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Russian Stories #1
Rusalka
She is the tormented ghost of a murdered girl, pitiless spirit of the wilderness, who prevails only upon living souls. And her name is the most dreaded in Russian folklore. Rusalka.
Impetuous Pyetr Kochevikov, a fugitive from Voyvoda with a price on his head, has none of the superstitions of his fearful young companion, Sasha, as they flee through the vastness of the forest.
But when they arrive exhausted at the cottage of the wizzard Uulamets, Pyetr is dismayed to learn that he can mock the spirits no longer. And when he finds himself enchanted by Uulamets' beautiful and wraithlike daughter, no mortal power can assuage the Rusalka's terrible thirst for life...
Impetuous Pyetr Kochevikov, a fugitive from Voyvoda with a price on his head, has none of the superstitions of his fearful young companion, Sasha, as they flee through the vastness of the forest.
But when they arrive exhausted at the cottage of the wizzard Uulamets, Pyetr is dismayed to learn that he can mock the spirits no longer. And when he finds himself enchanted by Uulamets' beautiful and wraithlike daughter, no mortal power can assuage the Rusalka's terrible thirst for life...
312 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1989
24 people are currently reading
1,651 people want to read
About the author
C.J. Cherryh
313books3,466followersCurrently resident in Spokane, Washington, C.J. Cherryh has won four Hugos and is one of the best-selling and most critically acclaimed authors in the science fiction and fantasy field. She is the author of more than forty novels. Her hobbies include travel, photography, reef culture, Mariners baseball, and, a late passion, figure skating: she intends to compete in the adult USFSA track. She began with the modest ambition to learn to skate backwards and now is working on jumps. She sketches, occasionally, cooks fairly well, and hates house work; she loves the outdoors, animals wild and tame, is a hobbyist geologist, adores dinosaurs, and has academic specialties in Roman constitutional law and bronze age Greek ethnography. She has written science fiction since she was ten, spent ten years of her life teaching Latin and Ancient History on the high school level, before retiring to full time writing, and now does not have enough hours in the day to pursue all her interests. Her studies include planetary geology, weather systems, and natural and man-made catastrophes, civilizations, and cosmology…in fact, there's very little that doesn't interest her. A loom is gathering dust and needs rethreading, a wooden ship model awaits construction, and the cats demand their own time much more urgently. She works constantly, researches mostly on the internet, and has books stacked up and waiting to be written.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 110 reviews
February 21, 2022
(This is for my paperback edition. I alternated between this and the e-book version.)
I have read this book many times since it was first published, and I always enjoy it. C.J. Cherryh has such a knack for terrific characterization, excellent dialogue, and a claustrophobic sense of foreboding.
Basically the entire story takes place in a dark, lifeless and ominous forest. We are mainly dealing with three human characters and a slew of magical creatures from Slavic folklore, particularly a rusalka. Rusalki are the vengeful spirits of girls murdered by drowning. They take their sustenance by leeching the life out of living things.
I wouldn't consider this a horror tale; it's more of a fantasy with a mythological bent. Like the rest of her books, one has to pay attention because she tends to keep her characters- and readers- a bit confused as to what exactly is going on. But I think that's part of her charm as a writer. She's not heavy on action, but her books are always somehow satisfying.
I wish she had written more than three books in this Russian Tales series. They are now out of print so the only way to get them is secondhand. You'll have to pry my copies out of my dead hands if you can't find any :) The ebooks can be bought from her website, though.
I have read this book many times since it was first published, and I always enjoy it. C.J. Cherryh has such a knack for terrific characterization, excellent dialogue, and a claustrophobic sense of foreboding.
Basically the entire story takes place in a dark, lifeless and ominous forest. We are mainly dealing with three human characters and a slew of magical creatures from Slavic folklore, particularly a rusalka. Rusalki are the vengeful spirits of girls murdered by drowning. They take their sustenance by leeching the life out of living things.
I wouldn't consider this a horror tale; it's more of a fantasy with a mythological bent. Like the rest of her books, one has to pay attention because she tends to keep her characters- and readers- a bit confused as to what exactly is going on. But I think that's part of her charm as a writer. She's not heavy on action, but her books are always somehow satisfying.
I wish she had written more than three books in this Russian Tales series. They are now out of print so the only way to get them is secondhand. You'll have to pry my copies out of my dead hands if you can't find any :) The ebooks can be bought from her website, though.
October 30, 2011
the cover makes it look so grim, yet this is a rather light and pleasant fantasy, most of the time. bad things happen but overall it is an earnest and loveable novel. which made it enjoyable but also unmemorable and somewhat of a disappointment. i was hoping for much darker things. russian mythology is scary mythology! russia is scary! i wanted old school russia i guess, gogol set in an enchanted forest. but what i got was robin mckinley lite. ah well.
March 10, 2013
This is a story about a young wizard and a gambler, thrown together and sent on an adventure. They encounter a dead girl and her living elderly father, a wizard in his own right. Descriptions of Mythic Russia include people, places and creatures � including that of the title.
From the author's description, "A rusalka is a Russian ghost: a drowned maiden who dies for love will become a rusalka, haunting the river where she perished." A few other Russian beasties appear in this story � including bannik, leshy, and vodyanoy. The interactions of these between themselves and with the main characters form much of what I liked about this book.
Unfortunately there was a lot I had difficulties with. The thought processes of each main character were overly detailed, slowing any action to a crawl. I've read Heinlein's chapter-long discussions between characters easily enough, but found myself distracted or worse, nodding off during thought-filled paragraphs in this book. When the characters conversed, the dialogue wasn't much better, and could be repetitive at times. The book does contain a few action sequences, including most of the first chapter. These went by quickly, perhaps because the characters were focused on actions instead of thoughts.
Rusalka is the first book in a series of three, though it definitely stands alone as a complete story. I read the paperback version, from Del Rey and Ballantine. The rights have reverted to the author, who has rewritten and republished the following two books, Chernevog and Yvgenie. If I were to read the rest of this series, those are the versions I would seek out.
