Deathless
A glorious retelling of the Russian folktale Marya Morevna and Koschei the Deathless from Catherynne M. Valente, set in a mysterious version of St. Petersburg during the first half of the 20th century
Koschei the Deathless is to Russian folklore what devils or wicked witches are to European culture: a menacing, evil figure; the villain of countless stories which have been passed on through story and text for generations. But Koschei has never before been seen through the eyes of Catherynne Valente, whose modernized and transformed take on the legend brings the action to modern times, spanning many of the great developments of Russian history in the twentieth century.
Deathless, however, is no dry, historical tome: it lights up like fire as the young Marya Morevna transforms from a clever child of the revolution, to Koschei's beautiful bride, to his eventual undoing. Along the way there are Stalinist house elves, magical quests, secrecy and bureaucracy, and games of lust and power. All told, Deathless is a collision of magical history and actual history, of revolution and mythology, of love and death, which will bring Russian myth back to life in a stunning new incarnation.
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Community Reviews
so-great:
this is a fantasy book based not only on Russian fairytales but also on Russian history, and it's so awesome to recognize the elements familiar from childhood. the story starts in Leningrad after the revolution when they started to add poorer families into the bourgeois appartments, beginning the era of "kommunalki". and having seen these old houses with bathrooms in the kitchens and 4m ceilings, you do visualize everything very well
the part where they describe the Siege of Leningrad is powerful. though it's probably not the book but the subject - you simply can not NOT cry thinking about thousands of people dying of hunger in a blocked city
it's also great to meet the old fairytale heroes, from Baba Yaga to domovie, and think about stuff you've heard all your life but never really thought about
not-so-great:
the story is not done smoothly. there are really weak passages where you disengage from the story completely. the one where Lenin, Nikolay II and others appeared in the imaginary village - WTF WAS THAT? then, the relationships are very questionable thoughout the book - i was not rooting for any of them. and the ending is very weak. to tell the truth - i already forgot what happened in the end though i read the book a month ago
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