#Review - Through the White Wood by Jessica Leake #YALit #Historical #Fantasy

Series: Standalone
Format: E-Book, 416 pages
Release Date: April 9, 2019
Publisher: HarperTeen
Source: Publisher
Genre: Young Adult / Fantasy / Historical

The Bear and the Nightingale meets Frostblood in this romantic historical fantasy from the author of Beyond a Darkened Shore.

When Katya loses control of her power to freeze, her villagers banish her to the palace of the terrifying Prince Sasha in Kiev.

Expecting punishment, she is surprised to find instead that Sasha is just like her—with the ability to summon fire. Sasha offers Katya friendship and the chance to embrace her power rather than fear it.
But outside the walls of Kiev, Sasha’s enemies are organizing an army of people bent on taking over the entire world.

Together, Katya’s and Sasha’s powers are a fearsome weapon. But as their enemies draw nearer, will fire and frost be enough to save the world? Or will Katya and Sasha lose everything they hold dear?

Inspired by Russian mythology, this lushly romantic, intensely imaginative, and fiercely dramatic story is about learning to fight for yourself, even when the world is falling down around you.

 

Jessica Leake's Through the White Wood is her follow up to Beyond a Darkened Shore. It is a story that takes place in Eleventh century Russia. Through the White Wood draws inspiration from Russian mythology and explores a world that is much beloved in fantasy. Through the White Wood is a stand-alone fantasy title, but it does feature characters Ciara and Lief that readers were introduced to in Beyond a Darkened Shore. 

This story revolves around Katya, a girl who ends up being banished from her village after accidentally unleashing her powers that nearly destroys the village. Katya has the amazing power to freeze anything in her path, but doesn't have control over her powers yet. Until she meets a desperate prince who is looking for help stopping an invasion of his country. Together Katya and Sasha must fight for survival and discover the secrets their powers contain to save the people they love.

 

In Kiev, Prince Vladimir is collecting an army of those who have abilities like Katya's. Much like Red Queen and Frostblood, characters in Through the White Wood have a unique array of powers—such as the ability to create fire or the ability to move earth. These powers are drawn from the elements—earth, wind, fire—which is a refreshing take on the traditional powers in other stories. Kiev and Prince Vladimir are under siege by an alliance that prefers to use those who have earth elemental abilities. 

With Katya's assistance, Sasha hopes that he can withstand a fierce onslaught that has seen one village after another fall by the wayside. Sasha and a few others, including Katya, even travel to the fabled city of Constantine in order to request emergency assistance from the Byzantine Empire which has turn its back on Kiev, and especially Prince Vladimir. Although Katya and Sasha don’t like each other at first, they slowly find themselves falling for each other. 

The romance is sweet and slow and readers will love watching these characters break down their walls for each other. There were so many good seondary characters, but none as great as Elation. Which by the way what a crazy little twist that was. But no spoilers here. It was nice seeing Ciara and Lief again, and I was glad that an alliance was possible and that they didn't just fade into the woodwork. If you've read the first book, you will notice a parallel road that both Ciara and Katya have been forced to travel. 

Because of the way this book ended, I will say this; there needs to be a third installment by this author featuring these characters so that we can discover whether or not Katya is able to find what she's looking for. This is the world of Russian mythology including Vasya the Beautiful, Baba Yega and Tsarevich Ivan. It is a world way before communism destroyed the country. It is the mythology that readers should focus on, and not the fact that politicians and the media seem eager to go to war with Russia that would likely burn the world to the ground. 

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