What do you think?
Rate this book
The Night-Bird's Feather
Valentina dreams the future and the past. One day, she will duel the lord of death. She will leave his lands in ruin, and a portion of her heart behind. Another day, she will return, to study at Death’s Bleak Academy. Today ... she is alone, her family bound in enchanted sleep, her home ringed round by a witch’s guard of a crows. In her dreams she’s found the first hope of fighting back; has set her hand upon the true thing that is behind all things, that undergirds all things, the treasure that is the worth of all the world ... but it is a treasure that belongs to Death, and Death is a jealous god.
One day, her great-great-granddaughter Aprosinya will grow up on stories of her deeds—stories of witches and curses, clockwork come to life, duels in the dark beyond the world, and the risen dead. Stories that will come to her as finished things ... but they are not. The Bleak Academy has business with her family yet, and the things of fairy-tale too; and Valentina and the witch yet haunt her dreams.
"Vita Nostra" meets "Spirited Away" in this bold, heartening Slavic-inspired fantasy saga by Jenna Moran, where attention and care hold the world in place; where beauty, wonder, and terror may yet be found beyond the lands of life. Pick up a copy of "the Night-Bird’s Feather" and let its story set you free.
One day, her great-great-granddaughter Aprosinya will grow up on stories of her deeds—stories of witches and curses, clockwork come to life, duels in the dark beyond the world, and the risen dead. Stories that will come to her as finished things ... but they are not. The Bleak Academy has business with her family yet, and the things of fairy-tale too; and Valentina and the witch yet haunt her dreams.
"Vita Nostra" meets "Spirited Away" in this bold, heartening Slavic-inspired fantasy saga by Jenna Moran, where attention and care hold the world in place; where beauty, wonder, and terror may yet be found beyond the lands of life. Pick up a copy of "the Night-Bird’s Feather" and let its story set you free.
566 pages, Paperback
19 people are currently reading
226 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 40 reviews
September 8, 2022
I am not gonna lie, the thing that had attracted me to this book was the cover because it sort of reminded me of constellations. The premise sounds interesting, but to my dismay, however it has very long chapters, it would have been nicer if the chapters have been divided into smaller chunks. After reading about 7% of the story I finally decided to let it go because due to its pacing I don't think it's kind of the book that I would enjoy.
Thank you, NetGalley for providing me with an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.
Thank you, NetGalley for providing me with an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.
August 26, 2022
This books feels like your brain was extracted from your head, wrapped in a sherpa blanket, gently tucked into a basket, then sent floating down a lazy river.
Absolutely nothing in this story makes sense and I cannot say enough good things about it. This reads like what disassociating feels like. It has a feeling that's like a mix of nonsense, folklore and child's bedtime story. If you've ever read the Moomin comics, it's vaguely reminiscent of that kind of story.
This book was much longer than I expected, and I think it was a good one to read in small doses.
Absolutely nothing in this story makes sense and I cannot say enough good things about it. This reads like what disassociating feels like. It has a feeling that's like a mix of nonsense, folklore and child's bedtime story. If you've ever read the Moomin comics, it's vaguely reminiscent of that kind of story.
This book was much longer than I expected, and I think it was a good one to read in small doses.
November 9, 2023
Stars: 1.5 out of 5.
Well, this book was a big disappointment, to tell you the truth. I love fairy tales. I love modern retellings of said fairy tales, if they are well done. And that's a big IF. Especially when it comes to retellings of Slavic tales, because they are near and dear to my heart. I grew up with them.
Unfortunately, we don't really have a retelling here of anything. Honestly, if you had switched the Russian names of the main characters to typical English names, the story wouldn't have changed much at all. Peppering the story with typical Russian or Ukrainian dishes or things doesn't build an exotic atmosphere, like the author probably intended. It just served to irritate me.
The biggest problem with this book though is that it has no soul. Sure, the author can write pretty sentences, but that isn't enough to make a good story. The characters feel flat and one-dimensional. Even Valentina, our protagonist whom we spend most of the book with, is extremely boring. I don't know what makes her tick. I don't know what her dreams and fears are. The author tells us she wants to kill the Headmaster of the Bleak Academy because he took something from her, but what he took is described so vaguely, that I still don't understand what the big deal is. So you are made of blood and bones, and you can hear your heart beat. Big deal.
Same goes for the story of her falling in love... with a man she never spoke to, just saw in passing and heard play the piano. Sure, the author tells us that, but there is not a shred of feeling of it in the actual story. There is no feeling in the story at all, to tell you the truth. It's all very dry and soulless, if prettily written.
My other problem is that this world makes no sense. The author mentions that this was the land of eternal darkness until Valentina brought the sun to it and created the separation between night and day. Okay, I can get on board with that, but explain to me how this works? How do people grow crops in darkness? How do they survive without night and day? How do they travel about? Where do they get all the resources necessary to light their town? How do animals and trees survive there?
See, real fairy tales always have an inner logic and a rigid set of rules, no matter how fantastical those rules seem compared to our world. And characters, monsters, and even natural events follow those rules. In this book though, the rules are never explained, so the reasons behind why some things happen are very nebulous and often make no sense. If I can't make sense of that's happening, I won't be invested in the story.
To summarize, don't bother with this book if you like fairy tale retellings. There are much better books out there. Like Greymist Fair, for example.
PS: I received an advanced copy of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
If you liked this review, check out my blog.
Well, this book was a big disappointment, to tell you the truth. I love fairy tales. I love modern retellings of said fairy tales, if they are well done. And that's a big IF. Especially when it comes to retellings of Slavic tales, because they are near and dear to my heart. I grew up with them.
Unfortunately, we don't really have a retelling here of anything. Honestly, if you had switched the Russian names of the main characters to typical English names, the story wouldn't have changed much at all. Peppering the story with typical Russian or Ukrainian dishes or things doesn't build an exotic atmosphere, like the author probably intended. It just served to irritate me.
