The immortal witch, Baba Yaga, is a half-goddess living alone in her cottage in the forest, helping and healing mortals with her magic. When Anastasia, an old friend and the wife of the Tsar, comes seeking her help, Yaga heads to Moscow to save Anastasia. But Russia is on the brink of chaos and Tsar Ivan (the Terrible) grows more unstable by the day, corrupted by forces Yaga cannot hope to defeat on her own.

I love novels based on Russian mythology and folklore, and The Witch and the Tsar is absolutely brimming with it. The story, scenery and characters are magical, and I really appreciated the well-researched history used within the story. The combination of the old gods from Russian folklore and sixteenth-century Christianity was really well done, and I though they fit very well into the historical setting of Ivan the Terrible’s bloodthirsty reign.

Yaga is a wonderful character, and I loved the idea of the Baba Yaga figure as a healer witch rather than an evil crone as she is most often depicted. I do think she seemed very naïve and ‘human’ for someone who had been alive for centuries. I would have expected her to make better decisions with that much experience, but she was likeable and fun to read about.

However, the book did feel very long, even though it’s only about 400 pages. This may be due to the long-ish time period covered or the vaguely repetitive narrative – I’m not sure – but it could have been more concise.

The Witch and the Tsar is beautifully written with vivid descriptions and fantastic characters.

Set in Russia during the mid 1500's, this novel is a feminization of the classic European folklore tale 'Baba Yaga,' a story about an old hag who lived in the woods tormenting young children. Gilmore consistently uses this classic story to push a narrative of strong women during challenging times.
The MC, Yaga, is incredibly complex in her characterization. While she retains some of the nasty demeanor from her original folklore counterpart she is an incredibly loveable character.

Although I think this book would have been best split into a duology or even a trilogy due. to the info dumps that occur at points throughout the book, I really appreciated the Russian folklore as I have never read any before. This novel is clever, gritty and stunning.
Easily one of my best reads this year!

thank you to Netgalley and HarperCollinsUK for this arc in exchange for my honest review.

The Witch and the Tsar by Olesya Sainikova Gilmore completely swept me away into a frozen realm of magic and myth, and is a perfect fusion of fact and folk-lore. This spellbinding story captured me from the very beginning, drawing me into a story that is so vividly descriptive, beautifully created, and compelling, that I simply couldn’t put it down! The story flows seamlessly, the characters are so perfectly real, and I completely lost myself in the pages. The portrayal of Yaga is perfect - she is the ultimate Girl Power - and I loved her! The description of the wasteland after a battle was so desolate and bleak - I could actually see and feel it! The depiction of Tsar Ivan was haunting, and his name of ‘the Terrible’ is well-deserved. I loved the story of Yaga, Vasily and Marina, it was portrayed beautifully. There’s so much to love in this book - Little Hen, Dyen and Noch will stay with me I think - and the author painted a breathtaking picture with her words., I absolutely loved it, wholeheartedly recommend it, and will definitely go back to it again and again.

I was completely enthralled in this retelling of Russian Folklore, following the story of Baba Yaga and Ivan the Terrible. Baba Yaga lives in the woods and provides healing to those who come to her. When Anastasia arrives poisoned and seeks Boba Yaga’s help within her palace, Baba Yaga decides to go to her and protect her from her would-be killer. Then all hell breaks loose as there is more sinister beings meddling in the politics of Russia. A creature of darkness, lives in a swamp that provides life, with one thought of revenge and rebirth.

I think this would be best described as a grim dark fairytale with a sprinkle of romance.

I did not expect a love interest and oh how perfect it unfolded.

‘To choose to define each other in terms of forever, even in times of darkness, even in death. Wasn’t there a certain freedom in that?’

Thank you to netgalley and Harper Collins UK for the opportunity to read this in advance in exchange for an honest review.

Yaga lives deep in the Russian forest, tending to any that call upon her for her healing potions and vast wisdom. She has been alone for centuries, with only her beloved animals for company. But, when Tsaritsa Anastasia, wife of Tsar Ivan Vasilyevich, shows up at Yaga’s cottage on the brink of death, Yaga is compelled to travel with her to Moscow to keep her safe.
However, the Russia Yaga sees as she makes her journey to the heart of the country is one on the brink of chaos. Tsar Ivan – soon to become Ivan the Terrible – grows more volatile and tyrannical by the day, and Yaga believes the tsaritsa is being poisoned by an unknown enemy. But what Yaga cannot know is that Ivan is being manipulated by powers far older and more fearsome than anyone can imagine.

