In the Silver Forest live monsters—birds with women’s heads, whose songs can steal the human mind. The king of Alar is dying and asks his sons to obtain a devopteryx—for the first one to bring it, power over the kingdom will be his. The eldest prince Ruzhan is ready to do anything to secure his father’s place on the throne. He thirsts for revenge on the sorcerers of Streyvin for the defeat inflicted on his army a few years ago. The middle son, Domir, indulges Ruzhan in everything, until one day he dares to cross his path, captivated by the wondrous singing. The youngest prince, Ivlad, doesn’t care about power—he only wants to fulfill his father’s last wish and sets out on the road despite the ban on leaving the palace. Snowdrifts whirl over Alaria, frost cracks— and the old prophecy is about to come true: sorcery means death for the royal family.
“Song of the Monsters” is an enchanting fairy tale for adults. A current retelling genre in which a story softly stylized to sound like a legend is masterfully intertwined with modern trends of Slavic fantasy.
In her tale, Anastasia Andrianova revives motifs of fairy tales, recalling amazing creatures—Alkonosts, sirin birds—present in folklore motifs of Old Rus from time immemorial.