The morally ambiguous second volume in Lukyanenko's trilogy (after 2006's Night Watch
, a major literary and cinematic success in Russia) portrays the epic supernatural struggle between good and evil from the point-of-view of the witch Alisa Donnikova. Lukyanenko imagines a parallel reality, where human history has been shaped by a centuries-old conflict between the Dark Ones and the Light Ones, magical beings whose existence is kept carefully hidden from humanity. After Alisa, a Dark One, loses her powers in a minor confrontation with some Light Ones, she heads to the Crimea to recuperate at a girls' camp, where she feeds on children's nightmares. There she falls in love with Igor, who turns out to be a Light magician. The plot centers on the ramifications of their romance and the theft of Fafnir's Talon, a powerful artifact whose provenance is linked to the legendary Ring of the Nibelungs. Though the artifact conceit is less well developed than that of the truth-telling instrument in Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials series, the fast-paced story augurs well for the last installment. (Mar.)
Details
Reviewed on: 01/15/2007
Genre: Fiction
Hardcover - 487 pages - 978-0-434-01443-9
Hardcover - 487 pages - 978-0-434-01608-2
MP3 CD - 978-1-5113-3087-9
MP3 CD - 978-1-4915-0294-5
Mass Market Paperbound - 592 pages - 978-1-4000-2513-8
Open Ebook - 480 pages - 978-0-06-231012-5
Open Ebook - 496 pages - 978-1-4090-6598-2
Other - 464 pages - 978-1-4013-9461-5
Other - 978-0-307-37367-0
Paperback - 480 pages - 978-0-06-231011-8
Paperback - 496 pages - 978-0-385-66366-3
