#kasyan lutovich

[jckthelad]

the girl in the tower: moodboard

[cinderkaliningrad]

The Winternight: If you catch their eyes. (Boys)

Pyotr Vladimirovich (if you like DILF's):

Pyotr will always love Marina, his first wife. We have to live with that fact. He will prefer that you do not physically resemble Marina or that you do not remind him of her in any way, and if you do, he will find it hard to get over the memory. Pyotr is a good man, with a good heart and proud of his family. If you treat his children well he will keep his arms open for you and you will be one of the family.

Nicolai "Kolya" Petrovich (I know he's married and he has a son, let's say that he's single):

First you have to be someone who stands out from the crowd. Beautiful or with good attributes. He looks at the body first. He will openly flirt with you, and probably torment poor Sasha with endless flattery about you. He'll get a bit angry if you don't pay attention to him.

Aleksandr "Sasha" Petrovich (aka Aleksandr Peresvet):

Sasha has probably never noticed anyone. You will be the first and therefore special. Someone brave, fearless who can follow you on your adventures. Be patient with him, the boy is a bit restless and quite reckless. He is clumsy in giving affection and will feel bad because he would be betraying his vows as a monk. Patience and more patience. Especially with his more conservative side, don't worry. Eventually he will understand that you don't think like him and he will respect you. But he will be faithful to you and would live and die for you. You respect his freedom and his desire for adventure. If you are lucky he will take you with him on the horse.

Aleksei "Alyosha" Petrovich:

He will love you with all his heart, he will be afraid of losing you as he lost his sisters (who left) and his mother. He will want to keep you close and protect you always. He will understand everything you tell him and will always listen to you. Good match, good husband, good friend. He will be sincere with you, he will like to have little moments in the woods and fields.

Dmitri Ivanovich (I know he's married too):

He will see you behind his wife's back. His heart is with you. He will look at you first for aesthetic reasons, just like Kolya, you must stand out in his eyes in any way you can. Get her attention. Sasha probably knows about this, but he will have to turn a blind eye. He will let you call him Mitya (his childhood nickname). He'll give you expensive gifts, he'll show off in front of you a lot to show off and impress you: Dmitri Ivanovich, your heroic prince in shining armour. He will show you his snake-hilted sword, his skills, etc.

Konstantin Nikonovich:

Obsession, obsession everywhere. He wants you and now, now and for him. The toxic blond of the novel has arrived, ladies and gentlemen. First he will feel guilty for thinking about his priestly vows. Little by little he'll get over it, he won't need you to convince him like Sasha. You'll get his attention no matter what you look like, just your personality and if you're a witch, you've got him. He may try to abduct you and harass you a bit. If you want to stop him, call Medved to control him.

Medved:

If you are creative, sing well, paint well, or are good at some kind of art or activity of some kind you will catch his attention. The same way Konstantin did. He will chase you until you leave to a place where he can't follow you (Death). He's going to pick your brains and manipulate you a bit, but deep down he'll care about you. And if you die, he will mourn for you and miss you. He'll be the monster in your wardrobe (literally because he's gay/bisexual) or under your bed if you want. His bear form is furry, he might let you sleep on top of him if you let him.

Kasyan Lutovich:

YOU DON'T WANT THIS GUY TO LAY AN EYE ON YOU, believe me... Just frienzone him and if he gives you problem call Vasya.

Morozko is not here, because here we respect our Queen Vasya.

[avas-poltergeist]

Koschei The Deathless Portrayals In Modern Writing Ranked By Me

Kasyan Lutovich The Winternight Trilogy: Loses a few points for acting like a human, having a human origin story, insisting his name is Kasyan, and pulling a fast one on us akin to Hans from Frozen. But makes up for it in the fact that his more human qualities are a bitter love and anger for a powerful sorceress woman who rejected him and a lure to wild liar mortals. Charming to the point where when I knew he was bad news, he still caught me slipping and I wanted so badly for him to not be a prick. Fucks around with the king because ‘why not’ and because he needs to bring back the magical creatures and hide from death. That is perfect Koschei characterization. Promises the protagonist a life that will never be uninteresting. Also promise the protagonist a world of strife and constant lies. Solid. Caught me slipping with his laughter and playful malice during the horse race 8/10

Koschei The Deathless in the novel Deathless: Oooooh yeah. Here we go. Capricious, cruel, enigmatic, and positively not human. The only thing keeping the illusion up is that he wears a flesh mold so that Marya Morevna will hang out with him—but even that barely holds up to scrutiny. Clean shaven with long pretty eye-lashes. His only desires are to keep the world in balance between life and death, party hard, and don’t leave him for a guy named Ivan. His whole logic and courtship revolves around fairytale antics like speaking to the dead and getting locked in Marya’s attic. There is no value in human morality, just the movements of the world. He knows the female protagonist will be his downfall, but that’s why he chose her in the first place. Can’t die if you keep making the same mistakes, am I right boys ? Actually helps turns the female protagonist into a pseudo mythic god. 12/10 he’s not human. this is one bona fide monster wizard dude.

