Review: Vassa in the Night, Sarah Porter

We review Sarah Porter’s Vassa in the Night.

I suppose I can describe the theme of this week’s two book reviews as “strange YA books.” I don’t mean strange negatively for Three Dark Crowns, but it does take on a far more mixed meaning for Vassa in the Night, though.

Sarah Porter’s latest falls into a relatively interesting spot, genre-wise. While it does take its general shape from a fairy tale — in this case, it’s the Russian story “Vasilisa the Beautiful,” so points for not going for the more standard European fare — it throws in some healthy magical realism for flavor.

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In a magical section of Brooklyn where the nights seem to last far longer than normal, young Vassa must head to the only open store for some lightbulbs, and ends up involved in far more than she ever bargained for. She must work at the store, BY’s, for three nights, and the storeowner, Babs Yagg, really doesn’t want to have to make good on the bargain.

While I can’t give it a full-fledged recommendation, neither did I completely dislike it. In short, I found Vassa in the Night simply acceptable.

The Good

There are some legitimately wonderful sections of prose in this book, typically during Vassa’s dream sequences. The prelude and interludes also read very nicely.

The world itself is quite inventive, practically by necessity of the source material. I also appreciated the willingness of Porter to simply go for it and have BY’s hopping around on chicken feet. Sometimes, retellings like these try and scrub away some of those distinguishing features. As a result, not doing so happens to be refreshing.

I also appreciated the willingness of Porter to simply go for it and have BY’s hopping around on chicken feet.

As for the supporting cast, I often found them more interesting than Vassa herself. I suppose that’s to be expected, since Vassa apparently hasn’t ventured into the world of magic before this. (Don’t mind that she’s owned a magical doll for six years.) In particular, Babs and Bea intrigued me the most, as did Erg, the doll in question. Chelsea and Stephanie, Vassa’s stepsisters, also worked well, particularly since Porter apparently resisted the urge to make them both wicked.

The Not-So-Good

If I had to read one more clever simile or metaphor, I was going to throw my phone. (Spoilers: I actually like reading on my phone. I would like to also point out that I can actually lay down and read a book comfortably.) More often than not, they also come one right after another, which meant I felt like I was spending more time trying to sift through the similes than actually comprehending what was going on, since that’s not as much trouble. The interludes and preludes, should you give them enough thought, make it relatively easy to piece together just what’s happened.

As a protagonist, Vassa occasionally veers from being perfectly fine. She generally acts exactly like you might expect a sixteen-year-old with a magical doll trapped in a witch’s store to act: reluctant, snarky, and unable to resist keeping her mouth shut occasionally. Sometimes, though, particularly when she discusses Tomin or remains stubbornly obtuse, I found her far less interesting. Dramatic irony works better when it doesn’t happen every two chapters.

The plot also slows down considerably partway through, then gets supremely gruesome instead of just atmospherically gruesome. I can handle two severed hands. I don’t quite know how I feel about more dismemberment.

Though I did quickly read a summary of the original fairytale, I don’t know if you even need to do so. Instead, you may just want to have a familiarity with Baba Yaga in general. Knowing the story made it easy to spot the similarities, though, so I waffle.

Next: 10 Books You May Have Missed this Summer

All in all, I don’t regret reading Vassa in the Night, but if it turns into a series, I’m not going to put Vassa in the Day on my immediate reading list. You can find the book at your retailer or e-retailer of choice.