Deathless

It's probably because I've watched Labyrinth more times than I can count, but that's the touchstone my brain kept returning to as I worked my way through this book. What if Sarah had been a little more clever and a little less kind? What if Jareth had been more insistent, more seductive? What if the magic had been irresistible as well as frightening and Sarah had left her life behind to become the Goblin Queen? It might have turned out something like this book.

Deathless is a dark fairy tale. A retelling of a classic Russian tale about Koschei Deathless and his death at the hands of Ivan. Except this one twists it around, makes Ivan's wife Marya Morevna the protagonist and gives her the magical journey. It examines why she makes her choices, what she gains and what she gives up. And it interweaves this tale with modern Russian history, taking the reader from the Russian revolution through the siege of Leningrad.

Valente's command of language is what makes this book so special. Her sentences are like velvet, and they wrap you up in this incredible, brutal, magical tale about choices and consequences and the things beyond our control. And war. So much war.

I missed a lot of the references in this book, not being all that familiar with Russian history. I know the broad strokes, but a lot of the details passed me by. Even so, this was an enjoyable read that I couldn't look away from. I'm sure I'll get a bit more out of it each time I read it in the future. Especially if I take the time to brush up on Russian culture and history in the meantime.

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