The Darkling, or Aleksander Morozova from the Grisha Trilogy: Despite being apparently nearly a century old, acts like the most human thirty year old man I’ve ever met. All his evil deeds are human and human motivated. Does he want to rule the world ? Does he want to make a land safe for the magically oppressed people ? Does he want to live forever ? Or does he just want to fuck around with two high school sophmores who have personalities like milk toast ? We don’t know. All the aesthetics of your favorite Russian, morally ambiguous spirit are there but they are washed away by 2010s YA discourse on if young women readers are being brainwashed by their love for the ‘bad boy’. He gets one point for imitating the process. It’s a mess 1/10

[deanothecheynosaur]

The Girl in the Tower (2017)

This one was very stressful for me. Full names for repeat characters are in my previous review.

Short synopsis:

Vasya travels with Solovey and finds that bandits have been raiding the countryside. On her mission to rescue kidnapped girls, she finds Sasha. Sasha takes her to Moscow to see Olga. Father Konstantin makes an appearance. Vasya gets close to her cousin Dmitrii and his new friend Kasyan. Morozko's power fades as spring arrives.

Long synopsis:

This book jumps around perspectives a lot more, so I'll do my best.

Vasya asks Morozko's help to become a traveler. Morozko tries to talk her down to keep her safe, but Vasya thinks he's trying to control. Morozko begrudgingly helps her, and also saves her from freezing to death about three weeks into her travels.

Sasha finds Father Konstantin delirious and stumbling through the wilderness, so Sasha takes him to Moscow for Olga to nurse back to health. Konstantin tells Olga his version of what happens in Lesnaya Zemlya, which is that Vasya is an evil witch who brought demons upon the village and got their father killed in the process. He also says that she died on the road, but only because she thinks he couldn't rough it.

Meanwhile, Sasha goes to see his cousin, the Grand Prince Dmitrii, and there is a newcomer, Lord Kasyan Lutovich, who asks for Dmitrii's help catching bandits that have been burning his villages. Dmitrii says that Kasyan is behind on paying his taxes, but they still go to help. Kasyan's lands are near the Lavra monastery where Sasha lives, so they all stay there. After about two weeks, a boy shows up on a horse with three girls he saved from the bandits. But Sasha goes out and the boy is Vasya! Sasha is furious, but Vasya has her hair hidden, so they say that she is a boy. Sasha lies to protect her virtue; Vasya lies to protect her freedom. Vasya takes the men out to the bandit camp that they couldn't find, and they kill most of the bandits- the rest fled for their lives. Vasya notices that it's odd that their captain disappeared, but Dmitrii is unconcerned. So Vasya, now known as Vasilii the Brave, goes to Moscow with the men.

Olga and Sasha conspire to hide Vasya, say that "he" went home, wait a while, and then present Vasya the woman and marry her off. Vasya refuses, but they think they can force her. Right. Because that has gone so well in the past. Dmitrii insists on having Sasha and Vasya over for dinner, and there, Vasya sees the Mongol ambassador, Chelubey, but he is the captain of the bandits! Chelubey recognizes Vasya as the one who stole the girls, so he's looking for an excuse to kill her. Kasyan smooth talks every time Vasya finds herself in a sticky situation, usually for running her mouth. Girl, I can relate. Vasya wants to tell Dmitrii about Chelubey, but Kasyan says she needs more proof. However, when Kasyan starts to get a bit intense, Morozko shows up and swoops Vasya out of there. Apparently, Kasyan is not who he says he is; he is actually a very old sorcerer who put his mortality into an object so that he is "deathless." Apparently horcruxes work for some people. He was blocking Morozko from using his powers anywhere near Vasya whenever she was in trouble so that Vasya would have to rely on him. Vasya had already suspected he was shady, but appreciates Morozko. Then they have a HOT make out sesh just outside the city, but Vasya still thinks he's playing games. Which I suppose he is a demon, but come on. He obviously caught feelings.

Vasya also builds a relationship with her neice, Marya, who also has the sight. As of yet, Sasha and Olga don't even know Vasya has it, let alone Marya. However, they do know that what they have heard from Vasya (and Konstantin) isn't the whole truth about what happened with their father. Vasya keeps insisting she can't tell them everything. I don't understand why though, like even if they thought she was crazy, they would just send her away. And then she could still just escape with Solovey. Marya tells Vasya about this ghost who visits her frequently, and shortly after, said ghost visits Vasya and tells her to leave. Vasya knows it's an old woman and tells Marya to ask who she is next time.

