Review: The Girl in the Tower by Katherine Arden

Title: The Girl in the Tower
Author: Katherine Arden
Series: Winternight Trilogy #2
Genre: Fantasy/Cultural/Retelling/Magic
Publisher: Del Rey
Publication Date: December 5th, 2017
Edition: Kindle Edition, 384 pages
Source: NetGalley
Purchase: Amazon US | Barnes & Noble | BAM

Synopsis:

Orphaned and cast out as a witch by her village, Vasya’s options are few: resign herself to life in a convent, or allow her older sister to make her a match with a Moscovite prince. Both doom her to life in a tower, cut off from the vast world she longs to explore. So instead she chooses adventure, disguising herself as a boy and riding her horse into the woods. When a battle with some bandits who have been terrorizing the countryside earns her the admiration of the Grand Prince of Moscow, she must carefully guard the secret of her gender to remain in his good graces—even as she realizes his kingdom is under threat from mysterious forces only she will be able to stop.

This is one of the most magical series I have ever read. This book and series has a deep lore to it that I really appreciate. All the characters are so rich and diverse. I really enjoyed the first book in this series, and I was hopeful that this book would be just as good, and it was.

Vasya is a fantastic character, who I feel like a lot of authors try to write, but try too hard and the character becomes a little one-note and boring. It's really hard for me to articulate how much I love this book and series. When I read this book, I kind of just fell into the world, everything else kind of just fell away.

The characters, the story, the setting. All of it was just amazing. Vasya has some better character development in this book than she had in the first. Her actions, what she sacrificed for others is the very definition of heroic.

I am so looking forward to reading the third book in this trilogy, but sad that it's going to be the last book.