From: bjgaed@bb1t.monsanto.com
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.written
Subject: _Chernevog_ by C. J. Cherryh (SPOILERS)
Date: 15 Sep 92 08:10:45 CST
Organization: Monsanto Company, St. Louis, MO

I have *finally* finished _Chernevog_ by C. J. Cherryh, the 
second book in her new series set in 10th century Russia.  
Although I was very impressed with the first book, _Russalka_, I 
found this work to be somewhat disappointing.

*SPOILERS* AHEAD FOR _RUSSALKA_!

(If you have not yet read _Russalka_, comments on _Chernevog_ will 
give away significant elements of the first book.  I will warn you 
later of spoilers for _Chernevog_ itself.  If you would like to 
see my previous comments on _Russalka_ (no spoilers), please e-mail 
and I will send you a copy of my post from June 28.)
























I very much enjoyed _Russalka_, a story of wizards and magic set in 
10th-century Russia.  The story follows the boy Sasha as he becomes aware of 
his magical powers and begins to come of age as a wizard.  At the 
close of the first book, the russalka (ghost) of Eveshka, the daughter 
of the old wizard Uulamets, has been restored to life, Uulamets is 
dead, and the evil wizard Kavi Chernevog has been vanquished and imprisoned 
by the leshys (tree-spirits).  

In the opening of _Chernevog_ Sasha's friend Pyetr, the only 
character in the story without magical powers, has married Eveshka and 
is living in the house of her father.  Being the daughter of a wizard, 
Eveshka, too, has the gift of magical powers.  Sasha lives in the 
house as a sort of permanent house guest.

The story continues as strange events begin to occur around the house. 
The action is structured around a quest through the forests of ancient 
Russia with the characters encountering various spirits and magical 
occurences.  Much of the book concerns the reactions of Pyetr to the 
supernatural events of the story and the powers of those around him.

Much is said about magic, its role in the world, and how it differs 
from sorcery.  Magic seems to be the supernatural influence on natural 
events:  A wizard can make a man rise to his feet at will; that is 
magic.  The man could rise to his feet at any time, the wizard can 
only influence the time and the will.  A wizard cannot make a stone 
rise.  That requires a much more powerful magic, referred to as 
sorcery.

Unfortunately, far too much is said for the little action that occurs 
in this book.  Cherryh is famous for putting her characters through 
lengthy introspections, and anyone who reads her books regularly has 
gotten used to this.  She develops some fascinating characters 
this way.  There is just not enough action in this book to hold the 
reader's interest through 300+ paperback pages, and the character 
development tends to become repetitious.  One is left with the 
impression of a book that should have been edited down to a much 
shorter work, but which was probably left uncut to fulfill the word 
count specified in the publisher's contract.

I fear that Cherryh, a *very* creative artist, is spreading her 
creativity and imagination way too thin trying to publish three books 
every year.  I for one would be much happier with fewer books 
containing more and richer characters, more action and more creative 
situations.  The author has certainly been capable in the past of 
better than _Chernevog_.

SPOILERS AHEAD FOR _CHERNEVOG_!

What follows here may be spoilers for some readers, thus the warning.  























In my comments on the first book, _Russalka_, I challenged the netters 
to come up with why this setting, the riverbanks north of Kiev, had 
been important in the news recently.  Someone correctly pointed out 
that this is the area around Chernobyl.  I have been considering the 
idea that magic in these stories is being used as an extended metaphor 
for technology, specifically for nuclear power.

Is Cherryh saying that magic (i.e., that which the technology of a 
sufficiently advanced race is indistinguishable from) is never without 
its price?  On one level Eveshka's magical powers are a constant 
source of alienation between herself and Pyetr, and to a lesser extent 
Sasha's powers are a wource of some tension in the friendship between 
himself and Pyetr.  On another level, the very powerful magic needed 
to maintain Eveshka's spirit as a russalka for many years after her 
death could only be sustained by drawing life from the surrounding 
forest.  The resulting dead forest seems to correspond roughly to the 
contaminated area around the Chernobyl reactor.  I find this 
correlation almost inescapable.  

An often repeated factor in the story is that in order for a wizard to 
fully realize her magical powers, she must give up her heart.  Kavi 
Chernevog has given his heart over to an owl, and when the owl is 
killed he forces Pyetr to bear his heart.  Eveshka's mother Draga has 
given her heart over to a bear, and Chernevog is constantly urging 
Eveshka to give up her heart as well so that her powers might be fully 
developed.  Extending the metaphor thus says that in order to fully 
realize the power of technology we must give up our hearts.  This 
would seem to be another retelling of the Faust story.

Am I all wet in interpreting along these lines?

Also, if there is someone out there with a *lot* more knowledge of 
Russian than I have, is there a play on words with Chernevog and 
Chernobyl?  I know that "Chern-" means "black-", but the remainders 
of these names are beyond my very limited knowledge of the language.


Electric Monk                        (Bruce Gaede)


"...and then time started seriously to pass."
      --Douglas Adams, _Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency_