Deathless
Ratings37
Average rating3.9
A glorious retelling of the Russian folktale Marya Morevna and Koschei the Deathless from Catherynne M. Valente, set in a mysterious version of St. Petersburg during the first half of the 20th century Koschei the Deathless is to Russian folklore what devils or wicked witches are to European culture: a menacing, evil figure; the villain of countless stories which have been passed on through story and text for generations. But Koschei has never before been seen through the eyes of Catherynne Valente, whose modernized and transformed take on the legend brings the action to modern times, spanning many of the great developments of Russian history in the twentieth century. Deathless, however, is no dry, historical tome: it lights up like fire as the young Marya Morevna transforms from a clever child of the revolution, to Koschei's beautiful bride, to his eventual undoing. Along the way there are Stalinist house elves, magical quests, secrecy and bureaucracy, and games of lust and power. All told, Deathless is a collision of magical history and actual history, of revolution and mythology, of love and death, which will bring Russian myth back to life in a stunning new incarnation. At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.
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A fairy tale. I don't like the genre. It feels like a children's book written for adults. It tells a story from the point of view of a imaginative teenage girl, who sees the world throw her sisters getting married while she is left behind, and every husband is actually a bird who turned into a man in before her eyes. But she is the only one that knows that. The book is full of things like that, in a very child like prose.
Read 0:47 / 11:21 7%
This was a slow read for me though I really enjoyed the story. Some bits were a little confusing or just hard to follow as I'm not familiar with Russian folklore or culture. It's hard to believe this was written by an American; it really reads like a translation from a Russian classic.
I ended up skimming sections towards the end just because it started to feel drawn out, it could have been shortened on the descriptive language and its many side-plots, but you could get really immersed in the story easily. If you're used to reading classic novels like Tolstoy, this would probably be cake walk, but I'm used to lighter fare. Overall, a difficult but worthwile read.
Holy shit. “Feel all the feels” you say? Well, right you were, internet!
My full review can be found at SFF Book Review
I don't think I can muster up enough strength and coherence to write a short review here. The only reason I could see for anybody not liking this book is if they don't like good books. Or fairy tales. Or wonderful characters, the real world interwoven with mythology, symbols all over the place, so many quote-worthy sentences that could make you weep... Just read it, okay?
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