And that's the rub � I don't think I will, or at least not in the near future. C.J. Cherryh is an award winning author, and this book was nominated for a Locus Fantasy award in 1990 (losing out to Orson Scott Card's Prentice Alvin). I just don't have the stamina to work through another book like this one. After spending more than three weeks with these characters, Rusalka rates just 2 out of 5.
From the author's description, "A rusalka is a Russian ghost: a drowned maiden who dies for love will become a rusalka, haunting the river where she perished." A few other Russian beasties appear in this story � including bannik, leshy, and vodyanoy. The interactions of these between themselves and with the main characters form much of what I liked about this book.
Unfortunately there was a lot I had difficulties with. The thought processes of each main character were overly detailed, slowing any action to a crawl. I've read Heinlein's chapter-long discussions between characters easily enough, but found myself distracted or worse, nodding off during thought-filled paragraphs in this book. When the characters conversed, the dialogue wasn't much better, and could be repetitive at times. The book does contain a few action sequences, including most of the first chapter. These went by quickly, perhaps because the characters were focused on actions instead of thoughts.
Rusalka is the first book in a series of three, though it definitely stands alone as a complete story. I read the paperback version, from Del Rey and Ballantine. The rights have reverted to the author, who has rewritten and republished the following two books, Chernevog and Yvgenie. If I were to read the rest of this series, those are the versions I would seek out.
And that's the rub � I don't think I will, or at least not in the near future. C.J. Cherryh is an award winning author, and this book was nominated for a Locus Fantasy award in 1990 (losing out to Orson Scott Card's Prentice Alvin). I just don't have the stamina to work through another book like this one. After spending more than three weeks with these characters, Rusalka rates just 2 out of 5.
February 21, 2016
Sasha (orphan stableboy with some talent for magic) and Pyetr (young, genial ne'er-do-well) are driven from their home village of Vojvoda into the forest -- the creepy and largely dead forest -- where their path takes them to the riverside cottage of one Uulamets, a wizard, and his dead daughter Eveshka, the titular rusalka.
This is really more of a ghost story, almost a horror story, than anything -- the woods are dead (drained by Eveshka over the years) and inhabited only by various spirits of wood and water and hearth. As this is a Cherryh novel, the characters' interior landscapes are just as important and well-realized (and often just as desolate and claustrophobic) as the outside world, and it's amazing how much tension and sense of place she can wring out of a book that takes place primarily with two (or maybe three or four) isolated characters making their way through the woods.
This is really more of a ghost story, almost a horror story, than anything -- the woods are dead (drained by Eveshka over the years) and inhabited only by various spirits of wood and water and hearth. As this is a Cherryh novel, the characters' interior landscapes are just as important and well-realized (and often just as desolate and claustrophobic) as the outside world, and it's amazing how much tension and sense of place she can wring out of a book that takes place primarily with two (or maybe three or four) isolated characters making their way through the woods.
February 26, 2008
Ugh. I love Russian folklore, so I was hopeful for a series that would share some of what has so enthralled me over the years, but this series falls sharply short. The prose is muddled, the representation of pre-Christian Russian beliefs oddly skewed and the plot trajectory awkward and unsatisfying. I never made it past this first book of the trilogy and don't plan to.
February 21, 2022
I have read this book many times since it was first published, and I always enjoy it. C.J. Cherryh has such a knack for terrific characterization, excellent dialogue, and a claustrophobic sense of foreboding.
Basically the entire story takes place in a dark, lifeless and ominous forest. We are mainly dealing with three human characters and a slew of magical creatures from Slavic folklore, particularly a rusalka. Rusalki are the vengeful spirits of girls murdered by drowning. They take their sustenance by leeching the life out of living things.
I wouldn't consider this a horror tale; it's more of a fantasy with a mythological bent. Like the rest of her books, one has to pay attention because she tends to keep her characters- and readers- a bit confused as to what exactly is going on. But I think that's part of her charm as a writer. She's not heavy on action, but her books are always somehow satisfying.
I wish she had written more than three books in this Russian Tales series. They are now out of print so the only way to get them is secondhand. You'll have to pry my copies out of my dead hands if you can't find any :) The ebooks can be bought from her website, though.
Basically the entire story takes place in a dark, lifeless and ominous forest. We are mainly dealing with three human characters and a slew of magical creatures from Slavic folklore, particularly a rusalka. Rusalki are the vengeful spirits of girls murdered by drowning. They take their sustenance by leeching the life out of living things.
I wouldn't consider this a horror tale; it's more of a fantasy with a mythological bent. Like the rest of her books, one has to pay attention because she tends to keep her characters- and readers- a bit confused as to what exactly is going on. But I think that's part of her charm as a writer. She's not heavy on action, but her books are always somehow satisfying.
I wish she had written more than three books in this Russian Tales series. They are now out of print so the only way to get them is secondhand. You'll have to pry my copies out of my dead hands if you can't find any :) The ebooks can be bought from her website, though.
July 29, 2020
I found Rusalka somewhere on bookstagram, someone was praising the series and when I saw it's inspired by Slavic Folklore, there's a crazy wizard and a big, scary forest - it's all I want and love!
Sadly, I realized why the book's been out of print since the 90s 😂
First of all, the synopsys was pretty misleading, this is not a light, funny read. Petyr and Sasha, our main characters, are on the run because they've both been accused of witchcraft. Wounded, unequipped and without a plan of any kind, they flee into the forest that's been called cursed for years. The first part of the book is basically pure survival, I'm still not sure how the hell they didn't die in a dead russian forest in the middle of January with one (1) coat, no food, a serious injury and no fire or shelter. I mean, I know after reading the rest of the book, but even the magical explanation isn't really believable.
Finally they come up to a cottage in the middle of the forest and there's where the fun begins. It's the home of a half-crazed wizard named Uulamets, whose only wish is to bring back his dead daughter, the rusalka. He sees the two fugitives as the perfect tool to resurrect her.
