Andrei Kruz is a Russian writer, author of several series and standalone novels in the action sci-fi genre. His work sparked a wave of imitators, including those whose plots unfold in worlds he himself invented. "Wind Over the Islands" is the first book in the series of the same name. The main character is a "portal traveler" โ a visitor from our world to the world where the novel takes place. After dying there, the hero is reborn here and immediately finds himself in the thick of events, saving the life of a girl named Vera, who has been left an orphan after bandits attacked her father's merchant caravan.