“Demons,” said Konstantin, panting, A cold sweat broke over his brow.

“Yes,” said Vasya, and she smiled, the devil’s own child. The dark figure beside her smiled, too, a slow skull’s grin.

And then they were gone, silently as they had come.

• It is obvious that there is a tremendous amount of research on Russian history and culture behind this story. Like, you can feel it. As I started reading the first book, I was sceptical and fully expecting it to be a cartoonish parody of Russian fairytales, but everything turned out to be so authentic and well-written. Now, I am no historian, of course, but just as an average Russian person, I didn’t notice any gross inaccuracies.
• CORRECT NAMES! Correct endings of surnames and patronymics! Correct use of full and diminutive forms of first names! I adore Grishaverse, but I couldn’t help cringing at stuff like ‘Aleksander Morozova’ or ‘Alina Starkov’ back when reading TGT because it just sounds unnatural. No such thing here.
• Continuing on the topic of names, I absolutely LOVED all the names of horses. Super poetic and fitting. I could nitpick that Tuman hardly seems like a name one would give a female animal because the noun is masculine in Russian, but whatever, it’s beautiful. 
• The great variety of mythical creatures and the way they are described - not evil, but clearly having different notions of morality than humans, yet willing to cooperate when treated with respect. I guess deep down I am still a little kid who used to put cookies under the cupboard wishing to find out if our apartment has a domovoi, and that kid is absolutely delighted at how the chyerti are portrayed in these books. I also appreciated the note in the glossary to TWotW on why the term ‘chyerti’ was chosen to refer to all mythical creatures in the novels: it is not the word most Russian speakers would use as a collective noun for all spirits, but I can see the reasoning behind using it in this sense in this particular case.
• Speaking of which, glossaries! An excellent idea, more fantasy novels should have them 
• The way the real historical events, such as the Battle of Kulikovo, are interwoven into the fantasy narrative
• Beautifully translated Pushkin’s poems in the epigraphs
• References to so many well-known and well-loved Russian folk tales, and the way all these tales are connected in the story 
• Iconic characters from Russian folklore making an appearance or at least being mentioned (when I thought these books can’t surprise me anymore, they brought up Chernomor and I was like !!!!!)
• DED GRIB BEING A SHOUT-OUT TO MOROZKO (1964)

• When Russian words are used, they are transcribed correctly (at least, if there are any mistakes, they aren’t bad enough to catch my eye)
• Apparently Katherine Arden mentioned on Twitter that Vasya’s physical description is based on the painting The Swan Princess by Mikhail Vrubel? How cool is that???
• Just how well-written in general these books are, and with how much respect Russian culture is treated (much more than I expected, tbh)
• In conclusion: HIGHLY recommend

Frost-demons have no interest in mortal girls wed to mortal men. In the stories, the bird-prince and the wicked sorcerer — they only come for the wild maiden.

-Katherine Arden

It was late winter in northern Rus’, the air sullen with wet that was neither rain nor snow.

“A prophecy then, vedma.”

“Why do you call me that?” she whispered.

The bannick drifted up to the bench beside her. His beard was the curling steam. “Because you have your great-grandmother’s eyes. Now hear me. Before the end, you will pluck snowdrops at midwinter, die by your own choosing, and weep for a nightingale.”

Vasya felt code despite the steam. “Why would I choose to die?”

“It is easy to die,” replied the bannick. “Harder to live. Do not forget me, Vasilisa Petrovna.” And there was only vapor where he had been.

“What do you think will become of you, living in darkness with devils, and doing black magic?” “I?” she shot back. “I am becoming myself, brother. I am a witch, and I am going to save us.”

the winternight trilogy, katherine arden