Interesting fantasy novel that incorporates Russian folklore. This makes a nice change from the overwhelming amount of Western European/English folklore based fantasy out there. For that reason it won't appeal to everyone but for anyone looking for something different it would do.

This book has a bit of a creepy feel to it. After all one of the main characters is a drowned girl. There are things trying to kill the main character Pyetr. There is a bit of a doomed love affair to round things out nicely. I enjoyed it. ( )

This one dragged on a fair bit. ( )

Cherryh incorporates creatures from Russian folklore into her fantasy tale. Pyetr is forced to leave town after he's caught with someone's wife and young Sasha is forced to join him after it's found Sasha had been hiding Pyetr. Thus begins the wandering, meandering quest in which Pyetr is skeptical of Sasha's magical abilities even after his very life is saved by them. This attitude continues as the two make the acquaintance and become house-guests of a cantankerous old wizard who is interested in using Sasha's magic in his attempt to resurrect his daughter, but openly contemptuous of Pyetr.
None of these characters were terribly sympathetic, though Pyetr seems to grow as a person throughout the course of the story. The first part of the book was pretty slow-going during the walking and almost dying in the forest parts, but picked up a bit once the wizard was introduced. However, the eventual climax of the tale was almost incomprehensible, particularly as the reader struggled with whom to sympathize as no one's motives seemed particularly pure. I was excited to read something taking place in this geographical area, as I don't have much familiarity with the region, but unfortunately I'm not interested enough in this author's writing to continue the series. ( )

So bad I can't even finish it. Made it about 2/3 the way through before tossing it out in disgust. I picked up this book because I love Russian mythology. The plotline is probably ok, but it's buried in so much boring waiting around and inaction that it's hard to pick out what the action is supposed to be.

The author switches the point of view from Pyetr to Sasha and back with now warning, and it's not done well at all so sometimes it's unclear whose P.O.V. we're hearing the story from. Trite cliches, horribly written, poorly paced, this is just a terrible book.

I was so excited when I picked this up that I got the 2nd book in the series as well (Chernovog). What a waste of money. Just don't bother with this book. ( )

This book did transport me to another place and time, not just because of the story, setting, and the characters but also the prose. The stops, restarts, and re-phrasings were very much the way a tale might be told if spoken rather than written which made reading it an experience. ( )