Deathless in On Paths Unknown

Mar 20, 2015 Jennifer rated it really liked it

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This was a conundrum for me. The first part was magical. I loved watching the sisters and the various suitors. Then reality set in with the rise of the Soviet Union. Its not a pretty thing. And then we meet out last suitor and are off the journey. While, I enjoyed the magical place and story I got rather bored somewhere in the middle...I am not sure what happened. I enjoyed what a person might find horrific, was is actually life, a fountain of blood, buildings made of flesh, fur, bones. It made ...more

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Dec 01, 2014 Jlawrence rated it really liked it

4 1/2 stars. Valente alchemizes Russian folklore and the turmoil of early-to-mid 20th-century Russian history into a dark, perplexing, and enrapturing tale of love and loss.

The first third of the novel - where the lead character Marya Morevna is a child witnessing the revolution change her family's life, as well as witnessing birds who fall from trees to transform into men who court her sisters, and eventually witnessing the arrival of her own suitor, Koschei the Deathless - might be my single f 4 1/2 stars. Valente alchemizes Russian folklore and the turmoil of early-to-mid 20th-century Russian history into a dark, perplexing, and enrapturing tale of love and loss.

The first third of the novel - where the lead character Marya Morevna is a child witnessing the revolution change her family's life, as well as witnessing birds who fall from trees to transform into men who court her sisters, and eventually witnessing the arrival of her own suitor, Koschei the Deathless - might be my single favorite bit of Valente's writing I've encountered so far: like the best of Kelly Link's stories, the fusion of the magical and the mundane (yet even the mundane is made somewhat fantastical given the historical context) in the main character's perception is pitch perfect.

I was so enveloped by that portion that I found it too abrupt when the narrative leapt from Kochei's initial taking her from her family to some time later, with Morevna having lived in and (somewhat) adapted to Koschei's fully magical/surreal kingdom. I would have loved instead to see her facing Koschei's realm for the first time, gradually adjusting to it, as well as seeing her and Koschei's relationship evolve during that time. That is just one of several narrative leaps and twists in the book, it's just that the others worked better, so that's one my one real criticism of the book.

Regardless, Morevna learns that Koschei, Tsar of Life, is locked in eternal struggle with his brother, the Tsar of Death, for dominion of the world, with this struggle overlapping the titanic real-world destruction wrought by 20th-century wars, especially World World II: the siege of Leningrad (where Morevna grew up) becoming a agonizing focal point once she has left Koschei's realm.

There is so much interwoven with this tale (I haven't even touched on her friends from Koschei's realm, Koschei's other siblings (including Baba Yaga), nor the rival for her heart, the soldier Ivan) that a review is not going to do the justice only an essay could, so I'll just say the novel is dense, despairing, touching and beautiful, and rich enough that I will definitely return to it for re-reads. ...more

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