by Ekaterina Sedia
http://www.bostonbibliophile.com/2008/05/review-secret-history-of-moscow-by.html
The Secret History of Moscow was one of my favorite reads this year. After reading it, I immediately read Moscow But Dreaming, a collection of short stories mixing dark fantasy, magical realism, Russian folklore and bleak, modern day Moscow with real world issues, another favorite of the year. These...
Somewhat like Neverwhere in Moscow but more tragic & is populated by creatures in Russian folk tales as well as victims of all sorts of atrocities throughout Russian history. Certain parts can be a bit slow, but some parts like Oksana's story and the tragic ending are quite good imo.
This is the book that I wanted Deathless to be. It has just the right mix of magic and mundane, of achingly familiar and convincingly alien. And I love the way the character react to learning about the secret, hidden world: not with fear, not with joy, but with resignation. Of course there's another...
It does help to have either a knowledge of Russian Fairy Tales or a source to look them up in when reading this book.That said, this is a good book. Sedia tells the story of Galina who is looking for her missing sister. It is wonderful to read a fairy tale influenced novel where the women actually...
A schizophrenic translator, a bored cop, and an alcoholic painter unite to discover why people are turning into birds all over Moscow. They stumble into the secret mythic world that exists side-by-side with the city. Then they don't really do anything else.