The Girl in the Tower (The Winternight Trilogy #2)

Description: 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.

Review: The Girl in the Tower is the second book in the enchanting historical fantasy Winternight Trilogy. While you could pick up and read The Girl in the Tower without reading Arden's delightful debut novel, The Bear and the Nightingale, I would not recommend it as you might feel lost about the cast of characters and unclear on the great world building.
  The Girl in the Tower skillfully avoids the dreaded middle book syndrome. Arden expands her  world with new characters and a new setting in Moscow. Some readers have complained that the pacing was slow in this book, but I did not find it slow at all. I was completely captivated with the story and its multiple moving parts.
  Now that her fellow villagers believe she’s a witch and her protector is gone, Vasya is no longer safe in her village. She is struck with wanderlust and fully dismisses the only "accepted" roles of a woman: to be either a wife or a nun. With the help of the enigmatic frost-demon Morozko, who feels a fatally human attraction to Vasya, the young woman learns to wield a knife and make herself at home in the frozen forest. Disguised as a young man, she loads up her pack and rides her beloved magical steed, Solovey, into the winter wilderness, south toward Moscow. After rescuing several girls stolen from burned-out villages, she makes her way to Moscow, where she finds her sister Olga, now a royal matron who is very familiar with court politics, and her brother Sasha, a monk with a swashbuckling side.
   Vasya as a boy is welcomed with open arms, however, danger of her secret identity is lingering very close. Arden demonstrates society's double standards for gender very well throughout this story and the feminist themes are articulated very well without being heavy handed in the book. Despite Vasya's fervent desire to be more than just a girl is overturned in the novel, her frustrations with society's very rigid notions are highly relatable and real even in the 21st century.
  There are plenty of surprises in the book and lots of foreshadowing of what is to come in the third and final book. While this book wraps up neatly without a cliffhanger, I still have questions and I definitely want to see more of Morozko.

Rating: 4.5 stars

Words of Caution: There are some disturbing images and strong violence is mentioned in the book but not depicted. Recommended for older teens and adults.

If you like this book try: Winter of the Witch by Katherine Arden (Winternight Trilogy #3), The Girl With Ghost Eyes by M. H. Boroson, Uprooted by Naomi Novik