Let me first say that I think this was a pretty good novel, a sprawling, adventuresome novel full of death and the death realms, gods, magic, and interesting Russian folktale retellings. As pure fiction on this specific topic of Baba Yaga and the Deathless and Ivan the Terrible, I like this one better than some -- not as much as others -- while still thinking it was a pretty fun ride. The Witch and the Tsar is Olesya Salnikova Gilmore’s intriguing debut. It is a well-written and compelling story, focused on atmosphere. And that makes The Witch and the Tsar a perfect read for this time of year.” I love Yaga’s magic–it is delightfully wild and witchy, steeped as it is in herbs, charms, and blood rituals. But it’s also very real and tangible. Most of all, I love the idea of helping women. I have always joked that if I were a doctor like my sister, I would want to treat women most of all. So, I love how Yaga comes through for the ladies, not only in times of illness, but also in helping with their love lives, their marriages, their heartaches, their babies, and so on. I find these issues to be the most fascinating, and ones where spellcasting would be particularly useful and selfishly good to know– and they come with a dash of gossip and drama as well! A delicate weaving of myth and history, The Witch and the Tsar breathes new life into stories you think you know’ Hannah Whitten, New York Times bestselling author of For the Wolf A delicate weaving of myth and history, The Witch and the Tsar breathes new life into stories you think you know.”–Hannah Whitten , New York Times bestselling author of For the Wolf

Over a couple of decades, Yaga will align with others to stop Tsar Ivan, who has become known as Ivan the Terrible, using his army to kill every one he considers traitors or enemies. Destruction and chaos is all over Russia, destroying everything they held dear. And always, the males of whatever species ended up being the baddies. The problem? Not all women are good, not all men are evil and making it so is not only feminist revenge porn, it also makes the characters flat. Not to mention that Baba Yaga was unapologetic. She punished and she teased. She wasn't evil, not exactly, but she also didn't give out freebies. Why should she have?! Wishes or magical remedies ... they cost. As they should. And just because there IS a witch living in "your" woods doesn't mean she HAS to help you. Tongue-in-cheek musings aside, this book has got praise for its "authenticity," and yet, to me it's been the least authentic depiction I've ever read of Baba Yaga for more reasons than just the characterisation. The author might be from Russia, but about all the difference that made from Baba Yaga retellings by Western writers is that Olesya Gilmore knows the proper gender of Russian names. Big achievement, that. The rest? She goes for the same stereotypes and clichés about Russia and Russians that Western authors get regularly roasted for. Olesya Salnikova Gilmore was born in Moscow, Russia, raised in the U.S., and graduated from Pepperdine University with a BA in English/political science, and from Northwestern School of Law with a JD. She practiced litigation at a large law firm for several years before pursuing her dream of becoming an author. She is most happy writing historical fiction and fantasy inspired by Eastern European folklore. She lives in a wooded, lakeside suburb of Chicago with her husband and daughter . The Witch and the Tsar is her debut novel. Did I mention she's lived for centuries, since before Russia existed? Well, be prepared for an ignorant witch to give you history lessons, then, because this book is heavy on the infodump as the author often doesn't know how to weave the historical facts into the plot and uses Yaga as your history teacher. A history teacher that thinks Russia is the continuation of Rus' without even mentioning that it was Kyivan Rus', and lets Ivan call Prince Volodymyr the Great, who was Grand Prince of Kyiv, one of the "great princes of Russia"... conveniently ignoring that, just right before this, it was said Russia didn't exist yet and again erasing Kyivan Rus' from the picture. Oh, and also, the Livonian war that's going on for a good chunk of the book isn't a result of, you know, Russia's imperialist ambitions, no, it's the Lady of Death making Ivan hunger for expansionism because she wants to destroy poor old Russia. The villain here is her rather than Ivan, who's just a poor crazy old sod manipulated by the evil goddess and Koschei the Deathless and their minions, thus erasing any semblance of responsibility from Ivan the Terrible as a mere puppet instead of the mastermind and instigator he really was. Good Tsar/Bad Boyars is played throughout with the Oprichnina, too, because the bloodshed is shown in detail and in all its gory glory when it's the Oprichniki acting on their own, but never when it's Ivan spilling the blood. What was I saying about the outrage over the Siege of Leningrad being the fault of folktale characters' infighting in Valente's book? Well, here's one of the bloodiest and "cataclysmic" (Gilmore's word) periods of Russia's history being presented as the fault of Selica, the goddess of Death, and not a very human tsar Ivan Vasilyevich.So, the crux of her argument is that it was men (of course, it's always the evil males, even though Gilmore herself says in the previous line that Baba Yaga is complex, "both benefactor and villain, a mother and an old maid, a witch and a woman.") who made Baba Yaga be a witch instead of, I don't know, a powerful goddess as she supposedly was before, so the aim of this novel is to "restore" Baba Yaga to her old self. The implication here is that Baba Yaga was defamed and needs restoration to be properly understood and feminist. Instead of powerful and vulnerable, though, this novel made Baba Yaga, the multilayered witch of the Slavs that is one of the extremely few women in folktales that is neither an evil hag nor a simpering damsel, into a naïve, easily impressionable, judgmental, profoundly self-unaware, politically inept, defanged and declawed, wimpy, and, horror of horrors, too-stupid-to-live young woman. There is even a bit of romance to counterbalance some of the considerable blood-letting. After I had witnessed my first birthing not ten years into my life, Mokosh had explained to me the intricacies of lovemaking and child making. “Though immortals can birth other gods and half gods,” she had said, gently, “it is not simple for us, with mortals above all. Most of the time, it happens not. It is even harder for half gods. If it happens, it does so for a reason. It is willed by the Universe.” I had known many men over the centuries, both mortal and immortal. Not once had my trysts ended in anything other than fleeting pleasure or pointless regret. I knew it would never happen for me.But then she meets Vasily Alekseyevich Adashev, studly warrior, but mortal, which is a problem. It gets complicated. He is probably in his 20s or 30s, she is several hundred. (Baba Cougar?) It is a delightful element. Regular people are used to be afraid of anything unusual and different. But different doesn’t mean something horrifying, vicious, scary when you learn to be open minded. Ah yes! Now you mention Gregory, your Kremlin certainly has the dark, claustrophobic feel of her Tudor court! What we got was a happy ending with a flawed, but ultimately good feminist icon. If I didn't know anything about Baba Yaga at all, I'd be pointing at this and going, "See? See? Men bad!" while ignoring the necessity for the big bad, the big wishgranter, the complicated, bigger-than-life IDEA of Baba Yaga and what she meant to countless myth-lovers.

