Winternight Trilogy Readalong! discussion

Time to read to the end! I wonder what's going to happen 👀

WHAT DID YOU THINK OF THE ENDING?
has there been any surprises?
Favourite and least favourite part?
What do you think of this book in comparison to the first?
What do you think of Vasya's journey?
GIVE ME ALL YOUR THOUUUUUGHTS!!! Full spoilers are of course welcome now!

And any predictions for the last book in the series?

Oh man, I definitely didn't expect so many crazy things happening in this last part. I was so surprised when Kasyan turned out to be a villain. All of the scenes with him really made my blood boil.

It might be petty, but one of my favourite scenes was when father Konstantin realized that Kasyan tricked him into helping and Vasya said that next time she sees him, she was going to kill him. So badass!
My least favourite part was the romance. I wish there was more development in that area. It seemed very insta-lovey.

I liked this second book better that the first, it was much more fast-paced (at least in this last part), and I was already attached to the characters.

I have no idea what will happen in the third book, but I'm here for the ride. I think the Bear will appear again and also, I believe that Vasya will try to bring Morozko back to the physical realm.

I loved this book so much! I loved how we had a bit of everything in this part: love line and denial of feelings, dangerous adventure, difficulty of a family relationship , political stuff, struggled with finding your own place in the world... and I could go on and on.

In this book we defiantly can see how much Vasya grew up and her development through the second book is so huge. She became confident young woman, wise beyond her years and super brave. The way how she cared about her loved ones and people in general (and cherti/spirits too) is such a wonderful part of her personality. Vasilisa is one of the most amazing female character of all times. She is WILD (in the best way possible) and I loved it so much!

Sasha!!!!! I really loved his character. He is such a great brother. I also loved Olga's and Dmitrii's characters. One of my favourite scenes is the last one when Vasya shared the whole story of her adventures to Sasha and Olya. I enjoyed how Olga's daughter Marya appeared in this part and the fact that she has the same powers as her aunt, so it was interesting to watch at Vasya's and Marya's blooming bonding. And this storyline with Kaschei the Deathless - AMAZING!
I liked how we met again with some old characters and were introduced with the new ones.
Kasyan Lutovich or Kaschei the Deathless or the main villain of this book... he was a really unpleasant character for me (though he was an interesting one and everything what was happening was great for the plot). And guess who's back, back again 😂 Father Konstantin! Another bad guy! Well... Konstantin is... Konstantin lol (you all know what i mean, right?). Poor Vasya... so many cray cray men around her 😂
I also really liked the story about Vasya's grandmother Tamara.

HORSES!! I adored that the horses can speak in these books and I enjoyed that we were able to see them more in this part. Solovey is so funny and cheeky. Loved that part when he snaps at Morozko at the beginning of the book , that was so funny! And how he was trying to protect Vasya, when Kasyan revealed hers secret to everyone, it was a really strong scene!
A White Mare is really cool too!

Last, but not least... The chemistry (and tension!!!) between Vasya and Morozko 👌🏻 I enjoyed all the parts when they were together. Even when Morozko was scared of his own feelings and has no idea what is happening to him, he always tried to safe Vasya and be there for her when she was needed a support. I LOVED how through the whole book he was trying to understand himself and what does love means for an immortal. Oh and that part ''As I could I loved you"! that was so sweet and honest. What a perfect duo The Frost Demon (The Death himself) and the Witch!

Overall this book was full of interesting, intense, adventurous and sometimes a little bit romantic scenes. I loved this historical and political touch and how it was intertwined with folklore and magic! Katherine Arden is such an amazing writer! 😄❄ I can't wait to start The Winter of the Witch next month!

as much as i enjoyed loads of the elements of this book, every single man in this book was testing my patience lol if Konstantin doesn't die in the next book...
in all seriousness, i liked the broader scope of the story in this book, the Morozko content was🤩, the revelations about her grandmother Tamara - theres more to this i think that we will see in book 3
i especially loved seeing Vasya and Masha interact it was lovely to see her making sure Masha knew that she wasn't just seeing things (reminded me of anna a little bit, bc anna didnt have anyone to tell her she wasnt like hallucinating or seeing demons and i wonder what she might have been like if she did have someone around to explain)
I enjoyed the explanation around the necklace but i kinda wish we had more magic in this
I knew something was wrong with Kasyan for a while (when he talked about losing the woman he loved) but i thought i was just biased bc as i said before.. literally every man in this book annoyed me to varying extents. There was a quiet malice around him that just kept building and it blew up in the end of part 2/part3
I love the family sturuggles we see between Vasya, Olga and Sasha but i dont have the brain cells to articulate it right now
and that end scene with them all holding hands <3 loved that

I absolutely loved this book! I already really liked the first book and wasn't expecting to love this one so much more! I already feel like this is setting a new standard for what I look for in books lol.

