Review - The Secret History of Moscow by Ekaterina Sedia
Fantasy fiction with no gay content. This review was previously published on my website, and I'm in the process of moving several reviews such as this one to this blog.
The Secret History of Moscow by Ekaterina Sedia When the citizens of Moscow start disappearing, only a few suspect the truth: that magic is involved. You'd have to be crazy to think that. Crazy or homeless or marginalized or desperate.
Galina fits that category: a sensitive 28 year-old branded with a false diagnosis of schizophrenia, she knows that her beloved sister Masha has turned into a jackdaw and flown away. She meets an alcoholic street artist named Fyodor who claims knowledge of an underground realm accessible through reflections and mirrored surfaces on the surface. Perhaps the answers lie there. So hopes Yakov, a defeated cop who joins them on their quest.
When the three of them dive into the moving reflection on a subway train, they do indeed find themselves beneath Moscow in a rustic subterranean realm complete with a night sky devoid of stars. Yakov is stunned to find his long-lost foreign grandfather serving beer at the local pub - and the man doesn't look a day older than 35!
Galina befriends a countess named Elena (whose tragic history centers on the Decembrist revolt against the Czar in 1825). Fyodor is charmed to meet a profanity-spewing Father Frost, and uneasy to run across Oksana, a gypsy girl from his past. The three surface-dwellers stay the night with Sovin, an agricultural engineer once exiled to Siberia who now lives in peace in this strange community with his swarms of devoted rats.
The next day, several more mythological and historical figures assemble at the pub, wanting to know what the heck is happening to shatter the peace of their underground realm. Whatever surface event happened to turn the citizens of Moscow into birds has been polluting their realm as well: the rusalki water spirits report increased sightings of abandoned weapons and dead bodies turning up in the waterways.
Galina intuits that the organized crime that has infested Moscow is starting to corrupt the underworld as well. But how can that be? The supernaturals decide to mount a quest deeper into their realm to consult with Berendey, a nature god (I think?). Joining our three surface-dwellers are Elena the countess; Zemun, the Celestial Cow from whose udders the Milky Way galaxy once sprang; Koschey, a death-god; and Timur Bey, famed military advisor to the Mongol conquerors of Russia.
Midway through the narrative, it becomes apparent that Galina's insight is indeed correct: a gangster named Slava, turned student of the Kabala, has destroyed ... the metaphysical balance between surface and underground worlds with his experiments in magic. The quest splits in two with Fyodor and Oksana and the rats dispatched top-side to track down parallel clues in Moscow.
Here at Obsidianbookshelf.com, I found this is a vivid and strange fantasy, saturated with the rich and dark mythology of the Slavic lands. This folklore is all but unknown in the West. Those of you fantasy fans who (like me) have grown weary of the usual Celtic underpinnings will find yourself eagerly drinking in these Russian tales. At the same time, you get a gritty feel for modern Moscow: pink streetlights, gangsters in their track pants, and subway stations graced with fabulous chandeliers. It's an unsettling and intriguing mix.
Links:
Posts
0 comments:
Post a Comment