Yvgenie

A stupendous achievement! Cherryh brings her Rusalka series a step further with this fantasy novel, evoking mythological roots that nurture us all. The premise of wizardry being a matter of mere wishes in the pre-Christian Russia is the precursor to the practice of Christian prayer. If a wizard is forbidden to wish for anything for himself, that is the corrolary to the Lord's Prayer. Wizard emerges as sacred priest, which in fact the witches and artist's were in the pre-Christian world. Sasha at last finds the reward he deserves for all his self-denying loyalty to his friends Pyetr and Eveshka. The dual nature of Pyetr's legitimate daughter's lover, (uncorrupted youth and evil, but redeemable spector) leads us to a deep understanding of the nature of love and of life--mortality consists not of the foreknowlege of death in the future, but the awareness that death is always with us, even as we breathe. It also resonates on the Ressurection: love and loyalty engender rebirth. The plot comes to a delightful conclusion, nimbly assisted by ubiquitous and adorable vodka-guzzling Yard Thing, Babi. (I seem to remember being a House Thing at my Grandmother's, called "Hoppy".) Although the characters in the trilogy, "Rusalka", "Chernevog", and "Yvgenie" seem exotic, being wizards, ghosts, and former ghosts, they serve as a reflection of our own deeper nature: Eveshka has no powers any ordinary woman does not have. Having been alive once, then a ghost, then alive again, she is simply more aware of her connection with what Clarissa Pinkola Estes terms 'Veshka's "life-death-life nature", in Estes' wonderful treatist, "Women Who Run With the Wolves." Moreover, when Eveshka had been a ghost, in her rusalka mode, she was the classic study of an anorexic maiden, with the same parental influences that bring about anorexia in a real child. The fact that Pyetr had the courage to face the dangers inherent in living with a rusalka and in befriending a wizard demonstrates that he earned the right to enjoy life as the head of his somewhat unconventional household. Cherryh is a great lady, and a great writer. There is plenty of room left here for a sequel: "Et tu," Hwiiur?

Chernevog, Rusalka, and Yvgenie are the greatest books. I enjoyed the atmosphere. An old-time russian fairy-tale. This series pulled together bits of all folklore I know, and even taught me some things I wasn't aware of. The characters are likeable, even the truely evil ones. You can imagine where they are coming from and why it is they are acting like they are. Perhaps it is a bit predictable, but it's a fairy-tale.

C.J. Cherryh's style of writing in Yvgenie (and in the first two books, Rusalka and Chernevog) is unique. It might be off-putting at first, but you get into the structure really quickly, and the style works well with the story. I liked this series, especially Yvgenie, because I liked seeing Sascha as a mature wizard. Not only the structure is unique; Cherryh's take on magic and wizardry is also. It's a refreshing break from the usual book-and-spells magic found in most other fantasies. All in all, a fun, worthwhile read.

This is the first book in the series I have read, and I found it immediately engrossing. It was nice to see a teenage character who actually had flaws. I was a bit disappointed by the ending. The final conflict was confusing.