It has been a slow book. I liked the historical portrayal and the Russian mythology, which caught my attention from the very beginning.
Even so, there were parts of the book that felt long, slow and repetitive. And then parts where the action happened suddenly without too many explanations and made me get lost. or example, characters were mentioned as if they had been very important and had been mentioned twice before, simply by name.
The characters didn't make me empathise much either, which is a pity for me, because the story is interesting.
I think the pace is a bit confusing, but I would recommend giving it a chance if you like Russian mythology or are interested in historical novels.

Really good book. Very engaging. Took a little while to get into, but maybe that’s because I have no background knowledge.

The Witch and The Tsar

During the reign of Ivan the Terrible, Yaga, also known as Baba Yaga, receives a visit from Anastasia, Tsaritsa of Russia. Many believe the old tales that Baba Yaga is an evil, threatening witch. Really, Yaga is the daughter of a goddess, long forgotten in the worship of the Russian people. This visit from Anastasia results in Yaga being put slap bang in the middle of the political conflict going on in Russia.

I love that this story includes characters and stores from Eastern European/Russian folklore! I didn’t have much experience before this, and it’s so interesting to learn about! It’s also great to learn about some Russian history that you don’t know before!

A story full of magic and intrigue, I found it very enjoyable!

4/5 ⭐️

A fascinating take by Ms Olesya on the legend of Baba Yaga during the reign of Ivan the Terrible.

Baba Yaga, the immortal, and unsurprisingly much maligned, witch of legends is willing to stake everything to save her beloved homeland from the tyranny of the Tsar.

Not as the wicked and ugly sorceress or witch of legends, she is reimagined as a demigoddess in possession of Magic so great that untruths, legends, tales and stories are needed to cloak the power to protect her.

Tsar Ivan who will soon be known to posterity as Ivan the Terrible is a man in the clutches of Powers reaching out far into the misty antiquity. Powers that are to be feared, and respected in certain measures.

As someone with an avid interest in Russian history and mythology, it was a pleasure to have been able to read an ARC of 'The Witch and the Tsar'. Many thanks to NetGalley and HarperCollins UK for approving the request to read and review.
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Reviewed in India.
Published in the UK on December 8, 2022.
First published on September 20, 2022.

Two of my favourite genres are fantasy fiction and historical fiction, so I was delighted to receive an early copy of The Witch and the Tsar. This story takes the real-life Ivan-the-Terrible and pits him against the legendary Baba Yaga, a fearsome witch!

The story covers a twenty-two-year period starting from 1560. Yaga is the immortal daughter of a goddess and a human; centuries-old, but with the appearance of a young, attractive woman. She lives in Little Hen (a hut on chicken legs) with her owl and wolf in the northern woods, surrounded by the skulls of dead animals, beside the passageway to the Land of the Dead. She mistrusts people, as they mistrust her, but always offers help and healing as needed.

One day, Anastasia, the tsaritsa and wife of Tsar Ivan IV of Russia, requests help with a mysterious illness - it turns out she is being poisoned. Yaga travels with her to Moscow to keep her safe, but Anastasia's enemy is far more powerful than either of them realise...

The Witch and the Tsar is a clever, well-written story that weaves traditional folklore through a violent period of Russia's history. As I'm not familiar with the folklore, I found this part hard to follow at times and would have loved more detail about the different supernatural worlds and 'kingdoms'. There is a lot happening in this book (wars, uprisings, massacres) and it could have been split into two, to do full justice to the story. I was not as interested in the politics and battle scenes as I was in the magic realism of Yaga's world, her spells, rituals and potions, and her relationships with Konstantin and Vasily.

The Witch and the Tsar didn't quite work for me, but I can see that it might appeal to fans of Katherine Arden's Winternight trilogy and Naomi Novik's Spinning Silver.


Thank you to Olesya Salnikova Giomore and HarperVoyager for my copy of this book, which I requested via NetGalley and reviewed voluntarily.

This reads just like a gruesome fairytale but with a brilliant feminist twist. A great new take on the usual dark Baba Yaga tales.

So I tend to split fantasy into two camps - the immediately immersive, easy to get swept away in type, and then the more complex, slower fantasy where you really have to focus to keep up with everything going on! For me this book was actually a bit of both - it was quite a slow start and took me a while to understand everything going on as I’d say this is quite a “high brow” fantasy, but by the second half I was totally consumed and blitzed through it much faster! It was also so fascinating as I didn’t know much about the Baba Yaga myths or Russia’s history and I felt like I learnt a little through this.

