Praise for Katherine Arden
Katherine Arden is a gifted storyteller with a wicked imagination!
Arden’s debut novel has the cadence of a beautiful fairy tale but is darker and more lyrical.
Vividly eerie descriptions evoke the very best of horror for this age set. Genuinely bone-chilling.
Arden excels at creating an atmosphere of claustrophobic tension with memorably menacing details.
Middle-graders who thrill to spooks and scares will find plenty (maybe even more than they bargained for!) here.
Stunning... will enchant readers from the first page.... with an irresistible heroine who wants only to be free of the bonds placed on her gender and claim her own fate.
Utterly bewitching... a lush narrative... an immersive, earthy story of folk magic, faith, and hubris, peopled with vivid, dynamic characters, particularly clever, brave Vasya, who outsmarts men and demons alike to save her family.
Arden has shaped a world that neatly straddles the seen and the unseen, where readers will hear echoes of stories from childhood while recognizing the imagination that has transformed old material into something fresh.
An extraordinary retelling of a very old tale... The Bear and the Nightingale is a wonderfully layered novel of family and the harsh wonders of deep winter magic.
Vasya [is] a clever, stalwart girl determined to forge her own path in a time when women had few choices.
A striking literary fantasy informed by Arden’s deep knowledge of and affection for this time and place. A satisfying conclusion.
Arden’s gorgeous prose entwines political intrigue and feminist themes with magic and folklore to tell a tale both intimate and epic.
[A] sensual, beautifully written, and emotionally stirring fantasy... Fairy tales don’t get better than this.
[A] magical story set in an alluring Russia.
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.
[Katherine] Arden once again delivers an engaging fantasy that mixes Russian folklore and history with delightful worldbuilding and lively characters.
Is it a mystery? A fairy tale? A horror thriller? As the suspense gripped me, I just wanted to know one thing—WHAT HAPPENS NEXT? Terrifying and fun.
Arden’s descriptions can often be delicious... [she] has mastered the art of rising tension that delivers.
The perfect book to be read by firelight during a chilly autumn evening—though you might find yourself inching closer to the light as the story nears its terrifying conclusion. Katherine Arden is a gifted storyteller with a wicked imagination!
Atmospheric horror at its best. Chillingly tender.
With a tantalizing pace and palpable suspense, all nicely grounded in realistic emotions, this well-wrought spine-tingler is destined to be a hit (just makes sure the lights stay on).
Arden…shrouds her Halloween-time story in autumnal mists, introducing a…cast of ominous figures, from ghosts to shapeshifters and scarecrow minions. Ollie is a relatable heroine who finds strength through trusting in friendship, while her ghostly adventures lead her to learn an important truth: sometimes, the best way to honor the memory of a loved one is by moving forward, bravely, and with love.
The novel’s menacing fantasy world of centuries-old ghosts and children being turned into scarecrows is provocative enough, but explicit references to Narnia, Wonderland, and Cerberus of Hades make for a smart and moving account of how stories may transport but grief and loss still take a lot from us.
A marvellous novel.
A spectacular tour de force by one of my favorite authors, so wonderful and deep and haunting that you might well imagine it required a Faustian bargain of its own.