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A review by betwixt_the_pages
Deathless by Catherynne M. Valente
5.0
Death, their daughter, who will never learn to speak, who will never need to speak, holds out her bloody arms, streaked white and silver with fluid.
"I always die at the end," he whispers, and he is afraid now, his hands shaking. "It is always like this. It is never easy."
---
Koschei the Deathless is to Russian folklore what devils or wicked witches are to European culture: a menacing, evil figure; the villain of countless stories which have been passed on through story and text for generations. But Koschei has never before been seen through the eyes of Catherynne Valente, whose modernized and transformed take on the legend brings the action to modern times, spanning many of the great developments of Russian history in the twentieth century.
Deathless, however, is no dry, historical tome: it lights up like fire as the young Marya Morevna transforms from a clever child of the revolution, to Koschei’s beautiful bride, to his eventual undoing. Along the way there are Stalinist house elves, magical quests, secrecy and bureaucracy, and games of lust and power. All told, Deathless is a collision of magical history and actual history, of revolution and mythology, of love and death, which will bring Russian myth back to life in a stunning new incarnation.
---
Catherynne Valente has woven mythology with realism with painful, heartbreaking twists in this masterful, beautiful story.
Reading this HURTS. The relationship between Koschei and Marya Morevna is confusing, at times bordering on abusive, and written so beautifully a small shred of hopeless romanticism can be found in almost any reader. You will, by the end of the book, find yourself catching your breath and groaning aloud as each new lurching plot twist is revealed. I am not one to cry over books; this book almost got me several times.
The lilting prose and whimsical mythology of this novel will leave you grovelling, begging for more on bent knees. You will sweep the dust off the corners of your mind where magic breathes, revisit the places of your heart where the impossible still exists--and be thoroughly shattered by the end of it. This piece is a life-ruiner, in the best of ways. It grabs hold and refuses to let you go; there is no room for breathing.
This book reintroduced me to the NEED to finish a book ASAP--I haven't sped through a book this quickly in quite a while, and I am so glad to have rediscovered how it feels to thrive on words, to delve so deeply into a story you can't sense time passing, to worship an author so thoroughly through reading. This reawakened a part of my reading life I didn't realize I'd been missing out on.
Be warned: the read will break you, if you let it. Also, please note--this book does include some mature content and may not be right for every reader. I highly recommend!
"I always die at the end," he whispers, and he is afraid now, his hands shaking. "It is always like this. It is never easy."
---
Koschei the Deathless is to Russian folklore what devils or wicked witches are to European culture: a menacing, evil figure; the villain of countless stories which have been passed on through story and text for generations. But Koschei has never before been seen through the eyes of Catherynne Valente, whose modernized and transformed take on the legend brings the action to modern times, spanning many of the great developments of Russian history in the twentieth century.
Deathless, however, is no dry, historical tome: it lights up like fire as the young Marya Morevna transforms from a clever child of the revolution, to Koschei’s beautiful bride, to his eventual undoing. Along the way there are Stalinist house elves, magical quests, secrecy and bureaucracy, and games of lust and power. All told, Deathless is a collision of magical history and actual history, of revolution and mythology, of love and death, which will bring Russian myth back to life in a stunning new incarnation.
---
Catherynne Valente has woven mythology with realism with painful, heartbreaking twists in this masterful, beautiful story.
Reading this HURTS. The relationship between Koschei and Marya Morevna is confusing, at times bordering on abusive, and written so beautifully a small shred of hopeless romanticism can be found in almost any reader. You will, by the end of the book, find yourself catching your breath and groaning aloud as each new lurching plot twist is revealed. I am not one to cry over books; this book almost got me several times.
The lilting prose and whimsical mythology of this novel will leave you grovelling, begging for more on bent knees. You will sweep the dust off the corners of your mind where magic breathes, revisit the places of your heart where the impossible still exists--and be thoroughly shattered by the end of it. This piece is a life-ruiner, in the best of ways. It grabs hold and refuses to let you go; there is no room for breathing.
This book reintroduced me to the NEED to finish a book ASAP--I haven't sped through a book this quickly in quite a while, and I am so glad to have rediscovered how it feels to thrive on words, to delve so deeply into a story you can't sense time passing, to worship an author so thoroughly through reading. This reawakened a part of my reading life I didn't realize I'd been missing out on.
Be warned: the read will break you, if you let it. Also, please note--this book does include some mature content and may not be right for every reader. I highly recommend!