The biggest problem with this book though is that it has no soul. Sure, the author can write pretty sentences, but that isn't enough to make a good story. The characters feel flat and one-dimensional. Even Valentina, our protagonist whom we spend most of the book with, is extremely boring. I don't know what makes her tick. I don't know what her dreams and fears are. The author tells us she wants to kill the Headmaster of the Bleak Academy because he took something from her, but what he took is described so vaguely, that I still don't understand what the big deal is. So you are made of blood and bones, and you can hear your heart beat. Big deal.
Same goes for the story of her falling in love... with a man she never spoke to, just saw in passing and heard play the piano. Sure, the author tells us that, but there is not a shred of feeling of it in the actual story. There is no feeling in the story at all, to tell you the truth. It's all very dry and soulless, if prettily written.
My other problem is that this world makes no sense. The author mentions that this was the land of eternal darkness until Valentina brought the sun to it and created the separation between night and day. Okay, I can get on board with that, but explain to me how this works? How do people grow crops in darkness? How do they survive without night and day? How do they travel about? Where do they get all the resources necessary to light their town? How do animals and trees survive there?
See, real fairy tales always have an inner logic and a rigid set of rules, no matter how fantastical those rules seem compared to our world. And characters, monsters, and even natural events follow those rules. In this book though, the rules are never explained, so the reasons behind why some things happen are very nebulous and often make no sense. If I can't make sense of that's happening, I won't be invested in the story.
To summarize, don't bother with this book if you like fairy tale retellings. There are much better books out there. Like Greymist Fair, for example.
PS: I received an advanced copy of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
If you liked this review, check out my blog.
September 26, 2022
I absolutely adore books that go more for the vibe over the plot. But what made this one special was that it went for both an equal perfect amount. I was able to sympathize with the characters and really feel the atmosphere and get drawn inside the strangeness and the horror. The magic system of this was amazingly crafted as well as the worldbuilding it was like no other fantasy I have read before. I enjoyed this book immensely and recommend it to everyone who reads my review.
Thank you Netgalley for the ARC!
Thank you Netgalley for the ARC!
September 26, 2022
2.5 🌟
This book and I did not vibe at all.
It has an interesting premise but the execution was flawed. The chapters were too long and it's not the type of book one would be able to finish in one sitting. That said, I do realise the book has potential and a lot of people might like it.
This book and I did not vibe at all.
It has an interesting premise but the execution was flawed. The chapters were too long and it's not the type of book one would be able to finish in one sitting. That said, I do realise the book has potential and a lot of people might like it.
August 4, 2022
Thank you NetGalley for a chance to read The Night-Bird’s Feather.
This book was so good. I was hooked from the start and loved how the book was written. I really enjoyed the characters and the plot. This story is unique but the writing style is what really sets it apart for me. I plan to read this again in the fall.
This book was so good. I was hooked from the start and loved how the book was written. I really enjoyed the characters and the plot. This story is unique but the writing style is what really sets it apart for me. I plan to read this again in the fall.
December 29, 2025
Beautiful images stood out throughout this book, and those who didn't get more than 12% into it (looking at other reviews) missed out, although I'm not sure the whole thing completely gelled. The atmosphere was more interesting than the world's (meta)structure.
October 26, 2022
The cover and description of this book drew me in, but it really wasn’t for me. I didn’t find that this book engaged me at all, and in fact I found the tone and world somewhat off-putting. I’m not familiar with Slavic folklore so I’m not sure how much of this book is based on existing characters or the author’s own interpretations, but either way I really wasn’t expecting a bird to become a witch and be the main villain of the story?? And if that had been in the description I never would have picked up this book. I tried to give it a chance, but I’m someone who hates to stop reading in the middle of a chapter and these chapters were just way too long. 8 chapters in a 500+ page book is just not enough, especially when the pacing is slow.
I DNF’d this book at 10% because I just wasn’t really enjoying it and I really had no motivation to pick it back up again. If this book had been shorter I might have tried to finish it just to see where it went, but I couldn’t see myself getting through another 450 pages.
*Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
I DNF’d this book at 10% because I just wasn’t really enjoying it and I really had no motivation to pick it back up again. If this book had been shorter I might have tried to finish it just to see where it went, but I couldn’t see myself getting through another 450 pages.
*Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
September 27, 2022
The Night-Bird's Feather is an incredibly interesting take on magic systems, familial ties, and morally grey bird-witches. The vibes of this book are immaculate, but I struggled with the execution of the story itself. I'm a big fan of the locked tomb series, so I'm familiar with having no idea what's happening in a book. However, this wasn't as enjoyable to wade through. It was mainly a problem with the pacing of the book. It felt incredibly slow, but if you can get past that it's truly a great read.
This book shined in it's forming and detailed recounting of relationships. Valentina's relationship and struggle with the witch who put her family to sleep while grappling her burgeoning powers.
I really wanted to love this story, but the pacing was too much. The chapters were so long and I lost the plot toward the end. It's very atmospheric and for the right reader would be perfect.
This book shined in it's forming and detailed recounting of relationships. Valentina's relationship and struggle with the witch who put her family to sleep while grappling her burgeoning powers.
I really wanted to love this story, but the pacing was too much. The chapters were so long and I lost the plot toward the end. It's very atmospheric and for the right reader would be perfect.
October 31, 2022
(Thank you NetGalley for a copy of this book. To the best of my knowledge, it doesn't affect my feelings on it.)
The Night-Bird's Feather feels more like a set of fairy tales or a legendarium than anything else. Connected stories about a few core characters, but told as though we've been hearing about them since childhood. ...Except more likely to be about the unfair weight of expectations on children or the philosophy of perception.
The sentence-and-paragraph level structure of the book was by turns musical and challenging, and while I enjoyed it and mostly felt I understood, I also wanted to dive back into the first chapter right after I finished, to see what my greater understanding would reveal. But it didn't grab me and drag me through like a more approachable book might, and took me a while to finish.
The Night-Bird's Feather feels more like a set of fairy tales or a legendarium than anything else. Connected stories about a few core characters, but told as though we've been hearing about them since childhood. ...Except more likely to be about the unfair weight of expectations on children or the philosophy of perception.