I was particularly charmed by the non-human characters. Yaga’s supporting cast of her wolf, owl and Little Hen. These were not only delightful characters (I love the slightly sarcastic owl and dear, sweet little hen) but they also made Yaga’s power seem believable. Yaga has to do some incredible things in this book and I liked that she isn’t some all-powerful, all-magical person who can just do everything herself. Her relationships with others and their working together is what makes her powerful. This made me a lot more invested in her success.

There’s a lot going on to please plenty of readers in this powerful debut - magic, battle, romance, mythology, and beautiful writing that’s almost rhythmic at times. There is quite a lot of gore, bloodshed and death so it’s not the lightest read, but the friendships and romances which blossom balance it out nicely. And Yaga is an absolutely brilliant character who dispels so many of the usual tropes around wart covered, grizzly old witches. A real epic feminist story to savour.

Highly recommended if you love winter and Nordic settings, if you love witches and magical creatures and if you loved The Bear and the Nightingale and Shadow and Bone!
The Witch and the Tsar is out today! Don't miss it!

Thank you to NetGalley and HarperCollins UK for the advance reader copy

The Witch and the Tsar is perfect winter reading and I enjoyed it very much.  Set in the Russia of Ivan the Terrible.  He is the Tsar that the witch Yaga is pitched against in the title.

This folklore retelling of Baba Yaga mythos is engaging and dramatic.  If you've been reading my reviews you know I have a soft spot for feminst retellings of traditionally vilified women characters and The Witch and the Tsar does this really well. 

Yaga  is a demi god, daughter of Mokosh. She is a Vedmar (witch) a healer and midwife she travels from place to place. Until she is called out in this christianised country. She is summoned to the court of Ivan to nurse the Tsarista and her old friend Anastasia. There are are powers at play beyond Yaga's understanding and Ivan turns on her when she fails to save her friend.

This is a book about family, about being a woman who does not conform.  It is about fighting for the right cause and standing up to oppressors.  There is an urgency to the novel.  I couldn't put it down, dying to know what was going to happen next and how Yaga would pick her battles. With her owl Noch and her wolf Dyen.  I loved the characterisation of her Little Hen the cottage with chicken legs. Elements from the myths such as her motar and pestle were referenced ways which made me smile.

One of the key characters is Vasily, a friend of the Tsar's son. A leader in the rebellion against Ivan the Terrible and Yaga's love interest. Their relationship is absolutely joyous and his character whilst flawed as we all are, still consistently warmed my heart with just how good he was for Yaga. Serious relationsip goals right there.

With a mix of historical characters, slavic gods and fictional characters Olesya Salnikova Gilmore has created a lush world I thoroughly enjoyed reading.

Baba Yaga is a shunned witch by humanity, who has been victimised for doing magic even after people accepted her help, In the olden days she was called a healer but as time went on and people became suspicious, she was called a witch and treated badly....
A tsaritsa, Anastasia,a friend of Yaga, comes into the woods where Yaga now lives to help her. She's feeling very ill and Yaga sees she's been poisoned. She ends up going to the Tsar's palace to help her friend and sees that she's been poisoned again. She tries to help her friend, also become on better terms with the Tsar who is suspicious of everyone, and work out who is doing this evil thing. She finds an old flame there who should not be, he's not a good person. So she has a lot to deal with. Things go from bad to worse and life becomes a totally different one. She embraces this and helps a group of misfits to fight the war
Although this story ended up dragging on a little, I still really enjoyed it. There are a lot of pages!!!.
If you're a fan of old fashioned fairy tales with a twist, this is the book for you!.
Netgalley sent a free arc book for me to read to give an honest review.
#Netgalley, #Harpercollinsuk, #olesyaauthor.

The Witch and the Tsar by Olesya Sanikova Gilmore is a lush and vivid blend of historical fiction and fantasy, set in the Russia of Ivan the Terrible. I was immediately drawn to the striking cover with its beautiful colours and simple but effective design and reading the publisher's description made me want to get my hands on a copy immediately.
The author has a new take on the legend of the Baba Yaga, and while some familiar parts of the story are wonderfully present, most notably Little Hen, the hut with chicken legs we have all heard of in the original Baba Yaga stories, and Yaga's animal companions , a wolf and an owl. It is abundantly clear that the author has done a lot of historical study and research and she has incorporated much of it into the book which spans decades. The decision to write a single volume rather than split the story into two books or alternatively compress the timeline in some way meant that there were occasional shifts in timeline that felt somewhat jarring., and occasionally the inclusion of so much history about Russia in the time of Ivan the Terrible distracted from the story being told and caused the book to drag a little.
The Yaga, as she refers to herself in this book is younger, in her thirties, and this was a change to the legend that I thought worked well by making her have enough lived experience to be believable while not so young that she was just another YA heroine.
This book was definitely something of a slow burn, it is definitely not one I would recommend to reader who like their stories fast paced and action packed, but for those who want to be swept away to another time and place so that they can lose themselves in a good story, this is a good wintertime read
I read and reviewed an ARC courtesy of NetGalley and the publisher , all opinions are my own.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

I have just finished reading the book, I loved everything about the book- the world building, the characters, the style of writing.

