Deathless in Into the Forest

May 20, 2012 Michele rated it really liked it

Shelves: folklore-myth-magic

A fabulous re-imagining of the tale of Koschchei the Deathless from Russian folklore, a brilliant blending of the real and the magical, and a bittersweet love story (or is it two?). The descriptions of Koschchei's world are wildly bizarre, from buildings that breathe and animated guns to soldiers made of cloth and cars that turn into horses, but Marya Morevna has been preparing herself for the bizarre since the day she saw a bird become a man who asked for her sister's hand in marriage and met t ...more

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Aug 23, 2012 Erica Eberhart rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: books-i-own, 2012

If you are partial to fairy tales that are dark and slightly twisted then Deathless may be up your alley. I have a fondness for the Slavic deities Marzanna and Chernobog due to nerdy reasons I won't get into on here. A friend knows of this and when she discovered this book, told me about it. It looked interesting so I downloaded it on my Kindle and added it to my "soon to read" list.

When I did begin to read the book I was immediately mesmerized by it from the very first paragraph. The descripti If you are partial to fairy tales that are dark and slightly twisted then Deathless may be up your alley. I have a fondness for the Slavic deities Marzanna and Chernobog due to nerdy reasons I won't get into on here. A friend knows of this and when she discovered this book, told me about it. It looked interesting so I downloaded it on my Kindle and added it to my "soon to read" list.

When I did begin to read the book I was immediately mesmerized by it from the very first paragraph. The description was so strong that I could smell the woodsmoke, see the bare apple trees, and feel the autumn breeze. But it got better after that, I was plunged into this entire world of creatures I had never heard much of and a few only occasionally on TV shows. Baba Yaga I've heard a ton about but the other creatures, spirits and demons... not so much.

But that didn't matter. I was head over heels into this story and sinking fast. But I didn't fight off the clutches of this book, I wanted more. And yet... yet it was something special and while I typically will read a book just about anywhere that was not the case with Deathless. I had to read it somewhere special and that's just what I did. I took it to a garden, rich with color and life that seemed not quite as gloomy as where the characters lived in the book. I took it to a sculpture garden and read it there, then inside a museum, then (and my most favorite location) my bed next to the open window.

This is a book like the gritty fairy tales that I remember as a kid. The ones that aren't all that nice when you come to think of it but as a child you may be frightened or just oblivious to how cruel the creatures in the story can be. As an adult, and this is an adult book mind you, you see all the cruelties these creatures can create. They don't live by our morals or rules and it makes for a damn good story.

Marya Morevna, the girl in the window who watches the bird, is innocent, smart, and generally sweet when Koschei the Deathless comes to take her for his bride. She, who has always seen the "naked world" and wondered of it's splendor and magic, is eager and excited. Here is her chance to escape her home and be taken away! Still, things are never so simple or easy.

Koschei is cruel and demanding but despite all of this he slowly falls into the grasp and power of Marya. This is truly felt when Marya returns home, taking his destruction with it. Every moment in this book you are being twisted and turned and spun around. If you don't pay enough attention, it's very easy to get lost.

It's written in the style of most fairy tales as I said but it should be noted about the repetition of different scenes which are commonly used. Never assume something will happen because the other options are unbelievable; everything is possible in this world. Now, I know next to nothing about Slavic deities and demons and Russian folktales so this book could be very far off from what it's meant to be interpreted from. But after browsing around for reviews it seems that the few people who do seem knowledgeable of these stories are quite impressed with this book.

When I buy a book for my Kindle I will typically read it and even if I love it, stash it away in my "read" file and move on. With Deathless I actually went to Amazon (the bookstores I went to didn't have any of her books on stock!) and bought myself a printed copy. I wanted it for myself, to cherish and hold and read. This way I can lay in bed with the book and enjoy it at home but I can always go to the Kindle version and mark up the multiple quotes I find so beautiful. I'm not huge on the highlighting tool on my Kindle but I just couldn't stop with this book.

A skeleton, always, embraced her first, and then remembered to be a man.

How beautiful is that? Aside from completely falling in love with this book and wanting to read it again and again, the author has impressed me and I fully intend on trying her other books. I just feel that in the case of Deathless it may very well become one of my favorite books and only another powerful read will be able to remove it from that place. ...more

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Oct 17, 2013 Davina rated it it was ok

I loved the first third of this book. The magical realism, the poetic writing, the amount of Russian folklore crammed into every corner... And Marya Morevna started out as a fantastic heroine: someone who sought out the truth even to her short-term detriment. When she let her fear overcome her thirst for knowledge, I thought that was character building. She was still a child at that time and I was really looking forward to accompanying her on her journey to becoming the awesome warrior queen we ...more

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Jan 01, 2013 Julia rated it did not like it

Shelves: based-on-folksong-myth, didn-t-finish, historical-fantasy, not-going-to-finish-now, sf-f-group-books, sf-f-challenge-2015

53 pages read out of 349 pages total. I stopped reading 9/5/15.

I don’t often give up on books, I typically read a lot about a book before I start it, unless it's an ARC, but even then I know at least what the books are about, so I know what I’m in for. I hoped I would like this novel based on Russian folktales more than I did. Some books aren’t for me, in some moods, perhaps it’s more about the other books I have been reading than this book. Perhaps I will give this book another try later and l ...more

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Mar 13, 2017 Elizabeth rated it it was amazing

Shelves: favorites

It's difficult to talk about this book as if it were just another book, because it's so much more. It's a piece of art. The writing is so rich and lush that you want to savor every page. It's the kind of novel that makes a writer want to cry because you know you'll never write anything as well-crafted. The story itself is such an expertly woven mixture of fairytale, folklore, and history that it makes for a unique yet strangely familiar experience. While some parts dragged and other bits felt a ...more

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