The sentence-and-paragraph level structure of the book was by turns musical and challenging, and while I enjoyed it and mostly felt I understood, I also wanted to dive back into the first chapter right after I finished, to see what my greater understanding would reveal. But it didn't grab me and drag me through like a more approachable book might, and took me a while to finish.
September 19, 2022
Thank you to Netgalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review;
DNF at 12%;
This book intrigued me as soon as I saw the cover and read the description. However, once I started to actually read it, I found myself disengaged. This book is over 500 pages long and only has 8 chapters. The flow of the narrative felt choppy and I constantly felt myself being told what was happening rather than being shown. The lore and magic system were interesting but it was taking too long to get to any sort of rising action worth my time to read. If this book was about half as long as it is, I may have taken the time to finish it, but with the length and extremely slow pacing I, unfortunately, cannot subject myself to reading something I have not enjoyed.
DNF at 12%;
This book intrigued me as soon as I saw the cover and read the description. However, once I started to actually read it, I found myself disengaged. This book is over 500 pages long and only has 8 chapters. The flow of the narrative felt choppy and I constantly felt myself being told what was happening rather than being shown. The lore and magic system were interesting but it was taking too long to get to any sort of rising action worth my time to read. If this book was about half as long as it is, I may have taken the time to finish it, but with the length and extremely slow pacing I, unfortunately, cannot subject myself to reading something I have not enjoyed.
September 20, 2022
I have been thinking about this book for a few days now, ever since I finished it, and frankly, I've still got no idea how to review it. I loved this book, and yet it is so hard to describe and to make sense of what my thoughts actually are. Something about the themes of this book really spoke to me, but I am struggling to put it into words.
The Night-Bird's Feather follows many characters and is mainly set in a place called Fortitude. Fortitude is a town that exists in its own reality it seems, and the story spans a great deal of time, but it also really shows that time is but a construct. It starts with a girl, Valentina, and the heron-witch who curses her family into an enchanted sleep, which leaves Valentina to take care of her entire family. Valentina is from the Sosunov family, famous for their dream magic, and the story starts before there was the Sun in the world. The story is not only of Valentina, it is also of Death and his dominion, his daughter; Valentina's great-great-granddaughter Aprosinya (and even more characters). It is told through a series of fairytale-esque stories that seem less connected in the beginning, but start to link together the further you read.
The pacing of the story is quite slow, especially in the beginning, and I had slight issues with it until I got into the rhythm of the story. The book had a way of making me feel like my brain was scrambled at some points, with its dialogue that often took the most convoluted routes and sometimes felt nonsensical. I mean this in the best way, I enjoyed it a lot. I loved the dialogue for the most part, but it did take some getting used to it. The book is inspired by Slavic folklore (mostly Russian, if I'm not mistaken), and it does have that fairytale feel to it. The dialogue and the logic used are very reminiscent of those tales, such as characters having to complete an impossible task (and another, and another), the whole world being as strange as they come but being presented as the most normal thing, the quips in the dialogue such as (my favorite) "That's not convenient for me" when being told a creature would like to eat them.
I truly loved this story, and I'm trying to be purposefully vague because I feel like going mostly blind into this book is the "right" way to do it. I will say, I really like the development of Valentina's character throughout the book. She starts a book as a scared child, with too much responsibility on her back. Too much for someone much older, let alone a child left alone. While trying to find a way to help her family, she stumbles upon a discovery that shapes the rest of her life and her as a person. I really found this aspect of the story interesting, and this was something that felt so real and tangible to me. The anguish Valentina feels for the rest of the story, the discomfort, and the loathing (especially when everyone else fails to see why she feels the way she does) felt so raw and by the end so cathartic to read about.
I also really enjoyed the characters of Mrs. Senko and Aprosinya. Their stories were connected with Valentina's in more ways than simply their paths crossing and Valentina being Aprosinya's ancestor. I really liked them as characters and I liked how all of them had entirely different life paths, but the emphasis, in the end, was being able to choose for yourself, above all else. Both of their stories felt close to me for different reasons and I think there was something so deeply human at the center of the story, even when the characters were mostly not.
I feel like this review does very little justice to both the book and my feelings regarding it, but I did try my best to not spoil anything as I wrote this. I definitely will reread this book, I feel like I missed many things in my first read and I feel like this is one of those stories in which with every read you find many things you haven't noticed before, something that resonates with you. I acknowledge this book might not be for everyone, but if you are interested I think you should give it a go.
Thank you to Netgalley for providing me with an arc in exchange for an honest review!
The Night-Bird's Feather follows many characters and is mainly set in a place called Fortitude. Fortitude is a town that exists in its own reality it seems, and the story spans a great deal of time, but it also really shows that time is but a construct. It starts with a girl, Valentina, and the heron-witch who curses her family into an enchanted sleep, which leaves Valentina to take care of her entire family. Valentina is from the Sosunov family, famous for their dream magic, and the story starts before there was the Sun in the world. The story is not only of Valentina, it is also of Death and his dominion, his daughter; Valentina's great-great-granddaughter Aprosinya (and even more characters). It is told through a series of fairytale-esque stories that seem less connected in the beginning, but start to link together the further you read.
The pacing of the story is quite slow, especially in the beginning, and I had slight issues with it until I got into the rhythm of the story. The book had a way of making me feel like my brain was scrambled at some points, with its dialogue that often took the most convoluted routes and sometimes felt nonsensical. I mean this in the best way, I enjoyed it a lot. I loved the dialogue for the most part, but it did take some getting used to it. The book is inspired by Slavic folklore (mostly Russian, if I'm not mistaken), and it does have that fairytale feel to it. The dialogue and the logic used are very reminiscent of those tales, such as characters having to complete an impossible task (and another, and another), the whole world being as strange as they come but being presented as the most normal thing, the quips in the dialogue such as (my favorite) "That's not convenient for me" when being told a creature would like to eat them.