The book having set in Russia in the 16th century during the time where the Tsar wreaked havoc across Russia, in the midst of all this we have Baba Yaga who hopes to eliminate the destruction that has taken toil upon Russia. Gilmore creates a world where Baba Yaga is the hero of the story, as opposed to the monster that most would believe she is. Baba Yaga is indeed a powerful, independent woman from the moment we meet her, I am so glad that Gilmore created a female protagonist that would stick true to her self even when she does stumble upon love. The amount of side characters this book had did stick out to me, since they were all distinguishable and unique to themselves- though I must say I had one favourite side character.

The weaving of historical moments into a world of fantasy filled with gods and goddesses was what reeled me into requesting this arc. If you love adventure thrown in with historical fiction, myths and animals then this should be the perfect book for you to pick up.

This book follows Baba Yaga - an evil witch in eastern European folklore - but taking the path of many other feminist retellings of popular mythology and folklore stories by making Baba Yaga the protagonist at the time of Ivar the Terrible.
Having not read any Slavic/Russian folklore and knowing very little about Ivar the Terrible I did find this really interesting and I think it is really great that publishing is expanding to tell more stories from different cultures. Ivar is a fantastic villain and this isn't just the story of Yaga but of Russia at the time and the spreading of Christianity and rejection of the old gods.
I liked the character development as Yaga goes from her life of isolation, after being rejected by the people she tried to help, to aid her friend Anastasia, the wife of Ivar. The story follows her as she is fighting for her country that she loves, even whilst her country is turning on her. The storytelling is wonderful and the complexity of the characters makes many of them easy to love.

I was a bit annoyed that Baba Yaga was aged down so instead of being an old woman she was now a young beautiful woman. I feel takes away from the dark nature of Baba Yaga folklore as well as from the idea of it being a feminist retelling that Yaga has to be beautiful, young, and interested in romance to be likeable and a worthy protagonist. This was the main point that I disliked in this book.
Other than that, I think an opportunity was missed to make her more of a morally grey character, as in folklore she does many terrible things, but we see her much more as a morally righteous protagonist in this retelling.
The book takes a bit of time to flow well - in the beginning is more a group of Yaga stories to give her background and I did find some of these explanation were a little skipped over (like the house with chicken legs!). But I think once the story finds its feet it works really well and allows you to get invested in the characters.

Overall I enjoyed this story, it gives an interesting insight into the time, and I hope the author continues in this genre as she becomes more experienced. It doesn't quite hit the mark of a feminist mythology/folklore story in the same way that Circe did, but it is still worth a read.

Thank you to NetGalley and HarperCollins Fiction UK for providing me with this eARC in exchange for an honest review.
My review will be posted on TikTok and Goodreads within the next 7 days.

Synopsis:

The Witch and the Tsar is a novel inspired by the Slavic folklore of Baba Yaga. However, our protagonist here - named simply Yaga - is no villainous old crone. Instead she is part goddess, part mortal; a healer who has chosen to live a simple life away from humanity with only her animal companions and Little Hen, her house with chicken legs.

Yet when Anastasia Romanova - the tsaritsa of Russia - visits Yaga and shows signs of being poisoned, Yaga knows she must go to the capital and get to the bottom of why someone would wish to murder the beloved tsaritsa and in turn plunge the country into decades of violence and bloodshed. The tsaritsa’s poisoning coincides with sinister changes in Russia herself, courtesy of the vengeful Goddess of Death, and as the story unfolds it may be down to Yaga to save them both.

My thoughts:

I loved the fantasy elements, world building and the wintry Russian setting of The Witch and the Tsar. It uses both folklore and real characters from Russian history, but this isn’t a book for those expecting a traditional Baba Yaga tale so it might let some readers down for that reason. For me, it perhaps tries to do too much and could have been a series instead of a stand alone. There’s lots of fast-forward time jumps and I felt that some characters were little underdeveloped or under-utilised and some were introduced only to disappear for a long time. However, overall it was an atmospheric read that got me into the winter mood!

