Les Royaumes de Borée
Les Royaumes de Borée ("the realms of Boreas") is a 2003 novel by the French writer Jean Raspail. The narrative spans from the 17th century to modern times and focuses on Oktavius-Ulrich de Pikkendorff, an officer who is appointed commander of Valduzia, a grand duchy in Karelia. Pikkendorff's task is to guard the border to the Grand North, a legendary continent located to the north of Europe. The novel is a spiritual sequel to "Sept cavaliers" from 1993. The novel received the Jules Verne Prize from the Breton Academy. It was the basis for  a three-volume comic-book adaptation by Jacques Terpant. Reception. Jean-Rémi Barland of "L'Express" described the book as an "epic, sonorous and majestic novel". The critic wrote: "Riding on the counter-current of conformism, the novelist's heroes invest these frontiers of legend, and the plot, running over three centuries, encompasses a host of colourful characters captured in all their wild grandeur."