House of Frost and Feathers

Wiesebron debuts with a remarkable high fantasy as thoroughly Slavic and delightfully alive as the building that lends it its name, an orange-shingled house on chicken legs. When orphaned Marisha comes upon the house in the Severny city square, it can only mean the koldun, or witch, Baba Zima is in town. What’s more, Zima is hiring an assistant for her apprentice, Olena. Though Marisha is fearful of koldunry, she’s desperate for work, so she applies. It’s not an easy job: Zima is full of tricks, as is her house, and Olena is cold and difficult. Still, Marisha is determined to stay, especially after learning that Olena is working on a cure for the strange sleeping plague that returns every 10 years, killing thousands, including Marisha’s parents. But the longer she stays in the house, surrounded by koldunry, digging into old rivalries between Zima and Olena, and touching the spirit world, the more she fears that she has caught the attention of something much more dangerous than plague: a strange, beaked man who haunts her dreams. Wiesebron weaves together multiple Slavic folk stories to power a plot full of intricate interpersonal drama and fantastically earthy magic, led by a cast of clever, thorny women who never back down. It’s an impressive feat. (June)