Description:

**Publisher's Weekly** Cherryh continues the complex psychological tale of magic and wizardry gone awry in ancient Russia that began in Rusalka and Chernevog . **Library Journal** Pyetr, his wife Eveshka, and his best friend Sasha (both wizards) have settled into a comfortable routine in their isolated forest home. Then a half-drowned young man named Yvgenie enters their lives--and the trio recognize the spirit of an old enemy, returned from the dead to threaten the life of Pyetr's daughter Ilyana. Continuing the story begun in Rusalka ( LJ 9/15/89) and Chernevog (Ballantine, 1990), Cherryh returns to the setting of pre-Christian Russia, steeped in supernatural lore, for her latest tale of magical adventure. Atmospheric intensity and an understanding of human complexity combine to make this novel a worthwhile purchase for most libraries.