This book was so artfully written. It was a critique of religion. It was folklore. It was a discussion of gender roles. It was bucking tradition. I think it's hard to read this book without being reminded of your own experiences as a child daydreaming about fairies in the woods. Is it perfect? No. I have one basic criticism, but aside from that, I found it to be a fun read. Past this point, there will be spoilers.

Lets start with that one little gripe so I can get it out of the way. My complaint is that characters were either mostly good or they were mostly evil. There wasn't a lot of grey area with the characters, which made them less real to me as every person tends to be a study in shades of grey. Konstantin was always mostly evil. Anna was always mostly evil. Medved *was* evil incarnate, so I'm not gonna judge that one. Very quickly as you read, you could easily tell which characters were good and which characters were bad and that never really fluctuated throughout the story. I feel it really impacted their growth as characters and it frustrated me a little.

Now, I get on to what I really loved.

This book gave be big time Labyrinth vibes. (Morozko is definitely Jareth in this recasting.) So if you enjoyed that movie, you will likely enjoy this book.

I liked that there was no real romance in this book. While Vasya does hint at attraction here and there, it's a subtopic that gets brushed to the side as being inconvenient. Vasya pointedly bucks traditions at every opportunity and it was cool to see a female character not get pidgeonholed into a romance. I did wonder, toward the end, if Morozko would change that at the end, but it didn't happen. Super refreshing.

The number one thing that sells me on a book is how well they establish the reality of the world. I think Arden did an amazing job with that. I never thought any of the mythology was out of place or the attitudes of the characters were strange. Every change that happened within the world was believable and realistic in it's own setting. It kept me grounded - and trust me, I have been bucked out of the saddle before by other books. I loved the fae-like old gods that protect aspects of their world but lose power if they are not worshipped. I loved the creatures of the world that would kill you if you didn't respect their ways. And, as much as I wanted to strangle a few of them, I loved the humans and their fallible natures.

I also liked the relationships between the characters. Relationships in books are like the blood flowing through it's veins. Without those relationships, plots become linear and unrealistic and the world seems flatter. Whether antagonistic or friendly, I found the relationships to be very interesting and they drove the characters in different directions. Konstantin, for example, had a very complicated relationship with Vasya which pushed her to rebel against him and against Christianity while he drew all the other characters closer to him.

On that note, it offers a criticism of religion and Christian tradition which was refreshing. Christianity has long been an invasive force in our world, pushing and sometimes forcing people to forget their traditions to adhere to their code of beliefs. As a pastor's daughter, it has always been a frustration I've felt in the real world. This book also does some questioning of gender roles, though it's historical fiction so our world has obviously progressed past a lot of those traditions.

If you have read this far, this book also reminded me quite a bit of Naomi Novik's Uprooted. If you enjoyed this one, you might want to give that one a try!