Status Updates From Иди через темный лес (Иди ч...

Ну что ж, чистим старые книжные запасы на полках :)

Anna and Marya’s relationship changes after all of their trials, but they don’t immediately become super close as they used to be when they were kids. Too much happened between them, and it’s impossible to bring the past back, so there’s still distance – but they learned to understand each other better and began to support each other, and in doing so, they began to rebuild their relationship into something new.

Nothing passes without trail, and both Marya and Anna are changed by their journey, not just mentally, but physically as well. Marya, after being trapped in the ice crystal, is now always cold and can’t stand silence while Anna, due to almost being turned into a monster, inherited its enhanced healing and slight photophobia, as well as no dreams due to her deal with the ancient chthonic deity.

Yes, Wolf still doesn’t have much time left, since he had aged while in the spirit world, so he’s a young soul in the body of an old man, but at least he would have peace, for however long he has left to live. And the poor guy certainly deserved it.

After certain reveal, I knew that Wolf would die. And Anna knew that, and Wolf himself knew that, too – the only question was how soon and how. And so this precious boy tries to sacrifice himself for Anna several times, and in the final, that’s how he goes out – by giving himself up to be devoured so that Anna and Marya have a chance to escape. And you know what? Because of his pure heart, he lives.

I foretold a certain plot twist, but the reveal why Finist kidnapped Marya in the first place caught me by surprise. Turns out that Anna’s journey through the forest was a part of elaborate plan by Finist and he had both sisters exactly where he needed. And while Finist isn’t a villain bent on death and destruction, but rather a self-serving antagonist, his hostage-taking and blackmail is vile enough – and he wins.

Wolf’s plotline makes me cry. He’s pulled into the world of the dead because he refused his calling as a shaman, then he is constantly tortured by seeing all its nightmares without the glamour and by the inability to eat or drink there, then he is punished by crystals growing through his bones, then he learns that decades had passed in the living world and he can die in any moment. Give the poor guy a break!

Firebird is probably the only creature of the forest that doesn’t have any hidden agenda and doesn’t try to use Anna and Wolf in any way. She remains neutral to their plight, but she’s also compassionate and helpful; so many people had tried to take Firebird’s power for themselves, but she gladly shares it with Anna – she just had to be strong enough to find herself amid the darkness and to accept the flame.

When we met Marya in the beginning of the book, she was a prickly and bitter teen, but flashbacks show that it was not always the case. She and Anna used to be really close, but Anna pushed Marya away when she had reached out for her after their father’s death – ironically, Anna was so focused on working and providing for her sister that she never had time to actually be around when Marya needed attention.

I have a crazy theory that still makes sense. So, a) both the Hunter and Finist have blind milky eyes and not hindered by this disability; b) in fairy tales, Finist is capable of turning from falcon into man; c) shortly after Wolf shot Finist with an arrow, the Hunter reappeared looking wounded. What if the Hunter is actually Finist, and Anna had been looking for someone who kept regularly crossing her way?

Unlike her sisters, the Golden Queen never tries to kill Anna and even helps her, but it would be a mistake to label her as kind. She wields the power of the sun, but she’s not nice or merciful, rather like a force of nature, indifferent to anything that doesn’t directly influence her. In fact, she seriously creeps me out – like a mannequin that looks like a human but whose features are so fundamentally wrong.

I expected the Black Waters that scare even the undead inhabitants of the forest to be filled with monsters and dangers, but they are essentially the primordial ocean from which the world rose and into which it would decent, so there’s something even more terrifying: absolute nothingness. And the ancient deity that Anna meets is an epitome of chaotic neutral – it’s not evil and not kind, it’s bored.

Wolf plays the role of a magic assistant/sidekick to Anna, and omg, I simply love him, because a) Siberian indigenous character with shamanic powers ; b) can shapeshift between a wolf and a human; c) can see the true nature of things more clearly and saved Anna’s life several times because of that; d) brotherly relationship with Anna; e) the most precious cinnamon roll ever.

The Copper Princess was threatening, but the Silver Princess is downright scary. She’s literally bloodthirsty – that’s it, she draws magic from the blood of her victims, so that she’s not even human anymore, with magic flowing through her veins instead of blood. If the heroes barely escaped the Silver Princess despite all the help they received, how powerful the third sister would be?

In Russian folk tales you can often find a motive of the hero meeting three sisters, maidens or crones, with themes of copper, silver and gold, helping the hero out. There seems to be the same plotline to Anna’s quest, except the sisters are as monstrous as the other beasts of the forests. The Copper Princess is cruel and bloodthirsty, and only helps Anna because she mistakes her for a powerful sorceress.

In the Kingdom of Dead, everyone and everything is trying to kill you. Some dangers are obvious, like monsters crawling in the dark and beasts roaming through the forests. Some are feigning harmlessness, like a marsh spirit pretending to be a friendly old man. Some are humans who are crueler than mindless beasts. And then there’s the forest itself, always hungry, lying in wait, like a spider spinning hunting net.

The story is delightfully creepy and very atmospheric; it borrows many elements from Russian folk tales, spinning them in a way that’s both scary and charming and makes sense in the world created. Baba Yaga is a witch who guards the border between life and death, traditional ritual of washing in a bathhouse is used to wash off the smell of life, and Anna is accompanied by a wolf who’s actually a man turned into beast

Anna doesn’t show even the slightest surprise when she’s transported from modern world into a fantastic one where monsters roam the forest of dead and everything wants to kill you, immediately accepting the new reality – but we’re talking about a person who leapt out of the window after realizing that her sister is gone. Anna is obviously in shock, traumatized, or doesn’t think straight, or all of the above.

The main heroine (her name isn’t brought up in-story, but reviews reveal it to be Anna) and her sister Marya have a difficult relationship. They don’t just bicker as all siblings do – they fight vehemently. Anna, who provides for their small family instead of their alcoholic mother, thinks that Marya is ungrateful and lazy, while Marya is angry that Anna tries to command every aspect of her life.

In Russian folk tales, Finist Bright Falcon is a man who was turned into a bird by an evil sorcerer and a ‘dude in distress’ that needed to be saved by the heroine. Not in this story! Here, it’s a monstrous giant undead hawk that steals young girls, with razor-sharp talons, blind oozing eyes and bones sticking through the skin. I’m completely hooked!

WHY IS THE VILLAIN THE HOT GUY 😞 no etl arc for me

Fear is the only thing I could not get rid of, even I burned it out with light.
I must have said the last sentence aloud, for shaman quietly answered form behind:
“Where is light, dear sister, will always be shadow. And while you hope, you will always be afraid this hope is deceiving you.”