Katherine Arden’s novel is often described as a young adult reading level, but I disagree. But the Bear has a brother whose role as Death can’t be ignored, but may provide unexpected help. He will bring the end of life to the village. And the Bear, a terrorizing demon that slumbers when the spirits are admired, is beginning to wake up. A deep freeze settles in, crops won’t grow, the horses are struggling. Neglected, the small demons cannot protect the village anymore. But Anna brings a new priest to Pyotr’s village who makes the villagers fear God, a God who will burn them alive if they praise anything other than Him. In Pyotr’s village, people both leave offerings to small demons who protect the village and attend church. The only place Anna doesn’t see them is in churches, but her pleas to be sent to a convent are ignored and she’s given to Pyotr, whose remote village deep in the forest will keep Anna from embarrassing her noble family. When Vasya is a small girl, Pyotr remarries to a devout Christian woman from Moscow who sees demons.
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