Discoverers or colonizers?
Sannikov Land is one of Vladimir Obruchev's most famous works, along with Plutonia. Often these novels are even in the same book and, frankly, sometimes they even get confused with each other. The plots of the books are too similar. People are becoming the discoverers of new lands and worlds. They explore previously unexplored lands, becoming more hunters than scientists.
Obruchev writes perfectly. The work reads interestingly and quickly enough. Sometimes it feels like the author drew inspiration from the world-famous Jules Verne. There is an attempt to present the material in the spirit of the famous author of adventures. Obruchev successfully manages to do this by placing his characters in a world full of dangers and unpredictable plot twists.
The author relies in his work on the well-known myth of onkilons. I really liked his presentation of the "sea people" who once lived in Chukotka, and then went to the islands in the Arctic Ocean. In Sannikov Land, the characters discover this tribe of people who live on a remote warm island that is still habitable after volcanic activity.
Readers will also be pleased with a detailed description of the surrounding world of the main characters. The author tells about the structure of the soil, animal life, the life of the Onkilons, the Vampu tribe, which are people of the Stone Age and periodically bother onkilons. Obruchev builds his world in such a way that the reader willingly believes in him. It is described in such detail and at the same time realistically in the book.
However, the subsequent events, as if adjusted to the necessary plot development, are confusing. I won't tell you, but I will say that after them, the work seems to change the key and pick up the pace. The heroes will have to make difficult decisions and take responsibility for them.
"Sannikov Land" makes an ordinary person think about the possible life of the discoverer. People of science have a completely different way of life. The characters of the novel think in other categories. For them, research is the goal of life. However, having reached the right place, they completely accept the way of life and lifestyle of the local population. This shows that people are still people in need of society.
The book is also remembered for negative things — the vision of the world by the main characters. They sometimes act like real executioners. They absolutely do not worry about killing animals. It somehow caught my eye very much in the work. Perhaps the author wanted to show that scientific research is much more important for the characters than some kind of feelings. But I would describe some of the actions of the heroes as villainous in relation to nature and even unjustified by the current situation. This is the human nature of the predator and the consumer.
"Sannikov Land" leaves a pleasant impression with a certain fly in the ointment. That's probably what realism is. A person, where he does not get, necessarily crushes the environment for himself. The author also demonstrates an excellent fantastic story based on an impressive scientific base. This plays into his hands, because the reader, in particular, somewhere in the depths of his soul continues to believe that somewhere out there, in the cold ice, there may well be a habitable land on which species that we have long considered dead live quite comfortably.
10 out of 10