Surprisingly good for a first book, a pleasant amalgamation of Ukrainian traditional magic and steampunk. Thrilled to read the next one, good thing I have the entire trilogy at hand.
This is an alt-history with fantasy elements, the first volume of the planned trilogy. The tite can be translated as 鈥淒ance of Wolves鈥�, but more precisely the word that I translated as 鈥榙ance鈥� means an element of the initiation rite in Western Ukraine for young men (20-year-old), a group men-only dance. It is also known in Romania and Moldova.
The time is 1845. The place is the Ukrainian Hetmanate, a republic that covers roughly current Ukrainian territories, bar Crimea, which remains under Crimean Tartars. On the west there is Poland, on North-West the Great Lithuanian Princedom, and on the east there is no Russia, but the Emerald Horde, a new incarnation of the great empire of Genghis-khan, which ended Muscovy centuries ago.
The fantasy element is in the Grey order of shape-shifting characternyks. Characternyk is the title of a Cossack, who is a sorcerer and healer in the Zaporozhian Sich. Usually he was a kind of a spiritual mentor, a custodian of the traditions and secrets. It should be noted that the term became popularized by romantic/gothic writers of the 19th century, so our present awareness of them is more from later literary works then original folklore. In this book they are able to shift into wolves, with sharper senses and well as have a limited vulnerability to non-silver weapons, so the latter are preferred. A potential Characternyk is trained by the established one and then visits Underworld (or Otherworld) to sign a scroll with a Devil-like figure named Haad. The potentate pledges their eternal soul as a payment for magic powers, which in turn is used by the Grey order to protect the country.
The protagonist is Severyn Chornovovk ('Black Wolf鈥�), from a family of characternyks. When he was a kid, there was a split in the order and renegades called the free pack (of wolves), and his mother was killed on a ceasefire meeting after which his father left him to a witch he know, channelling all his time to find and kill all members of he free pack. The story starts with the young Severyn going thru the rites and getting characternyk鈥檚 waistband and signing the curse scroll with Haad. After being approved as a member of the Grey order, he meets four other new members with whom he should serve before starting an individual career in one of the branches of the order. The group is a diverse bunch, compared later in the book to , from a redneck to a noble to a geek. Soon they are hit with a loss that starts their first adventure, in which they see what hides behind the shining fa莽ade of the order.
The story is well-written, especially as for a debut novel. The book doesn鈥檛 try to impress with unusual twists, but is a solid adventure and coming of age story with a strong final. I plan to continue the series.
Finally. Ukrainian. Cossack. Dark. Fantasy. With elements of steampunk(Sic!). And with blackjack and ladies. From the very first sentence begins the damn interesting journey by the roads and trods of the Ukrainian Hetmanate together with kharakternyks and witches, where, along with the lives of ordinary peasants and citizens, there is a place for magical affairs and the appearance of otherworldly beings. History is striking both by national authenticity and by fantastic but well thought-out details of the lives of characters and activities of the Gray Order and other communities. The book is definitely worth the translation into foreign languages 鈥嬧€媋nd big budget film adaptation. And sequels, of course.