Koschei the Deathless is to Russian folklore what devils or wicked
witches are to western European culture: a menacing, evil figure; the
villain of countless stories that have been passed on through story and
text for generations. But Koschei has never before been seen through the
eyes of Catherynne Valente, whose modernized and transformed take on the
legend brings the action to modern times, spanning many of the great
developments of Russian history in the twentieth century.
Deathless, however, is no dry, historical tome: it lights up like fire
as the young Marya Morevna transforms from a clever child of the
revolution, to Koschei's beautiful bride, to his eventual undoing. Along
the way there are Stalinist house elves, magical quests, secrecy and
bureaucracy, and games of lust and power. All told, Deathless is a
collision of magical history and actual history, of revolution and
mythology, of love and death, which will bring Russian myth back to life
in a stunning new incarnation.