The positives are definitely ample! For one, I liked Yaga as our protagonist. She’s a healer who is half immortal and has done her best to keep people around her safe, including her old friend Anastasia who is the Tsar’s wife, and who is being poisoned. Yaga, unfortunately, has to learn that not everyone has the same noble heart, and most of this book is her trying to survive not only against a spiraling Ivan the Terrible (who is doing unthinkable things in Russia; what a time to be reading this, given the guy in charge of Russia right now), but also other immortals and gods and demi gods. I liked how Gilmore subverted some of the mythologies to reflect lies and propaganda that the Orthodox Russian Church was spewing to undercut the non-Christian theologies of the time. I know that the fact Yaga has been de-aged from crone to young woman has frustrated some readers, which I definitely get, but I kind of like the idea of her reputation of being a cruel crone is actually a lie to make people distrust a woman who is actually a midwife, healer, and powerful woman in a community. They are here, Ya. Her voice, in the language she spoke, reverberated through my mind, becoming words I could understand. An utterly enchanting, wholly immersive debut that deftly reimagines the legend of Baba Yaga. This one is unmissable.”Expertly drawing from Russian history and mythology, Olesya Salnikova Gilmore transforms Baba Yaga into a complex heroine, whose quest to save her country sparkles with folk magic and supernatural intrigue. Apowerful, original story.”—Mary McMyne, Author of The Book of Gothel

Afierce, historically rich reimagining of the story of Baba Yaga.. full of complicated, three-dimensional women.” –Paste Magazine Over the next several decades, the reader accompanies Yaga as, all around her, Russia falls victim to Tsar Ivan, Ivan Bilibin, Baba Yaga, illustration in 1911 from "The tale of the three tsar's wonders and of Ivashka, the priest's son" (A. S. Roslavlev) With my unease temporarily forgotten, my cheeks flushed with familiar indignation. Not many dared to say that name to my face. “It is the izbushka of Yaga.”Set in Russia in the 16th century, this sweeping tale begins deep in the Russian woods, where the reader meets Yaga, a half-goddess, half-mortal who desires to heal and help others with her spells and potions—not Baba Yaga, a vicious, decrepit hag who flies on a mortar and pestle and eats children. Tales from the perspective of a woman defined through one particular lens, that which makes her out to be a villain, inevitably fascinate me, so when I learned of this debut novel delving into the legend of Baba Yaga, I was certain I would be captivated. And I was right. Until now we have heard about Yaga only from those who vilified her, who deemed her a dangerous, vicious witch. Yet this is the reader’s opportunity to hear her story from the woman herself. And as is often the case with such stories, the truth is not as it may have seemed. A delicate weaving of myth and history, THE WITCH AND THE TSAR breathes new life into stories you think you know." - Hannah Whitten A delicate weaving of myth and history, The Witch and the Tsar breathes new life into stories you think you know.” Either way, it was best to put him at ease, as was my practice with new clients. Those who came for succor found it in my hut. Healing filled the empty hours of my days, kept my hands occupied and my mind busy, gave me a sense of purpose. If I could have lived among mortals, healing and advising them, I would.