Finished it last night. I feel like after roughly the half-way mark, the narrative petered out and all that lovely build-up was slowly squandered. My predictions were pretty much completely off, which is fine, but the things that happened were basically unpredictable -- as in they didn't make sense. The final fight culminated in some sort of Hollywood blockbuster scene, complete with a long conversation in the middle of a fight and people turning up to save the day unexpectedly and without explanation.
Vasya makes a foolish and quite selfish decision to send Frost off just as he's needed the most (from what we've been told, the fate of the world hangs in the balance) -- and she nor anyone else doesn't pay for it in any way.
Instead, she manages to call all the house spirits of the village, even though there was absolutely no setup for that whatsoever. For that to have been believable, I would liked to have seen her going about the village, helping them out, perhaps convincing the children of the village to help their household spirits, or something like that, earlier in the book. But no, they just turn up, because "surprise!" And then her father turns up, because "surprise!", and just saves the day in a way that hasn't really been set up for, either. Bear has been set free through the sacrifice of someone who fears him and sees him, supposedly a super-powerful act. Yet he can be banished again with the sacrifice of a single mortal? And I despise the Hollywoodesque trope of people turning up at just the right time without any warning or explanation.
Then she decides to go off on some adventure riding about on her horse because apparently the dowry gift she refused is still waiting for her, so money won't be a problem? Meh.
Too many questions.
I really loved the setting, the writing, and the setup. But in the last quarter or so I feel like it all went up in smoke, which just makes me sad as now I don't even feel like continuing the series.
3/5 stars.
