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Hearth and Bard Tales #1.5
Flight: A Vasilisa Novelette
After facing enslaving nobles and an invading army, Vasilisa’s life should have been dull comparatively. But raising precocious children is anything but dull, especially when one child inherited her love for adventure but not her talents, and another inherited her talents but fears to use them.
When a stranger broaches the borders of her home, Vasilisa must face old fears and fight to protect her loved ones. This time she doesn’t fight alone.
FLIGHT is a novelette that takes place after the events in the novel VASILISA.
When a stranger broaches the borders of her home, Vasilisa must face old fears and fight to protect her loved ones. This time she doesn’t fight alone.
FLIGHT is a novelette that takes place after the events in the novel VASILISA.
40 pages, Kindle Edition
Published December 15, 2021
10 people want to read
About the author
M.L. Farb
11 books46 followersML Farb is the Whitney Award Finalist and SPFBO Semi-Finalist author of noblebright fantasy and retellings of less known fairytales.
To learn more about her adventures and her favorite books see: https://mlfarbauthor.com/home-2/about...
WHAT READERS SAY
“The writing style is smart and engaging. Brave young men, vivacious heroine. Vibrant world, exciting stakes!” – H.S.J. Williams, author of Moonscript
“Farb has created story line, character development, humor, plot twists, incredible prose, and deep truths that are all phenomenal.” – Petey (Goodreads)
“I love JRR Tolkien, CS Lewis, Lloyd Alexander, and now ML Farb.” – John (Goodreads)
“This could be one of my all time favorite series, right up there with Harry Potter and the Hunger Games!“ – Mari (Audible)
“It is an exquisite tale of hope and redemption.“ – Onlinebookclub review
“It can be difficult to find a story that can boast exciting adventure, true love, clever riddles, exceptional and believable character arc, as well as a complete lack of rudeness or depravity. “
– Melanie (Goodreads)
To learn more about her adventures and her favorite books see: https://mlfarbauthor.com/home-2/about...
WHAT READERS SAY
“The writing style is smart and engaging. Brave young men, vivacious heroine. Vibrant world, exciting stakes!” – H.S.J. Williams, author of Moonscript
“Farb has created story line, character development, humor, plot twists, incredible prose, and deep truths that are all phenomenal.” – Petey (Goodreads)
“I love JRR Tolkien, CS Lewis, Lloyd Alexander, and now ML Farb.” – John (Goodreads)
“This could be one of my all time favorite series, right up there with Harry Potter and the Hunger Games!“ – Mari (Audible)
“It is an exquisite tale of hope and redemption.“ – Onlinebookclub review
“It can be difficult to find a story that can boast exciting adventure, true love, clever riddles, exceptional and believable character arc, as well as a complete lack of rudeness or depravity. “
– Melanie (Goodreads)
Ratings & Reviews
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
December 22, 2021
I received a copy of Flight in exchange for an honest review.
Return to the fairytale Ruska of M.L. Farb’s first Hearth and Bard Tales instalment with Flight, a novelette after-story to Vasilisa. Where at least one of Farb’s other novelettes takes place almost immediately after the events of the attached novel, Flight catches up with its principal actors, forest-born Vasilisa and manor-heir Staver, over a decade after we last saw them, married now, and settled into their home, though just as sharp as they were when we left them.
A darker follow-up to a perilous tale, Flight differs in tone from other Hearth and Bard Tales novelettes and novels in that its characters are warriors. Their story deals in war, tests, and the challenges of accepting one’s nature, and even years later in this novelette, Vasilisa and Staver still spend their time and energy preparing for conflict both within their home beyond and their boarders.
Conflict, however, finds them as the next generation, their children, struggle with the same turmoil Vasilisa faced as she came of age in her novel. Fortunate then, that this is a family bound by love and magic as a figure from Vasilisa’s past returns to threaten her children and remind us all that it is choices, not blood, that makes monsters.
Return to the fairytale Ruska of M.L. Farb’s first Hearth and Bard Tales instalment with Flight, a novelette after-story to Vasilisa. Where at least one of Farb’s other novelettes takes place almost immediately after the events of the attached novel, Flight catches up with its principal actors, forest-born Vasilisa and manor-heir Staver, over a decade after we last saw them, married now, and settled into their home, though just as sharp as they were when we left them.
A darker follow-up to a perilous tale, Flight differs in tone from other Hearth and Bard Tales novelettes and novels in that its characters are warriors. Their story deals in war, tests, and the challenges of accepting one’s nature, and even years later in this novelette, Vasilisa and Staver still spend their time and energy preparing for conflict both within their home beyond and their boarders.
Conflict, however, finds them as the next generation, their children, struggle with the same turmoil Vasilisa faced as she came of age in her novel. Fortunate then, that this is a family bound by love and magic as a figure from Vasilisa’s past returns to threaten her children and remind us all that it is choices, not blood, that makes monsters.
April 13, 2022
I would encourage you to read Vasilisa first as this is a story about her and Staver many years later. It was nice to see into their future and to get to know their family.
Content:
Sexual: none
Violence: mild
Language: none
Content:
Sexual: none
Violence: mild
Language: none
July 21, 2025
Content:
Profanity: None.
Violence: High mild. There is a fight with a creature in this that has animals lunging for throats, and death is immanent. and there is threat to a child/teen.
Sexual: Mild. Married couple kiss. that's about it.
Triggers: Child endangered. Nothing happens, he's about 14, but he's definitely in peril.
This was actually more fun to read than Vasilisa for me if I'm honest. Which, by the way, if you're reading this review, it will have MAJOR spoilers for Vasilisa, so don't continue if you don't want spoilers.
This little 40 page short is a story told about Vasilisa and Staver's three children and how they teach them their heritage as part ogres. One child loves shape-shifting, another is afraid of it and thinks they're a monster after hearing the horrible stories about ogres from a friend, and the other can't shift at all and desperately wishes he could.
It's basically a "20 years later" type of story, told to a fair-folk story teller in the past tense, of a time when they were all younger and trying to deal with the difficulty of being good ogres and the stigma that came from all the stories about evil ogres. It was fun to see Vasilisa and Staver's three kids, and the two of them as parents. Such a fun short.
Profanity: None.
Violence: High mild. There is a fight with a creature in this that has animals lunging for throats, and death is immanent. and there is threat to a child/teen.
Sexual: Mild. Married couple kiss. that's about it.
Triggers: Child endangered. Nothing happens, he's about 14, but he's definitely in peril.
This was actually more fun to read than Vasilisa for me if I'm honest. Which, by the way, if you're reading this review, it will have MAJOR spoilers for Vasilisa, so don't continue if you don't want spoilers.
This little 40 page short is a story told about Vasilisa and Staver's three children and how they teach them their heritage as part ogres. One child loves shape-shifting, another is afraid of it and thinks they're a monster after hearing the horrible stories about ogres from a friend, and the other can't shift at all and desperately wishes he could.
It's basically a "20 years later" type of story, told to a fair-folk story teller in the past tense, of a time when they were all younger and trying to deal with the difficulty of being good ogres and the stigma that came from all the stories about evil ogres. It was fun to see Vasilisa and Staver's three kids, and the two of them as parents. Such a fun short.
December 15, 2021
I really loved reading this wonderful book! I loved the characters and the plot! I had a hard time putting this wonderful book down! I loved this retelling of Vasilisa! I will be reading the next book in this wonderful series!
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews