Vasilisa is a young adult novel geared towards the younger set, with the protagonist being a 14-year-old girl. The story takes place in 1919 in the small steel town of Edenfall, Pennsylvania. Vasilisa lives in poverty with her mother and grandmother, her father is MIA while fighting in World War I.
Vasilisa must travel to the mythical world of Old Rus to find a way to destroy an evil troll that has been hunting her family, and potentially find a way to bring her father back from war.
The book features a few Russian folk tales and characters, and the primary tale (Baba Yaga) might be familiar to those who’ve read a lot of fairy tales.
There were some really beautiful lines in this book, but the plot was just okay. I found it difficult to connect with the main character or really care about her. The romance between her and a similarly-aged boy, Ivan, felt weird to me, she just seemed too young for that type of story line and the book really didn’t need it. Why couldn’t her and Ivan just be friends? Too often perfectly good books force a love sub-story that just doesn’t fit.
Bent Shelf Book Reviews 