This book is all vibes and worldbuilding. The next books are now on my "to read" list.

Takes until about halfway through to get going, but you've been primed with so much lore you're still having a good time before some of the set up action hits.

When it does hit, it's hard to put down and stays true to the style of the book.

I'm not big on kid protagonists, but this was like if Anne of Green Gables was a horse girl who had a cadre of friends from Russian folklore and maybe

Gilbert's

an ominous, timeless embodiment of winter with questionable motivation.

Narrator: the Kathleen Gati recording is really clean. Voice acting was good- deploys Russian accents in dialogue. The pace could have been faster at times in prose. She's got an excellent fairy tale quality to the read.

Who I Wouldn't Rec This To: Misogyny and casual domestic violence is part of the setting, so if you're not in a headspace to deal with that allll the way through, wait on reading this one.