I wasn't actually surprised by Kasyan being a villain because I got some weird vibes from him throughout the book, but I was surprised by how exactly he went about what he did. I had previously only found him suspicious and thought I might have been imagining things. The scene where he reveals that Vasya was a woman probably shocked me more in the moment than anything else in the book, mostly from how abrupt that moment was. I had expected something bad to happen, but that specific scenario hadn't crossed my mind. I actually had to stop for a moment after that whole scene went down because I was so overwhelmed by it.

The Tamara reveal also wasn't a huge shock, but I didn't fully pick up on it until soon before it was officially revealed. I really appreciate how these books seem to ease you into these major reveals so that there's still an element of surprise, but it also actually makes sense.

I'm still terrible at choosing favorites, but I really liked the scene where Vasya decided to run back into the burning city in an attempt to stop the fire, despite knowing that she'd have to die in the process. It wasn't necessarily a fun scene, but I loved seeing how strong Vasya was there and how she trusted in her ability to pull it off.

I honestly also loved all of the scenes with Morozco in general, though some of them really hurt to read. The development of their relationship has been so interesting to me, and I'm really curious what's going to happen now after how this book ended.

I didn't actually think any scene was necessarily bad, but I guess one of the scenes that was the hardest to read was when Kasyan asked Vasya to marry her, and then proceeded to force himself on her after.

This isn't related to any specific scenes, but it was nice seeing Sasha and Olga gradually warm up to and believe in Vasya more toward the end of the book. The constraints on their relationships was really sad to read, especially Olga and Vasya's, after seeing how they were as children. Obviously things change as people grow up, especially in the situations they were basically forced into, but I still really appreciated all of the gradual developments there.

It's still crazy to think back to the start of the first book and really look at how far Vasya has come already. She has already been through so much and is already so strong, and I'm sure she's only going to grow more as a character in the final book. I can't wait to see that happen!

I have so many other thoughts right now too, but I have no idea how to articulate them. This already feels like a rambly mess, but I'm still in that book hangover phase where I don't have many thoughts other than "I loved this book a lot" lol

That was a phenomenal ending! the first bit of part 3 was dragging a bit, but it ramped up, and I could NOT put it down!

Marya is definitely one of my favorite parts of the novel! I also like seen Vasya come into her own in regards to her power. While she was always a strong willed person we see her more willing to fight and be taken seriously by the end of this novel which I appreciated.

As for least favorite I don't love what's going on with Constantine and part of it I think is because I just don't understand where hes coming from! I am intrested though to see how his story line ends in the 3rd novel.

I likes the presence of the spirits in the 1st novel more. As for action political intrigue and suspense this novel was certainly more interesting. In regards to atmosphere though I think I prefer the 1st book.

I absolutely love Vasya, and I think she is a wonderful character. I'm eager to see where her relationship with Morozoko goes and what challenges she will face in the final book. I'm also eager to see what she learns about her ancestors as I have a feeling that will play a big role.

Okay I'm a bit late to this! I finished the book about a week ago and then completely forgot to write my thoughts on the final section haha.

The ending really saved this book for me. It wasn't that I wasn't enjoying it, just in comparison to the first book, the first two-thirds of this book didn't hold my attention as much. I felt like Arden was trying to plant seeds for the ending or for the third book, but it felt a bit disjointed and surrounded by almost-filler material. The ending was super enthralling, though.

I love Vasya and Marya, and I was super happy when Olga and Sasha finally decided to let Vasya try and help Marya. I'm really excited to see where this is going to go in the third book.

I think Vasya and Morozko's relationship took a really interesting turn. I liked how Vasya started to take more control and was able to drag him out of his domain, and I'm curious to see how this is going to affect the fact that he's fading from society's collective memory.

I'm looking forward to finishing this series and seeing how Vasya finally comes into the woman that she's meant to be. I want her to find more girls like herself and Marya and run the world haha.

The link for the live discussion show is now up!

Set your reminders - it's happening at 8:30pm GMT on the 9th January (sorry for the delay!)

Can't wait to chat about this book with all of you! You've still got time to read it if you haven't gotten around to it yet!

https://youtu.be/g8Lj4IgEKGI