Marya Morevna witnesses a bird transform into a husband, one for each of her sisters, three times. Valente’s story, much like her protagonist, begins innocently. A world of magic blends seamlessly with the Russia of the early 1900s, making readers believe in the fantastic, but also revealing the stark truth that magic cannot save a person from reality. In this expansive novel Catherynne Valente utterly transforms the Russian tale “The Death of Koschei the Deathless” from a standard story of a captive girl rescued by her lover to a sweeping saga of love, death, and war, all centered, not on a helpless maiden but on a hardened warrior woman. Can she rewrite the story Koschei has played out so many times or will she become just another plaything for the Tsar of Life to throw away? Review But Marya has not prepared herself to receive the attentions of Kocshei the Deathless. Now she waits for her own bird to rescue her from the cramped living quarters and the constant hunger that have become her existence. Over the years Marya Morevna has watched three birds turn into three husbands, one for each of her sisters.
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