Review: The Burned Tower by Sergey and Marina Dyachenko
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 01 29, 2012
"You never know where trouble will await you."  The first sentence of "The Burned Tower" says it all. Guy was driving his van down off a bridge and onto a road with potholes.  One of the wheels caught in a pothole and Guy heard one of his cages in the back overturn.  He stopped the van and walked around to the back, enjoying the fresh air and the smell of the river until he saw that the cover of the cage was undone and one of the black beavers he was transporting was loose.  This was Guy's job. He had to safely transport these animals to their destination, and if he lost one, the cost would be made up from his paychecks.  He tried to catch the animal, but he soon enough saw the slick beaver sliding into the river soundlessly and then disappearing under the bridge. The little rat!Guy thought for a few minutes and then lay down and tried to see if he could sight the animal anywhere. He had to find him.  This meant half his summer earnings.  Guy was cursing this slick little animal when he heard someone ask him if he lost something.  The road he was on was very isolated, but there were occasional travelers on it, but Guy really didn't want to talk to this person and he had a strange feeling of unease. When Guy looked up and behind him, "It seemed to him that two piercing green searchlights looked at him from two compressed slits." Then he happened to think, "So all their talk about his...reappearance...wasn't for nothing...I thought it was just a lot of hot air, but no..." Guy will find out that he has no choice in where he must travel with this fellow and what he must do.  It's a long road to...well, you'll find out.Sergey and Marina Dyachenko have written a wonderfully unique story that includes science fiction and folklore. It is surprising who this "traveler" is who wants to help Guy find the lost beaver and even more terrifying where the road that Guy usually takes on his job leads with this traveler in the khaki pants along in the van's passenger seat. Poor Guy feels that he's fine one minute and doomed the next.The Dyachenkos have gradually built up the suspense not only with the characters' actions and words, but also with the landscape and the road itself.  Frightening things are encountered along the way which could be taken out of fairy tales, folklore and fantasy as well as sci-fi fiction.This story was just translated into English from Russian and was awarded the "Interpresscon" as the best short story of the year at the International SF Convention in St. Petersburg.It is well worth reading and I highly recommend it if you like any of the above mentioned genres.  It is an excellent story from some very good, skilled writers.