I truly loved this story, and I'm trying to be purposefully vague because I feel like going mostly blind into this book is the "right" way to do it. I will say, I really like the development of Valentina's character throughout the book. She starts a book as a scared child, with too much responsibility on her back. Too much for someone much older, let alone a child left alone. While trying to find a way to help her family, she stumbles upon a discovery that shapes the rest of her life and her as a person. I really found this aspect of the story interesting, and this was something that felt so real and tangible to me. The anguish Valentina feels for the rest of the story, the discomfort, and the loathing (especially when everyone else fails to see why she feels the way she does) felt so raw and by the end so cathartic to read about.
I also really enjoyed the characters of Mrs. Senko and Aprosinya. Their stories were connected with Valentina's in more ways than simply their paths crossing and Valentina being Aprosinya's ancestor. I really liked them as characters and I liked how all of them had entirely different life paths, but the emphasis, in the end, was being able to choose for yourself, above all else. Both of their stories felt close to me for different reasons and I think there was something so deeply human at the center of the story, even when the characters were mostly not.
I feel like this review does very little justice to both the book and my feelings regarding it, but I did try my best to not spoil anything as I wrote this. I definitely will reread this book, I feel like I missed many things in my first read and I feel like this is one of those stories in which with every read you find many things you haven't noticed before, something that resonates with you. I acknowledge this book might not be for everyone, but if you are interested I think you should give it a go.
Thank you to Netgalley for providing me with an arc in exchange for an honest review!
August 15, 2022
A prince, the third and most humble son, sets out on a quest to retrieve the water of life (or the firebird, or the hand of the Sea Tsar's daughter). A firebird assists him. Or a talking wolf, six impossible servants or even stranger creatures done a good turn. This story draws on the make of such stories, where the mythopoeic and the prosaic live side by side, to tell a tale about a remarkable woman's journey into the mysteries of observation, death, dream and other mysterious as well as problematic facets of the world. But rather than being stuck in ancient times, the world this story takes place in is set on a constant journey from the uncertainty of olden times to something approaching modernisation-with the supernatural being an all-pervasive presence throughout the rise and fall of various powers.
If, like me, you're a fan of fantasy writers who take humour and adversity in equal measure to create fantastic situations and complex conflicts emotional, physical and mystical, you'll enjoy this book too. At the core of the story is how perception and observation can shape the world-even as miracles that can transcend time, dream and death. The protagonist is in some ways the archetypal headstrong fairy tale hero-and yet in others, like her first adversary hearkens to the behaviour and narrative roles of beings such as the Baba Yaga as she immerses herself in the ways of witches, vampires and stranger things. One can root for her as she challenges a great horror or a preening fiend while seemingly wildly outmatched, be relieved her core sense of self limits what she does to those around her when her wrath is roused, mourn what life has shaped her into and celebrate her achievements in transcendence alternatively as she grows as a person.
What resonated significantly with me was seeing how from one perspective, throughout the story the dutiful and diligent Valentina grows up into the image of a monster she once fought due to both the choices made following her own heart and struggling against various hardships-and how from another, she achieved self-actualisation as well as a level of understanding that most never even know was there. But contrasting her role in the narrative are other point of view characters whose lives intersect with hers-the timid vampire Svetlana, the lost but determined Evdeniya, the insecure Aprosinya and the relentlessly practical Mrs. Senko. At defining moments in Valentina's journey, their paths cross hers-and make choices that Valentina, in her overwhelming sense of purpose and higher calling, is unable to grasp. The author is keen to show that in their own ways their own goals and motivations are no less meaningful than Valentina's, though often less ambitious, and the sacrifices made to see them through are all too real.
Where the novel fell short, for me, in certain areas was an emphasis on detached dialogue or lackadaisical descriptions in certain situations that called for more. The villainy of some characters is inferred rather than explicit due to understating their traits, while other characters will dissect a topic in abstract, obtuse angles rather than give emotionally honest opinions on it. It was difficult to determine how malign some of them were, with how subdued both their and others' reactions were-especially relative to some of the truly irredeemable in the author's other books. Doubtless some of it comes down to the quirks of the characters involved, but there were times when I needed just a little more detail to get a good picture of how a certain character comported themself-or when, like Valentina's turbulent journeys, I felt stranded in a non-sequitor topic waiting for the central conflict to be progressed. In previous works by the author such as An Unclean Legacy or Fable of the Swan, a central emotional mood was consistent throughout the entire story; in this one there were parts I felt frustrated trying to piece together their significance in the greater work, and parts where otherwise serious situations were full of clinical observations about aspects of the setting or tonally dissonant remarks. As a reader, I would have liked to know more about what people looked like and how they felt in the hear-and-now rather than fill in the blanks at times, while putting together the pieces from things they've said about other topics.
On the other hand, perhaps that itself is part of the underlying message of this story: Whether you're a witch or a dutiful daughter, life goes on and there's always a choice in how you address it. There is, to the best of my knowledge, little else recently released in the publishing world quite like this story. And abstractions aside, it's celebration of the fantastic while keeping to a very humanist heart even among inhuman beings is to be greatly lauded.
If, like me, you're a fan of fantasy writers who take humour and adversity in equal measure to create fantastic situations and complex conflicts emotional, physical and mystical, you'll enjoy this book too. At the core of the story is how perception and observation can shape the world-even as miracles that can transcend time, dream and death. The protagonist is in some ways the archetypal headstrong fairy tale hero-and yet in others, like her first adversary hearkens to the behaviour and narrative roles of beings such as the Baba Yaga as she immerses herself in the ways of witches, vampires and stranger things. One can root for her as she challenges a great horror or a preening fiend while seemingly wildly outmatched, be relieved her core sense of self limits what she does to those around her when her wrath is roused, mourn what life has shaped her into and celebrate her achievements in transcendence alternatively as she grows as a person.
What resonated significantly with me was seeing how from one perspective, throughout the story the dutiful and diligent Valentina grows up into the image of a monster she once fought due to both the choices made following her own heart and struggling against various hardships-and how from another, she achieved self-actualisation as well as a level of understanding that most never even know was there. But contrasting her role in the narrative are other point of view characters whose lives intersect with hers-the timid vampire Svetlana, the lost but determined Evdeniya, the insecure Aprosinya and the relentlessly practical Mrs. Senko. At defining moments in Valentina's journey, their paths cross hers-and make choices that Valentina, in her overwhelming sense of purpose and higher calling, is unable to grasp. The author is keen to show that in their own ways their own goals and motivations are no less meaningful than Valentina's, though often less ambitious, and the sacrifices made to see them through are all too real.
