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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.
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My favorite part of this book was the beginning. I was able to identify a lot with Marya as a young girl, strange and longing for something more. I loved all of the magic - her sister’s bird husbands and the house spirits and all the friends she made in buyan. I especially loved her trials to marry Koschei and experience with Baba Yaga. I struggled with this book when things became darker. The timeline of the story often jumped huge time periods without a ton of explanation. I think as reader without a background in Russian folklore or Russian history, I wasn’t able to read the signposts and right myself in the story. I didn’t know the fairytale about Koschei and Marya and Ivan and I didn’t know about the siege of Leningrad and how so many people died. It was hard to understand what was true and what was Valente’s invention but I think that’s the real power of magical realism. It makes us question how such terrible things could’ve actually happened if not for some inhuman influence like the Tsar of Death. I think I’d like to re read this book one day so I have a better chance of grasping it fully now that I know the context.
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