Description

Ilyana is always careful to avoid the temptations of her gift, until she began to fall in love with a ghostly spring visitor and realizes that he is an evil wizard returned from the dead to take revenge on her mother. *Publisher’s Weekly* Cherryh continues the complex psychological tale of magic and wizardry gone awry in ancient Russia that began in *Rusalka* and *Chernevog*. *Library Journal* Pyetr, his wife Eveshka, and his best friend Sasha (both wizards) have settled into a comfortable routine in their isolated forest home. Then a half-drowned young man named Yvgenie enters their lives—and the trio recognize the spirit of an old enemy, returned from the dead to threaten the life of Pyetr’s daughter Ilyana. Continuing the story begun in *Rusalka* and *Chernevog* , Cherryh returns to the setting of pre-Christian Russia, steeped in supernatural lore, for her latest tale of magical adventure. Atmospheric intensity and an understanding of human complexity combine to make this novel a worthwhile purchase for most libraries.