Where the novel fell short, for me, in certain areas was an emphasis on detached dialogue or lackadaisical descriptions in certain situations that called for more. The villainy of some characters is inferred rather than explicit due to understating their traits, while other characters will dissect a topic in abstract, obtuse angles rather than give emotionally honest opinions on it. It was difficult to determine how malign some of them were, with how subdued both their and others' reactions were-especially relative to some of the truly irredeemable in the author's other books. Doubtless some of it comes down to the quirks of the characters involved, but there were times when I needed just a little more detail to get a good picture of how a certain character comported themself-or when, like Valentina's turbulent journeys, I felt stranded in a non-sequitor topic waiting for the central conflict to be progressed. In previous works by the author such as An Unclean Legacy or Fable of the Swan, a central emotional mood was consistent throughout the entire story; in this one there were parts I felt frustrated trying to piece together their significance in the greater work, and parts where otherwise serious situations were full of clinical observations about aspects of the setting or tonally dissonant remarks. As a reader, I would have liked to know more about what people looked like and how they felt in the hear-and-now rather than fill in the blanks at times, while putting together the pieces from things they've said about other topics.
On the other hand, perhaps that itself is part of the underlying message of this story: Whether you're a witch or a dutiful daughter, life goes on and there's always a choice in how you address it. There is, to the best of my knowledge, little else recently released in the publishing world quite like this story. And abstractions aside, it's celebration of the fantastic while keeping to a very humanist heart even among inhuman beings is to be greatly lauded.
December 31, 2022
[I read and reviewed this title at a Patreon donor’s request. Want to nominate your own books for me to read and review (or otherwise support my writing)? Sign up for a small monthly donation at https://patreon.com/lesserjoke today!]
I don't love every part of this book -- and in fact, I think the last 10% or so is probably its weakest, which is a disappointing note to leave on, especially for what's likely to be my final read of the year. But overall, I like the work better than author Jenna Katerin Moran's earlier novel Fable of the Swan, which I gave four-out-of-five stars, so I can hardly assign a lower rating here. (The two titles share a setting within the Chuubo's Marvelous Wish-Granting Engine RPG framework, but are generally unrelated.) She's plainly grown as a writer over the decade between, resulting in a narrative that is both more complex and paradoxically easier to follow as a reader. While we are still dealing with fairly mind-bending concepts involving the magic of perception to rewrite / erase reality and transcendent attempts to access the hidden truth beyond the known universe, this is a gentler and more accessible easing-in to the notions at play.
It's also more of a collection of interlocking stories than a novel per se, which may be why my disappointment over the ending isn't reflecting onto the publication as a whole (and why I can accept "The Night-Bird's Feather" as a name no worse than any other, despite its general irrelevance). The chapters are long, but each is somewhat of a self-contained fable, offering the rhythms of a fairy tale inflected with Slavic fantasy flavoring and the warp of Moran's distinctive ethos and sense of humor. A girl beset by a witch has dreams in which she can seek advice from her far-distant descendents and the people who will know her when she's grown -- an even stranger experience from their perspective. When her opponent is ultimately defeated, the corpse of its presence is somehow left within her soul, to be later bartered away and thence revived. Elsewhere, a kindhearted and agoraphobic vampire helps her neighbor against the creature of chaos that's forced its way into being her houseguest. A woman manifested from the ether builds a home inside the embodied landscape of someone else's despair. And so on.
These heroines and the impossible tasks that they nevertheless perform are all cleverly written, and the bizarre rules of the worldbuilding yield plot developments and punchlines that categorically couldn't work anywhere else. Am I entirely convinced that I understand what's meant by phrases like "the power of the eyes that look upon" or "the daughter of the lord of Death's dominion he"? Not really! But the vibes are fantastic, and the text is engaging despite its length and occasional abstract philosophizing. It's been a great mental palate cleanser, if nothing else.
[Content warning for suicide, depression, and gore.]
Like this review?
--Throw me a quick one-time donation here!
https://ko-fi.com/lesserjoke
--Subscribe here to support my writing and weigh in on what I read next!
https://patreon.com/lesserjoke
--Follow along on Goodreads here!
https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/6...
--Or click here to browse through all my previous reviews!
https://lesserjoke.home.blog
I don't love every part of this book -- and in fact, I think the last 10% or so is probably its weakest, which is a disappointing note to leave on, especially for what's likely to be my final read of the year. But overall, I like the work better than author Jenna Katerin Moran's earlier novel Fable of the Swan, which I gave four-out-of-five stars, so I can hardly assign a lower rating here. (The two titles share a setting within the Chuubo's Marvelous Wish-Granting Engine RPG framework, but are generally unrelated.) She's plainly grown as a writer over the decade between, resulting in a narrative that is both more complex and paradoxically easier to follow as a reader. While we are still dealing with fairly mind-bending concepts involving the magic of perception to rewrite / erase reality and transcendent attempts to access the hidden truth beyond the known universe, this is a gentler and more accessible easing-in to the notions at play.
It's also more of a collection of interlocking stories than a novel per se, which may be why my disappointment over the ending isn't reflecting onto the publication as a whole (and why I can accept "The Night-Bird's Feather" as a name no worse than any other, despite its general irrelevance). The chapters are long, but each is somewhat of a self-contained fable, offering the rhythms of a fairy tale inflected with Slavic fantasy flavoring and the warp of Moran's distinctive ethos and sense of humor. A girl beset by a witch has dreams in which she can seek advice from her far-distant descendents and the people who will know her when she's grown -- an even stranger experience from their perspective. When her opponent is ultimately defeated, the corpse of its presence is somehow left within her soul, to be later bartered away and thence revived. Elsewhere, a kindhearted and agoraphobic vampire helps her neighbor against the creature of chaos that's forced its way into being her houseguest. A woman manifested from the ether builds a home inside the embodied landscape of someone else's despair. And so on.