I don't want to spoil the rest but let me tell you, that Petyr has some sass. He was so sarcastic through the entire book, it was amazing 😂 the younger guy, Sasha, has some magical powers himself, but he's so afraid of everything, he only made me annoyed. I swear the guy said "I'm sorry" 1157 times.
The thing I loved the most, as excpected, were the mythical creatures - the rusalka, the vodyanoi, domovoi, dvorovoi, the leshys. I'm so fascinated by the slavic folklore 😍
The magic in this series works on the manifesting, wishing, principle. The magicians have the power to "wish" things to happen. But it's tricky because even the simple, unconscious wishes come true and they have to be very careful.
This book wasn't bad, don't get me wrong, but the writing style threw me off. It was quite confusing at times, I had to go back and check if I missed any pages. Some parts were almost a stream of consciousness from the characters perspective and I'm not a big fan of it.
The book ended on a cliffhanger but I'm not sure yet if I'll continue. The story itself was interesting but the way it's written has kinda ruined it for me.
Sadly, I realized why the book's been out of print since the 90s 😂
First of all, the synopsys was pretty misleading, this is not a light, funny read. Petyr and Sasha, our main characters, are on the run because they've both been accused of witchcraft. Wounded, unequipped and without a plan of any kind, they flee into the forest that's been called cursed for years. The first part of the book is basically pure survival, I'm still not sure how the hell they didn't die in a dead russian forest in the middle of January with one (1) coat, no food, a serious injury and no fire or shelter. I mean, I know after reading the rest of the book, but even the magical explanation isn't really believable.
Finally they come up to a cottage in the middle of the forest and there's where the fun begins. It's the home of a half-crazed wizard named Uulamets, whose only wish is to bring back his dead daughter, the rusalka. He sees the two fugitives as the perfect tool to resurrect her.
I don't want to spoil the rest but let me tell you, that Petyr has some sass. He was so sarcastic through the entire book, it was amazing 😂 the younger guy, Sasha, has some magical powers himself, but he's so afraid of everything, he only made me annoyed. I swear the guy said "I'm sorry" 1157 times.
The thing I loved the most, as excpected, were the mythical creatures - the rusalka, the vodyanoi, domovoi, dvorovoi, the leshys. I'm so fascinated by the slavic folklore 😍
The magic in this series works on the manifesting, wishing, principle. The magicians have the power to "wish" things to happen. But it's tricky because even the simple, unconscious wishes come true and they have to be very careful.
This book wasn't bad, don't get me wrong, but the writing style threw me off. It was quite confusing at times, I had to go back and check if I missed any pages. Some parts were almost a stream of consciousness from the characters perspective and I'm not a big fan of it.
The book ended on a cliffhanger but I'm not sure yet if I'll continue. The story itself was interesting but the way it's written has kinda ruined it for me.
October 20, 2024
Rusalka started off funny and entertaining with the two main characters being a sarcastic old man and a young man who was unsure about his magical powers. They found this cranky old wizard in the woods and I was pretty hooked they learned about his dead daughter being a Rusalka. I was really enjoying the book, but then it started to feel repetitive and slow. I felt like the same thing kept happening over and over with the three men being lost in the woods and the rusalka in the book disappearing and reappearing. I was honestly so confused when she was introduced by just showing up at the cabin. There was this huge ominous build up to introducing the bad guy, and it was pretty disappointing when he finally appeared in the last few chapters. This book didn’t follow the exact format of the Rusalka in Slavic folklore, and I personally felt like her character could’ve been written so much better. Even though this was not the best read for me, it was still inspiring for my current Rusalka research and I’m going to finish the trilogy.
September 3, 2017
I love CJCherry. Clearly she was still honing her writing chops with this book. It hurts me to say it but I just didn't enjoy reading this. I like Russian folktales so this should have been a winner in all ways for me. Ah well.... The 3 stars is rounding up. I couldn't bare to give any book of hers a 2.
August 27, 2016
In a fantasy version of medieval Russia, Sasha is an orphaned stableboy cursed by bad luck � or so he and the entire town believes. Anything Sasha wishes can come true, which is actually a terrifying, unpredictable power; as a young child, he wished for his father to stop beating him and his house promptly burnt down, killing both his parents. Sasha tries very hard therefore not to wish for anything, never to get angry, and to want as little as possible.
All of this changes when he meets Pyetr, a young gambler who has ingratiated himself with the rich men of town by being charming and fun. But Pyetr is unfairly accused of murder and his friends abruptly become a lot less charmed, leaving Pyetr with no one to rely on but a chance-met Sasha. The two of them flee town together and quickly find themselves lost in a forest in late winter, the worst time of year: mud and melt and dead branches and nothing new growing yet. They're taken in by a mysterious old man who could be a wizard � and thus tied to Sasha's own power of wishing � who asks in return for his help that they rescue his dead daughter, currently a rusalka (a sort of hungry ghost). And then things get complicated.
I liked the magic system in this book a lot. Magic is powerful and nearly everywhere, but it is also impossible to predict, slippery and wiley and full of unintended consequences. There are ent-like forest spirits, huge shapeshifter river things, protective and oddly cute house guardians. People give away their hearts, literally, and wizards prove to be very hard to trust.
Sasha is a great character, good-hearted and uncertain of himself and desperately wanting a friend. He reminded me a lot of Maia from The Goblin Emperor � that same sort of young man thrust into a position of power and struggling to learn how to use it without doing harm, and meanwhile being very lonely. Rusalka as a whole has a similar sweet, uplifting tone to The Goblin Emperor, in fact, though with a more adventurous plot and a bit more loss in the end. It also has a lot of people trudging through the woods at the end of their rope, injured and exhausted and under various spells or ghost influence, with all the accompanying H/C. Which I know is a plus for many of you. :D Sasha and Pyetr have an adorable friendship, and are constantly worrying about one another and putting the other first. It's a great book, though in a particularly iddy-fanfic sort of way. It's also the first of a trilogy, and I am looking forward to reading the others.
Note: I read the version available on Cherryh's website, which apparently has been slightly rewritten from the version published originally.
