I felt very similarly about The Bear and the Nightingale! I gave it 4 stars for the beautiful writing and story, but it took me quite a bit to get into it (I swapped to audiobook). However, I felt book 2 and 3 were much more fast-paced, and while I felt at arm's-length from the characters for much of book 1, I felt much closer to Vasya in the following books. The Girl in the Tower was my favourite and it definitely pushed all of my very personal buttons - it just made me so angry! But in a good way??? The Winternight Trilogy is a top tier trilogy... so much love for those books and she sticks the landing so well
Awesome discussion. I have read three out of the four books - The Bear and The Nightingale, Strange the Dreamer and A Declaration of the Rights of Magicians - really interesting to hear both of your perspectives.
