For all fans of Alexander Mazin’s science-fantasy prose and Slavic legends and myths!
An old sorcerer from the Principality of Polotsk, called the Wolf Shepherd, a shaman-like wanderer who speaks with the dead; a young prince, Sieslav, destined for a deadly trial; a young noblewoman caught in a witch’s trap; a clever and fearless hunter, Kорт… They are all united by one thing: their path along the Cromka—the border that divides the world of the living and the world of the dead. Here a fairy tale becomes real. Here there are no good and evil—only an endless struggle for power over human souls, yours or someone else’s. This is nothing like the magic that fantasy authors invent. In this world, magic is ancient and native: pagan, merciless, deep and primitive—like the ancient Russian forests filled with undead and curses, just waiting for someone’s folly or greed to set them free.