All of this changes when he meets Pyetr, a young gambler who has ingratiated himself with the rich men of town by being charming and fun. But Pyetr is unfairly accused of murder and his friends abruptly become a lot less charmed, leaving Pyetr with no one to rely on but a chance-met Sasha. The two of them flee town together and quickly find themselves lost in a forest in late winter, the worst time of year: mud and melt and dead branches and nothing new growing yet. They're taken in by a mysterious old man who could be a wizard � and thus tied to Sasha's own power of wishing � who asks in return for his help that they rescue his dead daughter, currently a rusalka (a sort of hungry ghost). And then things get complicated.
I liked the magic system in this book a lot. Magic is powerful and nearly everywhere, but it is also impossible to predict, slippery and wiley and full of unintended consequences. There are ent-like forest spirits, huge shapeshifter river things, protective and oddly cute house guardians. People give away their hearts, literally, and wizards prove to be very hard to trust.
Sasha is a great character, good-hearted and uncertain of himself and desperately wanting a friend. He reminded me a lot of Maia from The Goblin Emperor � that same sort of young man thrust into a position of power and struggling to learn how to use it without doing harm, and meanwhile being very lonely. Rusalka as a whole has a similar sweet, uplifting tone to The Goblin Emperor, in fact, though with a more adventurous plot and a bit more loss in the end. It also has a lot of people trudging through the woods at the end of their rope, injured and exhausted and under various spells or ghost influence, with all the accompanying H/C. Which I know is a plus for many of you. :D Sasha and Pyetr have an adorable friendship, and are constantly worrying about one another and putting the other first. It's a great book, though in a particularly iddy-fanfic sort of way. It's also the first of a trilogy, and I am looking forward to reading the others.
Note: I read the version available on Cherryh's website, which apparently has been slightly rewritten from the version published originally.
March 3, 2018
2.5 stars
I wish I could have liked this book, as it can be difficult to find stories that deal with fairies or other traditions outside of British, Greco-Roman, or Norse mythologies. From a technical standpoint, there is nothing wrong with this book. The language is good, even poetic, and has some great imagery. Unfortunately, it also did not hold my attention very well so it was a bit of a push to finish it. I was JUST curious enough to keep going to see how things panned out, but not enough to want to read more.
Out of the two main characters, I kind of liked the boy Sasha, but aside from being a very nice and loyal person, he's kind of bland. His companion Pyetr is mostly annoying throughout the story with few (if any) redeeming features, which makes me wonder why Sasha sticks by him. The "romance" that develops between Pyetr and the rusalka (the banshee-like river ghost of a murdered woman) is love in name only and has no real basis. As for the plot, not much actually happens. They pretty much spend time walking through the wood, staying in a house, then walking through the woods some more. I might not have minded this, except that I didn't care about the characters and the conversations they had were pretty much variations of the same theme ("Should we stay or should we go?"), ad nauseum. The magic system looked like it could have been interesting, since it's based on "wishing" and the unintended consequences that make using magic dangerous. But it quickly becomes so vague and confusing that I no longer knew what was possible, how or why things were happening, or even what the rules were anymore. Needless to say, I don't plan on reading any more books in this series; the first one was quite enough.
I wish I could have liked this book, as it can be difficult to find stories that deal with fairies or other traditions outside of British, Greco-Roman, or Norse mythologies. From a technical standpoint, there is nothing wrong with this book. The language is good, even poetic, and has some great imagery. Unfortunately, it also did not hold my attention very well so it was a bit of a push to finish it. I was JUST curious enough to keep going to see how things panned out, but not enough to want to read more.
Out of the two main characters, I kind of liked the boy Sasha, but aside from being a very nice and loyal person, he's kind of bland. His companion Pyetr is mostly annoying throughout the story with few (if any) redeeming features, which makes me wonder why Sasha sticks by him. The "romance" that develops between Pyetr and the rusalka (the banshee-like river ghost of a murdered woman) is love in name only and has no real basis. As for the plot, not much actually happens. They pretty much spend time walking through the wood, staying in a house, then walking through the woods some more. I might not have minded this, except that I didn't care about the characters and the conversations they had were pretty much variations of the same theme ("Should we stay or should we go?"), ad nauseum. The magic system looked like it could have been interesting, since it's based on "wishing" and the unintended consequences that make using magic dangerous. But it quickly becomes so vague and confusing that I no longer knew what was possible, how or why things were happening, or even what the rules were anymore. Needless to say, I don't plan on reading any more books in this series; the first one was quite enough.
March 4, 2011
Rusalka е един от онези романи, който предизвикват крайни реакции � или се харесва страшно много на читателя или го отказва на около стр. 30. Аз преминах и през двете фази. Първоначално бях очарована до към средата на книгата, след което ми идеше за завия от бавното развитие на действието. С мулешки инат я довърших по причини, които ще премълча.
Базиран на руски фолклор, Rusalka представлява нестандартен фентъзи роман. Най-вече заради стилистиката на Чери. Но за това � после. Преди това � няколко думи за сюжета и героите.
Саша Мисуров е типичния главен герой на фентъзи четиво � сирак с магически способности, който бива изкаран от познатата си среда и му се случва случка. Във въпросното приключение го въвлича авантюристът Пьотр Кочевиков, който за една нощ от пройдоха се превръща в беглец от закона. Съдбата го завлича в конюшнята, където работи Саша, и двамата предприемат бягство извън града, за да се отзоват в омагьосана гора,.
Базиран на руски фолклор, Rusalka представлява нестандартен фентъзи роман. Най-вече заради стилистиката на Чери. Но за това � после. Преди това � няколко думи за сюжета и героите.
Саша Мисуров е типичния главен герой на фентъзи четиво � сирак с магически способности, който бива изкаран от познатата си среда и му се случва случка. Във въпросното приключение го въвлича авантюристът Пьотр Кочевиков, който за една нощ от пройдоха се превръща в беглец от закона. Съдбата го завлича в конюшнята, където работи Саша, и двамата предприемат бягство извън града, за да се отзоват в омагьосана гора,.
