The Winter of the Witch

1.

Marya Morevna

Dusk at the end of winter, and two men crossed the dooryard of a palace scarred by fire. The dooryard was a snowless waste of water and trampled earth; the men sank to their ankles in the muck. But they were speaking intently, heads close together, and did not heed the wet. Behind them lay a palace full of broken furniture, smoke-­stained; the screen-­work smashed on the staircases. Before them lay a charred ruin that had been a stable.

Chelubey disappeared in the confusion, said the first man bitterly. We were busy saving our own skins. A smear of soot blackened his cheek, blood crusted in his beard. Weary hollows, like blue thumbprints, marred the flesh beneath his gray eyes. He was barrel-­chested, young, with the fey energy of a man who has driven himself past exhaustion to a surreal and persistent wakefulness. Every eye in the dooryard followed him. He was the Grand Prince of Moscow.

Our skins, and a little more, said the other man ­a monk ­with a touch of grim humor. For, against all hope, the city was mostly intact, and still theirs. The night before, the Grand Prince had come close to being deposed and murdered, though few people knew that. His city had nearly burned to ash; only a miraculous snowstorm had saved them. Everyone knew that. A swath of black gashed the heart of the city, as though the hand of God had fallen in the night, dripping fire from its nails.

It was not enough, said the Grand Prince. We may have saved ourselves, but we made no answer for the treachery. All that bitter day, the prince had reassuring words for every man who caught his eye, had calm orders for the men wrangling his surviving horses and hauling away the charred beams of the stable. But the monk, who knew him well, could see the exhaustion and the rage just beneath the surface. I am going out myself, tomorrow, with all that can be spared, the prince said. We will find the Tatars and we will kill them.

Leave Moscow now, Dmitrii

Katherine Arden

[Katherine] Arden s gorgeous prose entwines political intrigue and feminist themes with magic and folklore to tell a tale both intimate and epic, featuring a heroine whose harrowing and wondrous journey culminates in an emotionally resonant finale. Publishers Weekly (starred review)
 
Katherine Arden s Winternight Trilogy isn t just good it s 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 girl s 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 Arden s deep knowledge. Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
 
Visceral descriptions of battle, an atmospheric sense of place, and some truly heartbreaking moments of loss make this a gut-wrenching read, but there s ample hope and satisfaction to be found as Vasya chooses her own unique path to triumph. Booklist

Exciting, moving, and beautifully written, this is a story readers will savor. Library Reads