To prevent Vasya from telling Dmitrii about Chelubey, Kasyan challenges her to a horse race. At the race, he tells her that he knows she is a girl and says that if he wins, she must marry him. Just before Vasya wins, Kasyan reveals her secret to all of Moscow. Aggressively. She is taken to Olga's and locked in a room with guards. Sasha is arrested for lying and conspiring against Dmitrii. In the room, Vasya is visited again by the ghost, who gives her more cryptic warnings. This time, it helps Vasya figure out that Kasyan is conspiring to kill Dmitrii so that he can be Grand Prince. Morozko comes shortly after in an attempt to get Vasya out of the city before anything happens, but we all know how well she listens. "I have to save my siblings!" Girl, they have been mad at you since you got here. Let them deal with the social politics. Then Kasyan shows up to propose again. He is wildly inappropriate and infuriating, but Vasya agrees so long as he keeps Olga and Sasha safe. But Kasyan finds Vasya's necklace (whilst trying to put his own magical necklace on her) and freaks tf out. That's how Vasya finds out it was really from Morozko.

Shortly after, Olga goes into labor. When Morozko shows up, Vasya knows it means Olga is dying. Morozko says it's Olga or the baby. Olga wants to do what any actual mother would do, but Vasya stops her, so the baby is stillborn. Olga kicks out Vasya, who then runs into Konstantin. Apparently, since he was touched by Medved, he can now see all of the spirits, and he thinks Vasya can cure him by having sex with him? So Vasya knees him in the dick and runs. She meets Morozko outside, confronts him about the necklace, freaks tf out that he was trying to enslave her (he wasn't) and breaks the necklace, very severely diminishing Morozko's power. She takes off to find Sasha and then Dmitrii.

Meanwhile, Kasyan has convinced Konstantin that he will be cured if he steals Marya for a sacrifice since she is a witch (Kasyan really wants her to be his wife/slave). Konstantin believes him, like he hasn't been tricked ALMOST THE EXACT SAME WAY fairly recently. During the palace siege, Vasya sees that Kasyan has Marya and takes off to save them. All of the Russian men are fighting the Mongols that Kasyan snuck in while everyone was drunk (it's the night before Lent starts), and the horse stables are on fire. The ghost from earlier manages to leave Olga's and come help Vasya. There's lots more that happens during the battle and after, but I don't want to spoil anything else (except that after the fire, Vasya tells the whole truth).

I preferred the setting in the first one. It's awesome to see Vasya kicking ass, but she also gets way too cocky. Solovey tries to protect her, but she forces him and manipulates him a little to do what she wants. He's a horse, but not really a horse. Sasha and Olga are less understanding than her family back home, so either they haven't seen her in too long or the city has changed them. Maybe both. But the relationship between Vasya and Morozko really progresses, which I love.

Overall, I give it 4.25 stars.

[lilbooktopus]

The Girl in the Tower 🌟🌟🌟🌟.75 Vasilisa Petrovna is not like other girls. Other girls get married or go to convents. Other girls don't lead parents to their deaths, get branded as a witches, and flee their hometown otherwise get burned alive. Also, other girls don't reject a Winter King's treasure the first time only to aggressively ask for them in the end. After taking her dowry from Morozko, Vasya rides out to find her fortune and reunite withe her siblings -- Olga, an A++ housekeeper, mom and princess in Moscow, and Sasha, an ass-kicking monk -- dressed as a boy, gets sexually assaulted anyway (it's not a Winternight book without this!), rescues a bunch of girls from elusive bandits, which earns her the favor of the Grand Prince and somehow still end up hated by everyone. Their happy family reunion is tainted by news of their father's death and the ambiguity of it, an impending war at Moscow's gates, and Vasya's in danger of being roasted alive for indecency or even witchcraft. All these while her relationship with the Winter King Morozko gets messy - with his half truths and annoying unfinished sentences - and the appearance of a charismatic newcomer, Kasyan Lutovich who keeps everyone on the edge. So hop back in to Arden's magical tale where the hills are alive with chyetri and the plot is as slow as Philippines' internet connection but so interesting you'll say yes to everything thrown at you, from creepy ghosts to magical horse races, family drama to a blooming complicated slow burn romance, well-developed characters and world-building so amazing it feels as if you're living this Russian fairy tale. #bookreviewer #bookreview #bookblog #bookstagramph #bookstagram #bookcommunity #bibliophiles #photographylovers #beatthealgorithm #booksofinstagram #booklove #yanovel #ya #thegirlinthetower #winternighttrilogy #katherinearden https://www.instagram.com/p/CDtR3gqAnTM/?igshid=fmw0alvz5gb1

[cinderkaliningrad]

The Bear and the Nightingale (Sexuality HC)

Warning: This is only what I think.

Heterosexual: Vasya & Morozko, Kolya, Alyosha, Olga & Vladimir, Pyotr & Marina, Kasyan Lutovich, Dmitri Ivanovich. (Others..?)

Gay: Medved.

Lesbian: No one.

Bisexual: Konstantin. (I don't know if Medved counts as Bi too).

Asexual: Sasha. (I mean... Come on, even when he has the oportunity to hit on girls he's just like: "Nope" *Procedes to feign deafness to ignore his brother Kolya and his chattering about girls*).