These heroines and the impossible tasks that they nevertheless perform are all cleverly written, and the bizarre rules of the worldbuilding yield plot developments and punchlines that categorically couldn't work anywhere else. Am I entirely convinced that I understand what's meant by phrases like "the power of the eyes that look upon" or "the daughter of the lord of Death's dominion he"? Not really! But the vibes are fantastic, and the text is engaging despite its length and occasional abstract philosophizing. It's been a great mental palate cleanser, if nothing else.
[Content warning for suicide, depression, and gore.]
Like this review?
--Throw me a quick one-time donation here!
https://ko-fi.com/lesserjoke
--Subscribe here to support my writing and weigh in on what I read next!
https://patreon.com/lesserjoke
--Follow along on Goodreads here!
https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/6...
--Or click here to browse through all my previous reviews!
https://lesserjoke.home.blog
August 18, 2022
I received a copy of The Night-Bird’s Feather from netgalley in return for an honest review.
This book twists together heavy ideas of existence and other heady ideas with banter between characters that often have your head spinning. This is the sort of book that you isolate yourself in your room, maybe with some light simple music playing in the background, and no other chances of interruption. If you’re like me, then you should take copious breaks to walk around and just think about what you just read (which since my phone likes to crash my netgalley app and bring me back to the beginning of these long chapters and thus I had to sit down and read at least the entire chapter in one sitting).
In other words, read this when you want to delve into a book and really absorb it. If you try to read it quickly it will probably give you book indigestion. This would not be the book I suggest to get you out of a book slump.
That said, what is this book about? This book follows the life, and influence of the woman Valentina as she starts to explore her powers when her entire family is carved out and put to sleep by a heron witch who she then starts to connect with when the witch realizes she needs to help keep the family alive in order to continue to live in the families’ dreams. From that experience, she learns to resent the Headmaster of Bleak’s Academy, who turns out to be Death and who doesn’t want to see her anytime soon after that confrontation so she has a long life…
And from there the stories continue, some of them with her as the central character, and sometimes other people taking the stage with her as the sage woman (almost the witch character) that people seek to help with their problems. My favorite stories were the ones with the agoraphobic vampire. I thought that her second story brought up an interesting point, that I wasn’t sure was well explored, or was well explored but I lost in the banter and confusing prose, and the moving ending.
Overall, I really liked the story, or collections of stories about her life, her family, and her town, and I feel like I need to read it again to really get my head around some of the ideas. Which I don’t know if I missed it because of how it was written or my headache brain. I can say that at one point it made me really want to read some Terry Pratchett, especially some of his Death books or Tiffany Aching books, so it had that sort of feeling to it, but not quite that accessible if that makes sense.
It does have that fairytale feeling where characters decide to do something, or weird problems happen and they have easy ways to solve it (throw the man out of their house) but they feel they shouldn’t do that because it wouldn’t be polite so they go to Valentina or have to go through a set of strange tasks. They usually do this while talking philosophical and bantering at each other. So, it’s enjoyable, but do not read while watching the TV (as I’ve heard some crazy people do), or watching children, or doing anything but reading. At least that’s my advice. 😊
This book twists together heavy ideas of existence and other heady ideas with banter between characters that often have your head spinning. This is the sort of book that you isolate yourself in your room, maybe with some light simple music playing in the background, and no other chances of interruption. If you’re like me, then you should take copious breaks to walk around and just think about what you just read (which since my phone likes to crash my netgalley app and bring me back to the beginning of these long chapters and thus I had to sit down and read at least the entire chapter in one sitting).
In other words, read this when you want to delve into a book and really absorb it. If you try to read it quickly it will probably give you book indigestion. This would not be the book I suggest to get you out of a book slump.
That said, what is this book about? This book follows the life, and influence of the woman Valentina as she starts to explore her powers when her entire family is carved out and put to sleep by a heron witch who she then starts to connect with when the witch realizes she needs to help keep the family alive in order to continue to live in the families’ dreams. From that experience, she learns to resent the Headmaster of Bleak’s Academy, who turns out to be Death and who doesn’t want to see her anytime soon after that confrontation so she has a long life…
And from there the stories continue, some of them with her as the central character, and sometimes other people taking the stage with her as the sage woman (almost the witch character) that people seek to help with their problems. My favorite stories were the ones with the agoraphobic vampire. I thought that her second story brought up an interesting point, that I wasn’t sure was well explored, or was well explored but I lost in the banter and confusing prose, and the moving ending.
Overall, I really liked the story, or collections of stories about her life, her family, and her town, and I feel like I need to read it again to really get my head around some of the ideas. Which I don’t know if I missed it because of how it was written or my headache brain. I can say that at one point it made me really want to read some Terry Pratchett, especially some of his Death books or Tiffany Aching books, so it had that sort of feeling to it, but not quite that accessible if that makes sense.
It does have that fairytale feeling where characters decide to do something, or weird problems happen and they have easy ways to solve it (throw the man out of their house) but they feel they shouldn’t do that because it wouldn’t be polite so they go to Valentina or have to go through a set of strange tasks. They usually do this while talking philosophical and bantering at each other. So, it’s enjoyable, but do not read while watching the TV (as I’ve heard some crazy people do), or watching children, or doing anything but reading. At least that’s my advice. 😊
August 24, 2022
The Night-Bird's Feather drops us another invitation into author Jenna K. Moran's magical realms, which hold an at once wry and warming mirror into our own mundane world. The town of Fortitude naturally welcomes good-humored fantasy readers of all stripes-- however, this book is tailored especially to self-reflective readers who may be looking for something to keep them reading in an era that's increasingly abrasive on the self. "Cathartic" as a descriptor comes immediately to mind.
While perhaps more easily described as an anthology of loosely-tied-together fables that take inspiration from Russian fairy tale tradition, "Perception of the self" is at all times the core idea driving The Night-Bird's Feather, most of all in how it can be fractured and bent by circumstances outside of one's control. Wrapped up most in that theme is immortal protagonist and folk hero Valentina Sosunova, whose chance encounter with the spectre of Death has left her with a vision into her own heart-- and what she sees there is impurity that cannot be purged. Self-hatred has been planted in her early on, and to rid herself of it, she must take up a journey that crosses both dimensions and lifetimes.
