Scott Graham
This utterly sublime fairy tale for adults successfully combines Russian folk stories with light horror and fantasy, bringing the reader into the world of the unforgiving Russian winter and the creatures of natural religion that maintain a balance between the bitter and sweet parts of life for the lord of an estate and his family. When the zealously Orthodox Christian new stepmother brings the religion of man to the story in the guise of a shrewd and grasping man of God and forbids the tributes to the natural creatures and creates an imbalance on the land, a long held battle between brothers of two different types of death is given fresh opportunity to the detriment of the lord and his family and the peasants on the estate. A struggle between the lord’s second wife, his youngest daughter from his first wife, the monk sent at the stepmother’s request, and the elementals that represent death of two forms develops until a deciding battle ensues.
This utterly sublime fairy tale for adults successfully combines Russian folk stories with light horror and fantasy, bringing the reader into the world of the unforgiving Russian winter and the creatures of natural religion that maintain a balance between the bitter and sweet parts of life for the lord of an estate and his family. When the zealously Orthodox Christian new stepmother brings the religion of man to the story in the guise of a shrewd and grasping man of God and forbids the tributes to the natural creatures and creates an imbalance on the land, a long held battle between brothers of two different types of death is given fresh opportunity to the detriment of the lord and his family and the peasants on the estate. A struggle between the lord’s second wife, his youngest daughter from his first wife, the monk sent at the stepmother’s request, and the elementals that represent death of two forms develops until a deciding battle ensues.