I started this book back in spring and just couldn't get into it properly after a couple of chapters. I still wanted to read it because of how a few of my friends raved about this trilogy, so I put it aside, figuring maybe I'd be able to get into it when I was in a better mental state. Then I tried continuing it this summer. Again, I quickly lost interest. But I still kinda wanted to read it, especially since one of those friends I've mentioned told me it starts slowly but is hard to put down later. So recently, when I was searching for something on my TBR that would fit more than one prompt from all those readathons I'm still hoping to finish, I stumbled upon The Bear and the Nightingale and decided to give it one last chance.

 Verdict: Sometimes, tastes differ. I finished the book out of sheer stubbornness.

I won't call it a bad book by any means. In fact, this novel has one undisputable merit: the setting. I'm normally very hesitant to read books based on Russian folklore written by non-Russian authors. I don't know what it is about our folklore and culture that possesses so many Western authors to get it wrong all the time (Leigh Bardugo, I admire you greatly, but everything Russia-inspired about Grishaverse? No. Seriously. Just no.)  Katherine Arden, for a change, got it exactly right. At times, I was almost certain I was reading an English translation of a Russian book. The feel, the details, the overall vibes of our fairytales, it's all there. The setting by far was my favorite part of the book; it's what fueled my stubbornness.

But the setting can't carry a story alone, and everything else was sadly not quite to my taste. Or rather, I had a feeling I've read it all before, with better, twistier, more compelling execution. Some of the characters were likeable enough, but very... I don't know, typical? The central theme, new religion vs old gods, also brought nothing new to the table, other than the fact that it was interpreted through Russian history and fairytales. I've read better, twistier, more compelling renditions. And the pacing was just annoyingly slow for most of the book. The action only picked up in the final part, somewhere around 70% mark or so, and that was the most enjoyable part to read. But the first ~70% felt like a sloggy build-up. Some things happened, and some people talked or didn't talk when they should have, and there were nice domovois and rusalkas, but really, all of that could have been compressed to Act I. Of course, I guess then the book would have been more of a novella, because the interesting events in the final part didn't feel rushed or anything. Maybe it should have been a novella.

So, really: not a bad book, albeit somewhat too slow-moving. Just not to my taste. Can and will still recommend it for the setting alone, though: REALLY great job there. <3

 Read for the following September 2020 readathons:
- I Read Sins Not Tragedies: "&" in the Title
- Mythothon3: From a Trilogy