Further reading illuminates a web of tales that deal with body dysmorphia, cycles of revenge, and a core truth present in all of us, be we human, vampire, witch, or selkie: we all suck so, so bad at being objective about ourselves. At every turn, sharp and witty dialogue and dream-like presentation of scene and setting work in expert juxtaposition to create lively characters in a world so characterized by its feeble boundaries between the real and the imagined.
Who knows? Maybe you'll end up seeing something new in yourself, once the story has reached its close.
While perhaps more easily described as an anthology of loosely-tied-together fables that take inspiration from Russian fairy tale tradition, "Perception of the self" is at all times the core idea driving The Night-Bird's Feather, most of all in how it can be fractured and bent by circumstances outside of one's control. Wrapped up most in that theme is immortal protagonist and folk hero Valentina Sosunova, whose chance encounter with the spectre of Death has left her with a vision into her own heart-- and what she sees there is impurity that cannot be purged. Self-hatred has been planted in her early on, and to rid herself of it, she must take up a journey that crosses both dimensions and lifetimes.
Further reading illuminates a web of tales that deal with body dysmorphia, cycles of revenge, and a core truth present in all of us, be we human, vampire, witch, or selkie: we all suck so, so bad at being objective about ourselves. At every turn, sharp and witty dialogue and dream-like presentation of scene and setting work in expert juxtaposition to create lively characters in a world so characterized by its feeble boundaries between the real and the imagined.
Who knows? Maybe you'll end up seeing something new in yourself, once the story has reached its close.
September 6, 2022
trigger warning
There is a place outside of space and time called Fortitude, a city full of witches where every family has their own speciality. The Sosunovs are dabbling in dream magic, and Valentina might be the most powerful family member yet.
This is not really what you would expect from a novel, it's a weird in-between of short stories and longer narrative. Not even every story is about the same protagonist, but they all come together, eventually.
The magic in here reminded me a lot of that in Vita Nostra, more concerned with probabilities and perception than fireballs and colourful sparks.
It's a very, very slow read. Characterdriven and in places metaphysical, and it certainly was the wrong choice for a readathon as busy as G's Magical Readathon. Also it's one of those where I am glad to have it in my brain, but the way there was hard. I feel myself craving short, easy reads now.
All this means that this book will only appeal to a very specific kind of reader. Oh, and I am less sure than usual about the trigger warnings in here. Make sure to check multiple reviews for those.
The arc was provided by the publisher.
There is a place outside of space and time called Fortitude, a city full of witches where every family has their own speciality. The Sosunovs are dabbling in dream magic, and Valentina might be the most powerful family member yet.
This is not really what you would expect from a novel, it's a weird in-between of short stories and longer narrative. Not even every story is about the same protagonist, but they all come together, eventually.
The magic in here reminded me a lot of that in Vita Nostra, more concerned with probabilities and perception than fireballs and colourful sparks.
It's a very, very slow read. Characterdriven and in places metaphysical, and it certainly was the wrong choice for a readathon as busy as G's Magical Readathon. Also it's one of those where I am glad to have it in my brain, but the way there was hard. I feel myself craving short, easy reads now.
All this means that this book will only appeal to a very specific kind of reader. Oh, and I am less sure than usual about the trigger warnings in here. Make sure to check multiple reviews for those.
The arc was provided by the publisher.
September 12, 2022
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an eARC of The Night-Bird’s Feathers in exchange for my honest review!
This was a difficult read for me that I really wanted to enjoy. I DNF’d at 25% mostly because it was the third time I had put the book down. The premise is so interesting but I just couldn’t pick up on it. I feel like this is one of those books that is a better read with a physical copy rather than an ebook. That way I could flip back and forth and annotate more.
I’m still giving this book 3 stars because there is so much promise there. The writing is beautiful and it has a very unique voice. It really feels like it’s a folk story being told to you. My difficulty while reading came from sections became almost too abstract. This is definitely a book I’d come back to to try again!
This was a difficult read for me that I really wanted to enjoy. I DNF’d at 25% mostly because it was the third time I had put the book down. The premise is so interesting but I just couldn’t pick up on it. I feel like this is one of those books that is a better read with a physical copy rather than an ebook. That way I could flip back and forth and annotate more.
I’m still giving this book 3 stars because there is so much promise there. The writing is beautiful and it has a very unique voice. It really feels like it’s a folk story being told to you. My difficulty while reading came from sections became almost too abstract. This is definitely a book I’d come back to to try again!
September 27, 2022
The Night-Bird's Feather is an incredibly interesting take on magic systems, familial ties, and morally grey bird-witches. The vibes of this book are immaculate, but I struggled with the execution of the story itself. I'm a big fan of the locked tomb series, so I'm familiar with having no idea what's happening in a book. However, this wasn't as enjoyable to wade through. It was mainly a problem with the pacing of the book. It felt incredibly slow, but if you can get past that it's truly a great read.
This book shined in it's forming and detailed recounting of relationships. Valentina's relationship and struggle with the witch who put her family to sleep while grappling her burgeoning powers.
I really wanted to love this story, but the pacing was too much. The chapters were so long and I lost the plot toward the end. It's very atmospheric and for the right reader would be perfect.
This book shined in it's forming and detailed recounting of relationships. Valentina's relationship and struggle with the witch who put her family to sleep while grappling her burgeoning powers.
I really wanted to love this story, but the pacing was too much. The chapters were so long and I lost the plot toward the end. It's very atmospheric and for the right reader would be perfect.
January 20, 2026
Netgalley ARC
I love fairy tale retellings, but this just didn't work for me at all. There was very little other world-building or atmosphere other than a few random food items that could have been picked out of a cookbook. The prose itself was beautiful, but the story severely lacked substance. All of the characters felt very flat, and our main character was so boring that half the time I felt like skimming ahead when she started thinking to herself. A lot more world-building, better character development, and a more compelling plot would have gone a long way here.