February 16, 2011
Very, very far away from heroic fantasy, but not-the-less, one of the best fantasy’s books I have read, and so - one of my favorites.
I really liked the way Cherryh has managed to capture the essence of classical Russian fairytale, and also - of Russian culture. The atmosphere and the scenery is excellently built as well.
What I really enjoyed it, tho, were the two leading characters. The dynamic between Sasha and Peter is extremely realistic and masterly done. Both of them need to get some rapid growing up to do � both the boy and the man (some boys just stay boys longer). It’s exqusitly well told and excellent physiologically motivated transgression.
No usual spell-casting here, I’m afraid, nothing so easily definable as a spell. Magic has much more a real feel in this book.
I really liked the way Cherryh has managed to capture the essence of classical Russian fairytale, and also - of Russian culture. The atmosphere and the scenery is excellently built as well.
What I really enjoyed it, tho, were the two leading characters. The dynamic between Sasha and Peter is extremely realistic and masterly done. Both of them need to get some rapid growing up to do � both the boy and the man (some boys just stay boys longer). It’s exqusitly well told and excellent physiologically motivated transgression.
No usual spell-casting here, I’m afraid, nothing so easily definable as a spell. Magic has much more a real feel in this book.
February 9, 2018
Based on pre-Christian Russian mythology, this is a surprisingly well done narrative of two young men on the run whose flight into a dead forest ensnares them in a wizard's attempt to bring back to life his dead daughter. One could possibly make several criticisms of the plot and its pace or the author's perception of the Slavic mythology, but her wonderful articulation of the psychic mechanics of magic and her descriptive prose eclipses any quibbles, most of which aren't really worth mentioning. Admittedly, I don't read much fantasy anymore, because it all tends to be the same outside of the greater works like Gene Wolfe and Tolkien, but Ms. Cherryh has a new fan.
August 3, 2007
In tsarist Russia, a kitchen boy and a playboy are forced on the run. Wounded and with few resources, they escape into the surrounding woods--and there encounter spirits and demons of all varieties. The relationship between the two men is really sweet and contentious; they each like each other a great deal but are troubled by aspects of their relationship. It's pleasantly, subtextually slashy. Unfortunately, the story is bogged down by endless scenes of them feeling confused. I know they're over their heads in this situation, but couldn't they know *something*?
March 24, 2018
Two runaways get lost in the deep Russian forests, are beset by monsters, ghosts, and wizards, and decide to make it home.
I have such a huge soft spot for the characters and the world-logic of these wizards, even if the narration itself gets more than a little muddled.
I have such a huge soft spot for the characters and the world-logic of these wizards, even if the narration itself gets more than a little muddled.
August 29, 2007
I never did finish this book, because it's scary in that creepy-things-hiding-under-the-bed sort of way.
Which will make some people like it a lot.
Which will make some people like it a lot.
March 3, 2022
Overall, I enjoyed reading this book. The mystery was intriguing, and I liked the intricate wishing/wanting magic of the wizards, that seemed simple at first but slowly revealed it's incredible complexity. It had my thoughts all twisted on what could and could not happen, much like the characters themselves felt. There was a point when the story felt stagnant. The characters were repeating a lot of the same questions to each other over and over, as if the answer would conjure itself up or change, even though nothing had happened to change their situation. It could have been a part of the plot, because the confusion, misgivings and doubt of the characters is definitely a highlight of the story and part of the main conflict. It just seemed a bit too much at times. Not too much to keep me from really enjoying the conflict, though. The characters were really good. I liked Sasha and Pyetr's dynamic, and wish we could have gotten more of them just the too of them without the looming presence of the wizard hovering over them. Both characters felt like they grew a lot, and I really got to see that growth. The book is told in third person, alternating between Sasha and Pyetr's perspectives, so it shows a lot of their inner turmoil, doubts and worries. It slowed down in the middle, but the last third was definitely a page turner.
December 28, 2019
I wanted to like this book much more than I did. It seemed as if the author knew where she wanted to end up but struggles to get there. The characters stumbled around in the woods an awful lot, so most of the story was a bit of a muddle until the last 30 pages.
March 21, 2023
3.5 stars
I was expecting to fly through this when I picked it up. The first time I read this, which is probably a good 15 years ago now, I devoured it. I loved the writing, the story, and the characters. I also didn't have the access to books that I do now, and it's interesting to see how what I have read over the years has changed my taste in fantasy in particular.
I will preface this by saying that I read a paperback copy of this book, and not the updated ebook that the author released somewhere in the 2010s. I'm curious what the actual changes are, and whether the writing itself feels different, but I don't think I can handle an immediate reread.
The writing
I really struggled to get into the story this time around, and some of that was due to the writing. Some of the sentence structures struck me as clunky, with weird grammar choices, and I would end up rereading the same few lines, trying to make sense of what the author was trying to say. Some of it did sound good, from a prose perspective, but I don't think I would call it very readable. It feels old in that way, which surprised me because I also read a book by Patricia McKillip recently, and had no trouble at all with the writing, even though that one is even older.
The plot & world
There are a lot of elements here that verge on horror. Spooky forests, mysterious creatures that attack people, bones in caves and at the bottom of lakes, a rusalka that can feed on you. If you like unsettling stories, this book has a lot of those elements. The magic system is interesting, but also hard to get a grip on. It's based entirely on wishes, so a lot of it happens inside people's heads. For example, the wizards in this book can influence other characters to behave a certain way, or a wish for something not to break can make it unbreakable, no matter how much force you use on it. It's the opposite of flashy, but also made complicated because it's so easy to wish for something inside your head.
The problem is primarily that this type of magic necessitates a lot of sitting and thinking. There are several long stretches where our characters are sitting on a boat, or in a cottage, or in the middle of the woods, while the wizards among them wish for something. It drags the pace of the story down, even though I think the idea behind it is interesting. There is also a lot of journeying—if you don't enjoy slow books, this might be the wrong one for you.
