Vassa in the Night
Written by Sarah Porter
Narrated by Madeleine Maby
3.5/5
()
About this audiobook
Sarah Porter
Sarah Porter is the author of the young adult novels Lost Voices, Waking Storms, The Twice Lost, and Vassa in the Night. She is also an artist and a freelance public school teacher. Sarah and her husband live in Brooklyn, New York. Visit her online at www.sarahporterbooks.com.
Related to Vassa in the Night
Related audiobooks
Sing Me Forgotten Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Shadowsong Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Stolen Kingdom Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Chaos of Stars Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Vengeance Road Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Book Jumper Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Light Between Worlds Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Wintersong Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Into the Heartless Wood Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Don't Call the Wolf Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Treason of Thorns Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Spindle Fire Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Bird and the Blade Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5What Big Teeth Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Everything That Burns Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsRetribution Rails Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Strange Grace Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5All That Glitters Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Scavenge the Stars Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Shadow Queen Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Bitterwine Oath Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Magic Dark and Strange Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Cold Is in Her Bones Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Last Things Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Dreadful Tale of Prosper Redding Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Among the Beasts & Briars Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Tigers, Not Daughters Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5A Forgery of Roses Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5These Vicious Masks Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Forbidden Wish Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
YA Fairy Tales & Folklore For You
Cinder: Book One of the Lunar Chronicles Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5This Woven Kingdom Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Once Upon a Broken Heart Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Legendborn Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Into the Heartless Wood Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Study in Drowning Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Ballad of Never After Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A Curse for True Love Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Stepsister Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Children of Anguish and Anarchy Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Gallant Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Children of Virtue and Vengeance Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Beastly Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Serpent & Dove Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Siren Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Thief Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Poisoned Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5These Infinite Threads Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5What Monstrous Gods Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Beastly Beauty Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Where the Dark Stands Still Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Gilded Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Scarlet Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Dreams Lie Beneath Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Lives of Saints Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Spindle's End Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Keeper of Night Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Sleeper and the Spindle Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Dream Thieves (The Raven Cycle, Book 2) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Reviews for Vassa in the Night
97 ratings10 reviews
What our readers think
Readers find this title an excellent retelling of Vasilisa the beautiful. They enjoy the strange and magical elements of the book, as well as the well-developed characters. The villain is described as creepy and wicked. The book is recommended for its allegorical tale and beautiful storytelling. The audio version is also praised.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5An excellent retelling of Vasilisa the beautiful. I enjoyed the book and kept reading to find out more about Erg the doll. I learned we could all use an Erg in our lives.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5I love strange books and this one was strange in the best way. Vassa and Erg are such great characters. I loved the magic and chaos in the book. Babs is a great villain. She is creepy and wicked. I highly recommend this book.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5It is delightfully beautiful. An allegorical tale about our inner landscapes and the things we create to avoid pain. Highly recommend. And I loved the audio version!
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Great! I really enjoyed this! I definitely wouldn't have picked it up on my own and am glad that it was recommended to me!
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5This is a contemporary retelling of Baba Yaga and Vasalisa the Beautiful (though I always heard it as Vasalisa the Brave, which I like much better) set in a Brooklyn where magic is real and pretty much taken for granted. It's set in an all-night convenience store that sells such things as lagoon-flavored toaster pastries and strawberry marshmallow fluff and which I would like to visit if a visit didn't also carry with it a 99.9% chance of decapitation. The story is dark and funny and darkly funny and Vassa herself is both brave and terrified, selfless and selfish, clever and not-so-much—just as all the best heroines are. The prose alternates between "High Fairy Tale" and contemporary snark, which perfectly suits the book itself. Like all fairy tales, too, the supporting cast are less fully fleshed than Vassa herself. (And Erg, with whom I occasionally got annoyed. But, given Erg's origins, both her dimensionality and annoying tendencies completely made sense in the end.) Babs Yagg is, of course, an archetype, so she never really becomes more than the Baba Yaga of folklore, which is fine. Dex and Sin are "hired hands", one of whom begins to grow a conscience and ends up sacrificed. (And, I'm a righty, but I noticed what felt like some prejudice against lefties. You are not evil, my left-handed friends, no matter what this story may imply.) Picnic and Pangolin, though, are probably my favorite characters. They feel as if they were created by Lewis Carroll, had their dialogue re-written by Neil Gaiman, and then decided to go off on an adventure in Porter's Brooklyn.
And, sorry, this is totally disjointed, but I hope it at least gives you a sense of the feeling of this book, which is dreamy (or nightmare-y) and fantastical and fresh and contemporary and just all around wonder-full. - Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/517-year-old Vassa and her tiny wooden (but also alive) doll find themselves working for a witchy and not-very-nice chain convenience store owner, whose shop dances on chicken legs and who exacts a very strict punishment for shoplifting.Oh gosh, this is So Good. Gaiman meets Miyazaki's Spirited Away with a nice dash of sass thrown in. I'll most definitely be reading more of Porter's stuff.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5It amazed me and took my by surprise. It's one of the most unusual and original books I've ever read, which is a good thing. I love fairy tale retellings, but at this point it's rare to find one that's unusual and still really good.It took a while for me to get into the world and I kept wondering if I'd skipped over something important because I wasn't sure what was going on. After I did start to get into it, I was in it for good. It's fascinating and interesting and surreal and very well described (though perhaps not well introduced).I like Vassa a lot, but wanted to destroy Erg almost right away. Erg is still effective and I think well-written, but that doesn't mean I like her. All of the other characters are interesting and effective too. They all have very nice plotlines and growth, and I was very impressed with how almost all of them had suitable backstories and motivation without it coming across as unnecessary.Definitely recommend this for lovers of dark fairy tale retellings as well as anyone who is looking for an unusual, unique, and beautifully tragic fantasy novel.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5perfectly serviceable if you've got a young person who you're trying to keep in fiction.It was sorta refreshing having a young woman coming-of-age thing without any specific romance, and in a largely all female world; otherwise, nothing special
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Vassa in the Night begins with a folktale about Night that is instantly engaging and mysterious. Porter makes brilliant use of personification and imagery throughout the book. Vassa, the teenage heroine, is intelligent and snarky with great appeal. Vassa in the Night is whimsical, humorous, dark, lovely, fanciful and romantic. Everything a reader could want in a modern fairy tale. I hated to put it down and could easily have read it straight through. The story is filled with puzzling riddles and magical madness. Sometimes it is frightening and horrifying. Vassa in the Night is an excellent book for discussion and analysis. It also meets the Common Core Standards. I highly recommend this book for fans of revamped fairy tales and Young Adult novels.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5So I finished this.and I'm still trying to figure out what I just read. The entire time I was reading Vassa in the Night It felt like I was in the middle of a strange nightmare. But you want to know something more bizarre? I actually liked it. Will be sharing more of my thoughts about this book as soon as my head clears.