A huge thank you to the author and the publisher for providing an e-ARC via Netgalley. This does not affect my opinion regarding the book.
I love fairy tale retellings, but this just didn't work for me at all. There was very little other world-building or atmosphere other than a few random food items that could have been picked out of a cookbook. The prose itself was beautiful, but the story severely lacked substance. All of the characters felt very flat, and our main character was so boring that half the time I felt like skimming ahead when she started thinking to herself. A lot more world-building, better character development, and a more compelling plot would have gone a long way here.
A huge thank you to the author and the publisher for providing an e-ARC via Netgalley. This does not affect my opinion regarding the book.
September 7, 2022
Thank you NetGalley and Jenna Moran for an advance copy in exchange for an honest review.
Valentina’s family is plagued by a cruel witch who feeds off of their dreams and keeps them in a comatose state. It is up to Valentina to protect and care for her family while dealing with the witch. Aprosinya, Valentina’s great-great granddaughter grows up hearing of her tales and business with The Bleak Academy. Aprosinya and Valentina’s stories are woven together in this Slavic-inspired tale.
The premise of this story has great bones. It does move at a slower pace and the chapters are very long. Having shorter chapters throughout the book would have made it much easier to read.
Valentina’s family is plagued by a cruel witch who feeds off of their dreams and keeps them in a comatose state. It is up to Valentina to protect and care for her family while dealing with the witch. Aprosinya, Valentina’s great-great granddaughter grows up hearing of her tales and business with The Bleak Academy. Aprosinya and Valentina’s stories are woven together in this Slavic-inspired tale.
The premise of this story has great bones. It does move at a slower pace and the chapters are very long. Having shorter chapters throughout the book would have made it much easier to read.
October 3, 2022
The Night-Bird's Feather is a book about family, and about loneliness, and about the will to live. Jenna Moran is one of the few living authors whose work I would properly categorize as modern myth-making, and her books are as funny as they are heart-breaking and heart-rebuilding. I do not think I could do her skill with the written word justice in this review, so I would recommend any who might have the most passing interest in it to go read the first few pages of the first proper chapter of this book, or at least the prologues, if those sorts of things are more to your fancy. I promise you: it will reward your attention.
July 14, 2025
Ann Leckie recommended this in her email newsletter and it turned out to be an enjoyably challenging read. This complex novel blends elements of Slavic mythology with intensely meta postmodernist/Buddhist-feeling discussions of signs vs signifiers, the perceiving mind vs perception, selfhood/form vs emptiness, etc. It'll definitely bear rereading as I suspect its circuitous/circular plot will make more sense the second time around. I suspect the more critical reviews are from readers who prefer more straightforward and linear novels with less philosophy.
Made me ravenous for black bread and jam.
Made me ravenous for black bread and jam.
September 27, 2022
I don't write a lot of reviews for books despite reading a lot of them. I like looking for new novels to read which challenge me. I wouldn't say that Night-Bird's Feather challenged me, other than trying to find it a second time, but the writing is incredible and enjoyable. I won't go into too much detail, but it changed how I want to write. And that is something that very few books have done before, give it a try.
October 5, 2022
I received a copy of this ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
It took me much longer to read this than expected, not because I wasn't enjoying it but because I wanted to savour every word. I'm not familiar enough with Slavic fairytales to know whether this drew on existing characters or if it's a world of the author's own creation, but either way it felt like stepping into an epic mythological tale. Really new and fresh.
It took me much longer to read this than expected, not because I wasn't enjoying it but because I wanted to savour every word. I'm not familiar enough with Slavic fairytales to know whether this drew on existing characters or if it's a world of the author's own creation, but either way it felt like stepping into an epic mythological tale. Really new and fresh.
December 15, 2022
Extraordinary. Heavy with folklore, rich with complex ideas, peppered with acute observation and leavened with delightful humour, this is my favourite book of 2022. Some years ago I read one of Jenna Moran's earlier works and liked it so much I paid a great deal of money to republish it in a better edition, and it was one of the best things I ever did. This book is better than that one, and I commend it to you.
October 1, 2022
I have come back a few times to try and read this book but it keeps losing me. Either the concepts are too complicated, or the execution is. Which is a shame, because I think the idea has a lot of potential. I tried starting again twice and still got lost. If I manage it a third time, I will change my review, but for now, DNF.
December 31, 2022
One part fable, one part philosophy, one part family drama and one part history, all wrapped in a mixture of dreamlike narrative and conversational humour. I'm always a fan of Moran's work, and the Night-Bird's Feather did not disappoint.
September 11, 2024
This book took me months to get through because Moran describes dysphoria and dysmorphia in a way no one else has, real or fictional, and the description and feeling of it was so viscerally real to me that, after every chapter, I had to lay on the floor and process.
September 11, 2022
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an eARC of The Night-Bird's Feather in exchange for my honest review!
Everything about this book was right up my alley and the cover art is beautiful. I also took a Slavic Vampires course in college so, I felt well prepared to get into the world building of this book. The Night's Bird Feather is set in a unique world with plenty of magic and creatures. But, what I like most about this book that it is mainly character driven.
This story structure was also another reason why I really enjoyed this story. We get to read different narratives and short stories throughout the course of the book. And it all comes together at the end for a concise story.
That being said, the only issue I had was that the pacing is very slow. It took me awhile to finish the book. And it's not the type of book you can finish in one sitting. However, if you are looking for a book to read in October to fit the spooky vibe, I would definitely give this a try!
Everything about this book was right up my alley and the cover art is beautiful. I also took a Slavic Vampires course in college so, I felt well prepared to get into the world building of this book. The Night's Bird Feather is set in a unique world with plenty of magic and creatures. But, what I like most about this book that it is mainly character driven.
This story structure was also another reason why I really enjoyed this story. We get to read different narratives and short stories throughout the course of the book. And it all comes together at the end for a concise story.
That being said, the only issue I had was that the pacing is very slow. It took me awhile to finish the book. And it's not the type of book you can finish in one sitting. However, if you are looking for a book to read in October to fit the spooky vibe, I would definitely give this a try!
Displaying 1 - 30 of 40 reviews