I did really like how this is based on Russian folklore and mythology. For whatever reason, that's not something I encounter often, but the way the author used those elements made the story feel dark, and I appreciated that.
The characters
This is where the book shines for me. The author does such a great job of fleshing out the characters as individuals, but also the relationships between them, and she does it by showing us who they are through how they act. Sasha, for example, is very unsure of himself in the beginning, but he also firmly believes that magic exists, and that there are creatures all around him that can either act as a force of good, or a force of evil, depending on his belief in them and respect for them. This clashes with Pyetr's outlook on life, which is that it's all a lot of nonsense, and that Sasha needs to grow out of it. Their dynamic when they start out is so different from where they end up, but the progression is very clear and logical. They both feel a certain protectiveness towards each other, and that really drives their decision making. I also think both characters show a lot of growth over the course of the book, and are interesting to follow.
Does it hold up on reread?
Yes and no. I'm glad I reread it, but now that I have, I think the writing style is dense enough that I won't pick it up again in a hurry. I do appreciate the characters and the story, however.
Pyetr Kochevikov believed in human weakness far more than he believed in wizards, human weakness being everywhere evident and sorcery being a matter, like the Little Old Man who should ward the stables, of people's absolute will to believe in other people's responsibility.
I was expecting to fly through this when I picked it up. The first time I read this, which is probably a good 15 years ago now, I devoured it. I loved the writing, the story, and the characters. I also didn't have the access to books that I do now, and it's interesting to see how what I have read over the years has changed my taste in fantasy in particular.
I will preface this by saying that I read a paperback copy of this book, and not the updated ebook that the author released somewhere in the 2010s. I'm curious what the actual changes are, and whether the writing itself feels different, but I don't think I can handle an immediate reread.
The writing
I really struggled to get into the story this time around, and some of that was due to the writing. Some of the sentence structures struck me as clunky, with weird grammar choices, and I would end up rereading the same few lines, trying to make sense of what the author was trying to say. Some of it did sound good, from a prose perspective, but I don't think I would call it very readable. It feels old in that way, which surprised me because I also read a book by Patricia McKillip recently, and had no trouble at all with the writing, even though that one is even older.
The plot & world
There are a lot of elements here that verge on horror. Spooky forests, mysterious creatures that attack people, bones in caves and at the bottom of lakes, a rusalka that can feed on you. If you like unsettling stories, this book has a lot of those elements. The magic system is interesting, but also hard to get a grip on. It's based entirely on wishes, so a lot of it happens inside people's heads. For example, the wizards in this book can influence other characters to behave a certain way, or a wish for something not to break can make it unbreakable, no matter how much force you use on it. It's the opposite of flashy, but also made complicated because it's so easy to wish for something inside your head.
The problem is primarily that this type of magic necessitates a lot of sitting and thinking. There are several long stretches where our characters are sitting on a boat, or in a cottage, or in the middle of the woods, while the wizards among them wish for something. It drags the pace of the story down, even though I think the idea behind it is interesting. There is also a lot of journeying—if you don't enjoy slow books, this might be the wrong one for you.
I did really like how this is based on Russian folklore and mythology. For whatever reason, that's not something I encounter often, but the way the author used those elements made the story feel dark, and I appreciated that.
The characters
This is where the book shines for me. The author does such a great job of fleshing out the characters as individuals, but also the relationships between them, and she does it by showing us who they are through how they act. Sasha, for example, is very unsure of himself in the beginning, but he also firmly believes that magic exists, and that there are creatures all around him that can either act as a force of good, or a force of evil, depending on his belief in them and respect for them. This clashes with Pyetr's outlook on life, which is that it's all a lot of nonsense, and that Sasha needs to grow out of it. Their dynamic when they start out is so different from where they end up, but the progression is very clear and logical. They both feel a certain protectiveness towards each other, and that really drives their decision making. I also think both characters show a lot of growth over the course of the book, and are interesting to follow.
Does it hold up on reread?
Yes and no. I'm glad I reread it, but now that I have, I think the writing style is dense enough that I won't pick it up again in a hurry. I do appreciate the characters and the story, however.
July 6, 2017
I don't quite know what to think of "Rusalka" .... it's not good, it's not bad- it just exists.
Plot Summary: The plot is set in Russia, not sure when but before there were guns... and it focuses on two people, Sasha and Pyotr (although Sasha is 15 and Pyotr is close to upper 20s? Hard to tell.) They live in the same town but don't really know each other until one day Pyotr is accused of murder, and Sasha gets caught up in it. They both escape, but then are forced to wander the wilderness in early spring, when there's absolutely nothing to eat, and so they are close to starving when they finally happen on someone's door.
Uulamets is not a nice old man, but they soon find out he is a wizard, and he more or less forces them to stay (since Sasha believes in magic and is deathly afraid of leaving or offending the wizard or any spirits, although Pyotr thinks he's crazy) and it turns out the old man is trying to bring back his daughter to life. She died under mysterious circumstances and has come back as a rusalka, the unhappy spirit of a murdered young girl who preys on the life of others to survive. She has already drained the entire forest, and then she sets her sights on Pyotr.
What follows is a confusing mix of magic, spells, and general back-and-forth, who's who confusion that is the rest of the book.
The good: .... I enjoy the focus on Russian folklore, and the system of magic here was interesting, if very simple... If you have magic, you can "wish" (i.e., will) something to happen, but you ahve to be careful because it may come true in an obtuse and detrimental way. As a result, you have Sasha wishing as hard as he can for something, and then maybe something happening because he wished it. IT was different, I'll give it that.
The bad: Although well-written, I'd have to say that this book was confusing and went nowhere. It wandered, it hemmed and hawed, it went in circles, and at the end I'm still not sure if it was worth it. I didn't like the characters, really: Sasha was a worrywart and annoying, Pyotr was a stubborn idiot, Uulamets was one-note (and constantly harping on that one note of being a "mean old man who knows magic so you better watch out), and the rusalka was confusing. The "villain" was barely there- I wouldn't even count him as a character.