The Witch And the Tsar
Marc:NetGalley
Publisher: HarperCollins UK, Harper Fiction, Harper Voyager
Publication Date: 8 December 2022
Genre: Historical Fiction

This is a very detailed piece with a lot going on. It's clear that Gilmore wants to know exactly how much research he puts into every detail of the novel's world...but a lot of it chilled me. He had two reasons for this.
First, the book clearly should have been a trilogy. It takes us through almost the entire reign of Ivan the Terrible, and so much happens that it's easy to forget what exactly happened while reading. It results in long skipping periods, leading to the feeling that Yaga and Russia Gilmore want us to root. This gets worse as the book reaches its climax, and everything feels rushed toward the end.

The second is the central character, Yaga herself, who, while respecting Gilmore's decision to make her a feminist heroine, seems to have pulled out the witch's iron fangs and given her a large chunk that was too deprived of her bite. She insists on removing the prefix - pretty much like any other YA heroine despite being timeless and immortal. Didn't you? Isn't it the power to recapture the flying pestle and iron nose of the witch that appears in the story? Many writers have explored the idea that Baba Yaga isn't as bad as it seems, so I won't pretend this idea is mine.

It's a shame - there's a lot of love put into this book, but I'd like it to grow and become the expansive story it wanted, allowing the heroine to be vast and complex. She felt that there was not enough room for more.

#NetGalley @HarperVoyagerUK @Olesya Salnikova Gilmore

This is a highly detailed work with a lot going on- it's clear that Gilmore wants you to know exactly how much research she put in to every little detail of the world of the novel,. however, much of it left me cold. There were two reasons for this: firstly, the book should clearly have been a trilogy. In taking us pretty much through almost the entire reign of Ivan the Terrible, so much happens that it's easy to forget, in the reading, what exactly has transpired. It also leads to great stretches of time, decades at one point, being skipped over, leading to a sense of disconncetion from Yaga and the Russia that Gilmore wants us to be rooted in. This gets worse as the book reaches its climax, making everything feel very rushed towards the end.

The second problem is one I have with the central character of Yaga herself. I respect the decision Gilmore made to try and make her a feminist heroine, however, it seems like in pulling the witch's iron teeth she's also robbed her of much of her bite. Yaga- she insists on dropping the prefix- is pretty much the same as any other YA heroine, even though she's an ageless immortal. Why did Baba Yaga have to shed her monstrosity to be seen as feminist? Isn't there power in reclaiming the flying pestle and iron nose of the witch in the stories? I won't even pretend this idea is original to me, as many writers have explored the idea of Baba Yaga not being as bad as she seems- but still being bad *enough* for a bit of character.

It's a shame- a lot of love clearly went into this book, but I just felt that it didn't have enough room to grow and be the expansive story it clearly wanted to be, and allow the heroine to be as monstrous and complicated as she truly is,

An amalgamation of Russian history and folklore which allows both to have a place. Yaga is the daughter of a goddess and a mortal, and as such has longevity and skills which set her apart from the people she helps. She lives alone in the woods with animals for company, and in a chicken-legged hut which has a personality of its own. Her long history has made her wary of getting too closely involved in the problems of others, but her friendship with Anastasia who has become the wife of Tzar Ivan sends her to Moscow and the plots and dangers of the court.
I knew the bare outlines of this period of Russian history, and only the chicken-legged hut for Baba Yaga, but the author remains with the boundaries of history (as checked on Wikipedia!) while giving it a fantasy background which seems quite plausible within the context of the book. Her characters are not perfect or all powerful, even the old gods are shown to have their failings, and Yaga has a sympathy for the new religion which is uncommon in most stories set against a pagan background.
My lack of knowledge of this era made the book very original for me, and also makes me want to read more on Ivan the Terrible and Baba Yaga. Although the author does explain that her Yaga is an interpretation which allowed her to become a more well-rounded character.
I found it a well-crafted book with an engrossing story. Although there′s no obvious sequel it would be interesting to see if the author approaches another period of Russian history with a similar concept.

I had a copy of this book early through Netgalley

I wanted to like this, but I really really struggled to get through it. I gave up at 70% through.

The origin of Baba Yaga and Ivan the Terrible should have been an engaging story, but it's very slow. I'd have liked to have see more of Yaga and Koshey (Koschei), and more of her interacting with the Tsar - despite the title there's very little of that. I liked the interludes with Selica in the land of the dead, and I feel like I know a bit more about Russian folklore now, but it wasn't enough to hook me in.