Tag: fairy-tales

Book: German Shenderov, Sergey Tarasov “The Knówer: Bonds of Hell”

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The big discovery of last year for me was Ivan Belov’s Zastupa series; the third book came out just recently, and I’m going to read it as soon as it starts being sold in an ebook version. In my review I praised the first two books a lot, and someone wrote to me that in that case I absolutely had to read another one that came out in the same The Scariest Book series.

That was The Knówer: Bonds of Hell, co-authored by German Shenderov and Sergey Tarasov. Originally, German Shenderov had written only a short story, “Khryashchekhmyl,” which appeared in his short story collection back in 2022. But later he wrote two more stories about the same character, after which Sergey Tarasov joined the series, and together with Shenderov he finished the book—what has now become a novel in stories. And the original “Khryashchekhmyl” became only the first chapter of this book, changing its title to “Atonement.” And already as a novel, the book came out in 2025.

The recommendation—and then the blurb—won me over. The story is set mostly in 1965, in a small Belarusian village, where a local knówer lives and fights evil spirits. Folklore, and on Belarusian soil that’s native to me… I just couldn’t pass it by.

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Book: Ivan Belov, the ‘Zastupa’ series

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I love fantasy, especially the kind rooted in Slavic folklore, filled with all sorts of dark creatures. But I only discovered Ivan Belov’s Zastupa series thanks to a review by a friend. I got curious and almost immediately decided to read it — and I have no regrets.

This isn’t just another gothic novel about vampires, even though the main character throughout the series is undead — a vurdalak (actually a vampire) named Rukh Buchila. He serves as the zastupa in a village near Novgorod — that is, the protector of its people from other dark forces, literally the one who “stands up for” them (in Russian — ‘zastupaetsya’).

Although it’s the 17th century and the village is located in Novgorod lands, this isn’t the world we know. In the world of the zastupa, mysterious portals once opened on Earth, unleashing hordes of demons and other monsters. And while humans had long shared the land with other races like the navki and the white-eyed chud’, these new invaders permanently redrew the map.

Ancient Kyiv was besieged and destroyed, some peoples swore allegiance to dark powers and even founded their own empire near the Balkans. The Novgorod Republic managed to defend its lands and independence, though it still occasionally fights with both the Muscovite Tsardom and the Swedes.

People have learned, with great difficulty, to coexist not only with familiar beings like leshies and domovoi, but also with those who came through the portals — not all of whom turned out to be purely bloodthirsty. Even chorts (imps) have found a place in society, and in Novgorod they’re even honored, since it was the chorts who once saved the city. You can’t really trust them, of course — but with the right oversight, even chorts can be useful.

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Book: Evgeny CheshirKo “Diary of a Domovoi”

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I happened to see the book “Diary of a Domovoi” in someone’s feed, filled with a lot of praise, and it had even been reissued several times under the slogan “a new discovery of Runet.” And just at that time, I was in the mood for something light and non-demanding.

So imagine my surprise when, even before I started reading, a couple of days later, my wife suddenly began quoting from the same book. Apparently, she came across it at the same time from one of our friends. How could I resist picking it up and reading it myself?

The particular edition I chose is one of the most comprehensive, arranged in the order recommended by the author himself on his LiveJournal.

“Diary of a Domovoi” began as notes by the author from the perspective of a Domovoi, who suddenly decided to meticulously record what he did every day in the house he was entrusted with, along with all its inhabitants. And there are more and more of them over time.

At first, the Domovoi lives only with the Mistress and the cat, with whom he seems to have a friendly relationship, although he constantly tries to get the cat into trouble (fortunately, the cat is not particularly bright). Then, a small dog and the Mistress’s lover join the household. The Mistress’s mother also makes an appearance. After the entire family moves into a separate house, some local residents show up, including a priest, a partisan ghost, equally ghostly fascists, and residents of the protected forest.

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Book: Arkady & Boris Strugatsky “Monday Starts on Saturday”

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Ah, it’s hard to write about such a classic, one that has been known to everyone for many decades. But I still decided to give it a try.

The thing is, Monday Starts on Saturday was the very first book by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky that I ever read. And that was back in my distant childhood. I remember laughing out loud at some episodes, trying hard not to show it, since I had to read some of them in a clinic while waiting my turn for physiotherapy.

Since then, the book has retained a sense of eternal joy and a smile for me, and that is why in my adult years I was very afraid to reread the story: what if I perceived it completely differently, and those childhood impressions faded? Nevertheless, the second time I also enjoyed it, and now I have read it for the third time. But this time I had a specific goal — to think about what had changed in my feelings and perception of the story compared to childhood, and also after so many years separating the everyday life of the book’s characters from today’s realities.

The book tells about the work of a programmer in an institute of sorcery and magic. Nothing less. Complete with all the trappings of Soviet research institutes of the 1960s–70s.

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Book: Roman Papsuev, Vera Kamsha “The Battle for Lukomorye” (Book 2)

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I thought I would write about the second book of The Battles for Lukomorye a bit later, but then the media started saying that we need to talk more about the heroes of Russian fairy tales — about the likes of Dobrynya and Muromets. Well then, let’s write. Though in reality, the heroes were not nearly as noble as they appear in the tales.

I read the first part of this cycle a year ago and at that time also wrote down my thoughts about the book.

The Battle for Lukomorye is a fictional cycle set in the world of Tales of Old Rus’, which originally began as more of an art project by Roman Papsuev. The last time I thought it was a novel in two parts (since there was already word about plans for a second book). In fact, it turned out that the story does not end with the second volume.

I have already written about this world before, so I will not repeat myself in detail. In short, it is a world built on the motifs of Slavic fairy tales and folklore. The book The Battle for Lukomorye tells of events when the dark forces once again attempt to break into Rus’, while brave Rusichi (and other inhabitants of Belosvetie) strive to resist the followers of Chernobog, remembering how hard the struggle had been the last time, when only at great cost were they able to drive back the hordes of Koschei the Deathless.

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