The Result: While not a bad book, I'd only recommend it if you like this author or want to read something about Russian folklore (since there are very few examples out there.) Otherwise, skip it.
If you want a good, quick story that explains what a rusalka is, read "Plain Kate."
Plot Summary: The plot is set in Russia, not sure when but before there were guns... and it focuses on two people, Sasha and Pyotr (although Sasha is 15 and Pyotr is close to upper 20s? Hard to tell.) They live in the same town but don't really know each other until one day Pyotr is accused of murder, and Sasha gets caught up in it. They both escape, but then are forced to wander the wilderness in early spring, when there's absolutely nothing to eat, and so they are close to starving when they finally happen on someone's door.
Uulamets is not a nice old man, but they soon find out he is a wizard, and he more or less forces them to stay (since Sasha believes in magic and is deathly afraid of leaving or offending the wizard or any spirits, although Pyotr thinks he's crazy) and it turns out the old man is trying to bring back his daughter to life. She died under mysterious circumstances and has come back as a rusalka, the unhappy spirit of a murdered young girl who preys on the life of others to survive. She has already drained the entire forest, and then she sets her sights on Pyotr.
What follows is a confusing mix of magic, spells, and general back-and-forth, who's who confusion that is the rest of the book.
The good: .... I enjoy the focus on Russian folklore, and the system of magic here was interesting, if very simple... If you have magic, you can "wish" (i.e., will) something to happen, but you ahve to be careful because it may come true in an obtuse and detrimental way. As a result, you have Sasha wishing as hard as he can for something, and then maybe something happening because he wished it. IT was different, I'll give it that.
The bad: Although well-written, I'd have to say that this book was confusing and went nowhere. It wandered, it hemmed and hawed, it went in circles, and at the end I'm still not sure if it was worth it. I didn't like the characters, really: Sasha was a worrywart and annoying, Pyotr was a stubborn idiot, Uulamets was one-note (and constantly harping on that one note of being a "mean old man who knows magic so you better watch out), and the rusalka was confusing. The "villain" was barely there- I wouldn't even count him as a character.
The Result: While not a bad book, I'd only recommend it if you like this author or want to read something about Russian folklore (since there are very few examples out there.) Otherwise, skip it.
If you want a good, quick story that explains what a rusalka is, read "Plain Kate."
September 11, 2014
I enjoyed the story, but the writing style was much too awkward. There are two primary characters, Pyetr and Sasha, and the point of view keeps switching between the two without warning, which made me take far too long to read it.
Also, from what I know of Russian mythological creatures, Cherryh's creatures are just too nice! Her rusalka, at her worst, seems like she's just a girl who made a mistake and regrets it. Never mind that she's destroyed a forest the size of a mid-sized country.
June 27, 2007
I read this book years ago and confess that I totally forgot about it, except that I must have liked it enough then to buy it and the two subsequent books in the trilogy in pretty hardcover. In reality, I think I just loved the setting and Cherryh's uncomplicated style. Sometimes I wanted there to be more insightful motivations behind the characters, but in the end, not everyone can be overly complicated and it is, afterall, very much like a fairy tale or ghost story.
December 8, 2010
One of my favorite books of all time. Pyetr and Sasha must run way from their Russian village or be accused of a crime. They end up in a shack in the forest owned by a strange old man whose daughter, Eveshka, is a vengeful ghost. The writing is excellent and it is difficult to follow what is going on because the author doesn't just give everyone's motivations away.
November 11, 2007
Russian mythos, good story. Gotta like a different take on ghosts & magic though.
Read
May 25, 2008Based on Slavic mythology.
March 1, 2021
Started off so good, and then became repetitive.
February 13, 2020
I enjoy Russian Mythology and was really happy when I discovered this book by CJ Cherryh.
On the whole it is a fun read, with good pacing, interesting characters (for the most part) and a setting that lends itself to a mythical story such as this.
The story follows journey of Pyetr and Sasha as they journey into a remote forest filled with magical beings and find safety at the cottage of a wizard who is trying to resurrect his daughter, who has been transformed into a Rusalka. Unfortunately for Pyetr, she had taken a liking to him, and he to her.
For those not familiar with the Ruslaka myths in Russia, Rusalkas were the ghosts of young women who had died violently, usually by drowning, and drained the life energy of hapless victims to try to hang into their life.
Cherryh did a lot of research into Russian mythology and it shows. The forest and its supernatural inhabitants are vividly drawn and create an atmosphere of magic and mystery that are the highlights of this story. The supernatural elements are always there, and we get just enough detail to have a sense of what we're dealing with, but much is not explained, creating an "otherworldly" feel. The characters of Pyetr and Uulamets are also well drawn and interesting. Pyetr is our doubter throughout the story, and it's interesting to watch his character undergo a transformation as he's pulled deeper into his love for Eveshka, the Rusalka. Likewise, Uulamets obsession with resurrecting her and the drama between the two of them, is a lot of fun to follow as it unfolds. Sasha was the let down of this story however. I know he was supposed to be fearful of his growing magical abilities, but he came off as so wishy-washy that after I while I wanted to scream "grow some backbone kid!!". His character is a bit of a hard read.
The other thing that did get me a bit was the writing style. The story flowed quite well, but Cherryh's writing was generally flat and felt like a train of thought rather than a well constructed story. There were a number of times when events that should have been dramatic were undercut because she buried them deeply within the texts rather than have it as a cliffhanger at the end of a chapter or even at the beginning of a new paragraph.
Overall however, I had fun with this, and I am a bit of sucker for these kinds of stories. Good stuff.
4/5 Stars
On the whole it is a fun read, with good pacing, interesting characters (for the most part) and a setting that lends itself to a mythical story such as this.
The story follows journey of Pyetr and Sasha as they journey into a remote forest filled with magical beings and find safety at the cottage of a wizard who is trying to resurrect his daughter, who has been transformed into a Rusalka. Unfortunately for Pyetr, she had taken a liking to him, and he to her.
