rests on a witch girls slender shoulders. Prepare to have your heart ripped out, loaned back to you full of snow and magic, and ripped out some more."--Laini Taylor "Luxuriously detailed yet briskly suspenseful . . . a striking literary fantasy informed by Ardens deep knowledge."--Kirkus Reviews (starred review) Review: An Amazon Best Book of January 2019: As the third book opens in Ardens fantasy trilogy set in medieval Russia, Moscow is burning. Vasya is one of the few who can still see and speak with the old spirits who guard the hearth, calm horses, or lure unwary travelers into bogs, but her impatience and sense of invincibility has led to this disaster. Before the ashes of the city cool, old enemies rise to take their revenge on Vasya, and only through striking a bargain with a previous foe does Vasya have a chance to survive. Under the pressure of her mistakes, Vasya transforms into a battered but wiser warrior, and to save Russia from the all-too-human invaders at its borders, she must find a way for the old magic to work with the new. Ardens writing is almost luminescent in its power and emotion, and she bypasses lyrical fripperies for spare, white-hot storytelling. Not only does the Winternight Trilogy shine among Russian-inspired tales, it establishes a new high bar for coming-of-age fantasy epics. The Amazon editors picked all three books in the Winternight Trilogy as Best Books of the Month, and I cant wait to see what Arden creates next. --Adrian Liang, Amazon Book Review