The Girl in the Tower

 This is the 2nd book of the "Winternight" trilogy, a sequel to Katherine Arden's The Bear and the Nightingale, and I feel like it would have been good to read these in order. She does a decent job of filling in enough information to make this book stand alone, but it clearly draws on events, characters, and relationships introduced earlier. The trilogy is set in the frozen wilds of 14th C Russia and then in the citadel of Moscow. I have been on a kick reading books about witches or the suspicion of witchcraft lately, and our protagonist, Vasilisa (Vasya for short), does indeed have special gifts that have caused her to be branded as a witch. Vasya has been forced to leave home after a confrontation with evil spirits results in the death of her father and step-mother. She is disguised as a boy and rides a magical stallion named Solovey. She is also aided in several desperate situations by the frost king, Morozko, although his assistance may not be totally altruistic. A series of raids that result in burned villages and kidnapped girls grabs the attention of the Grand Prince of Moscow and serves as the vehicle to reunite Vasya with her older brother Sasha--a monk and close friend and advisor of the Grand Prince--and sister Olya--living in another Moscow palace and the mother of two with another on the way. Vasya's daring rescue of three kidnapped girls endears her to the Grand Prince, especially when he learns that s/he is the younger "brother" of Sasha. Unfortunately, this deceit puts both Sasha and Olya into a precarious and dangerous situation vis a vis the Prince. But it is the arrival of an unknown prince, who initially befriends Vasya, that catalyzes the climax of the book, for he is also a magical being who wants to overthrow Moscow's Grand Prince and has been behind the village raids. Vasya is forced to make some impossibly hard choices that endanger her siblings and even the entire populace of Moscow. Fantasy fans will love the elaborate world-building and rich characters. Reminiscent of Naomi Novik's books ( see my posts on Spinning Silver and Uprooted).

Booklist gushes, "Arden's lush, lyrical writing cultivates an intoxicating, visceral atmosphere, and her marvelous sense of pacing carries the novel along at a propulsive clip. A masterfully told story of folklore, history, and magic with a spellbinding heroine at the heart of it all." Kirkus agrees that the tale is a "compelling, fast-moving story that grounds fantasy elements in a fascinating period of Russian history."  Publishers Weekly claims "Fairy tales don't get better than this."

The third book in this trilogy was published in 2019, The Winter of the Witch.