For those not familiar with the Ruslaka myths in Russia, Rusalkas were the ghosts of young women who had died violently, usually by drowning, and drained the life energy of hapless victims to try to hang into their life.
Cherryh did a lot of research into Russian mythology and it shows. The forest and its supernatural inhabitants are vividly drawn and create an atmosphere of magic and mystery that are the highlights of this story. The supernatural elements are always there, and we get just enough detail to have a sense of what we're dealing with, but much is not explained, creating an "otherworldly" feel. The characters of Pyetr and Uulamets are also well drawn and interesting. Pyetr is our doubter throughout the story, and it's interesting to watch his character undergo a transformation as he's pulled deeper into his love for Eveshka, the Rusalka. Likewise, Uulamets obsession with resurrecting her and the drama between the two of them, is a lot of fun to follow as it unfolds. Sasha was the let down of this story however. I know he was supposed to be fearful of his growing magical abilities, but he came off as so wishy-washy that after I while I wanted to scream "grow some backbone kid!!". His character is a bit of a hard read.
The other thing that did get me a bit was the writing style. The story flowed quite well, but Cherryh's writing was generally flat and felt like a train of thought rather than a well constructed story. There were a number of times when events that should have been dramatic were undercut because she buried them deeply within the texts rather than have it as a cliffhanger at the end of a chapter or even at the beginning of a new paragraph.
Overall however, I had fun with this, and I am a bit of sucker for these kinds of stories. Good stuff.
4/5 Stars
December 22, 2019
Rusalka (1989), by C.J. Cherryh is not the sort of novel that you'd ask for, but exactly the kind of novel that you alway wanted. Three unreliable protagonists unwillingly join forces, under adverse circumstances, to deal with a rusalka, a ghost. The whole thing is based on Russian folklore which is both its strength, and where it deviates from that folklore, its weakness.
The first half of this book is some of the finest fantasy-horror that I've ever read. Shame about the back half, where it loses the mild horror quality (that the supernatural will tear you apart, that you don't understand the supernatural, and you know that you're outclassed), loses direction, and switches genre to action-fantasy instead of Russian folklore. Where the novel should have wrapped up using traditional Russian folklore method for taking out an undefeatable wizard, we get a two page fight scene.
I loved the magic system in the book. It's simple, quite deceptively so, but because it's based on human intention, on human thought, it's vulnerable to human limitations and human error. What a wizard wants is what happens, in some form. The more specific that want is, the more reliable, while the less precise, the more unexpected. This, in and of itself, makes the magic in this book interesting and not merely technical. You cannot divorce the magic from the character.
I thought the characters varied enough to create their own interesting dynamic, one where they all wanted something, but had reasons to hold back, and also had reasons to mistrust each other. The deeper that they went into the story, the more twisted this became.
As the book progresses, other characters appear. Each of these should become important, but as each character appears, they grow shallower, until the final villain is mostly just a notion of a character. Each of these additional characters brought interesting changes and promises, but I feel like most of that potential was wasted.
Even with all the flaws, the novel is still a grand read, but it's not the genre redefining novel that it could have been.
The first half of this book is some of the finest fantasy-horror that I've ever read. Shame about the back half, where it loses the mild horror quality (that the supernatural will tear you apart, that you don't understand the supernatural, and you know that you're outclassed), loses direction, and switches genre to action-fantasy instead of Russian folklore. Where the novel should have wrapped up using traditional Russian folklore method for taking out an undefeatable wizard, we get a two page fight scene.
I loved the magic system in the book. It's simple, quite deceptively so, but because it's based on human intention, on human thought, it's vulnerable to human limitations and human error. What a wizard wants is what happens, in some form. The more specific that want is, the more reliable, while the less precise, the more unexpected. This, in and of itself, makes the magic in this book interesting and not merely technical. You cannot divorce the magic from the character.
I thought the characters varied enough to create their own interesting dynamic, one where they all wanted something, but had reasons to hold back, and also had reasons to mistrust each other. The deeper that they went into the story, the more twisted this became.
As the book progresses, other characters appear. Each of these should become important, but as each character appears, they grow shallower, until the final villain is mostly just a notion of a character. Each of these additional characters brought interesting changes and promises, but I feel like most of that potential was wasted.
Even with all the flaws, the novel is still a grand read, but it's not the genre redefining novel that it could have been.
March 6, 2022
This book had a strong beginning and a great hook. We have young Sasha, a boy who believes that he may be a wizard and that his wishes have power. If he wishes rashly, bad things happen to people, so he is careful to wish for nothing at all. When ordinary Pyetr goes on the run from the law, dragging Sasha with him, it begins an unlikely and amusing friendship. As they wander through ominous forests, Pyetr, who doesn't believe in magic, constantly tells Sasha there's no such thing. As the reader, it is so easy to identify with Pyetr. It really creates an entertaining dialogue between the two of them.
If you've read the synopsis on the back, you already know that Pyetr and the reader are wrong. There is magic, and Sasha's wishes heavily impact the world around him with sometimes unforeseeable consequences.
I loved the relationship between Pyetr and Sasha. And that's what kept me reading. However...
I am giving the book three stars because I enjoyed the characters of Pyetr and Sasha so much. However, I feel like the second half of the book was weak and could have used less searching and more action. All of the revelations were crammed into too much space in the end for it to have much emotional impact on me. It took me way too long to finish it, I didn't think I would be all that satisfied with the ending, and I wasn't. However, I would certainly read more about these two characters and more from this author.
If you've read the synopsis on the back, you already know that Pyetr and the reader are wrong. There is magic, and Sasha's wishes heavily impact the world around him with sometimes unforeseeable consequences.
I loved the relationship between Pyetr and Sasha. And that's what kept me reading. However...
I am giving the book three stars because I enjoyed the characters of Pyetr and Sasha so much. However, I feel like the second half of the book was weak and could have used less searching and more action. All of the revelations were crammed into too much space in the end for it to have much emotional impact on me. It took me way too long to finish it, I didn't think I would be all that satisfied with the ending, and I wasn't. However, I would certainly read more about these two characters and more from this author.
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