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The Burned Tower (2012)

by Marina Dyachenko(Favorite Author)

3.42 of 5 Votes: 1

languge

English

genre

Horror

publisher

Tor Books

review 1: Sergey and Marina Dyachenko are solidifying themselves as some of my favorite authors. Their writing has this wandering, lyrical quality to it (even when their editors--at Tor, really, guys?--let them down) that you don't know where the story is taking you and you don't care, you're just glad to go along for the ride.As shorter fiction does to me, this one left me a touch more confused about everything that was going on...but then, so was the main character, so that may have been on purpose. I still really enjoyed it. It didn't get 5 like "The Scar" did because (like between Koryta's "The Ridge" and "The Cypress House") there wasn't that *something* in "The Burned Tower" that spoke directly to me. Egert's fear and everything that came with it spoke to me in the "The Scar,"... more plus as longer fiction, it allowed for more build-up to an ending that I still remember with gasping awe.So, this one is still very good, and I'm definitely going to be keeping my eyes out for more of their work being translated. I already have "Vita Nostra" and am very much looking forward to it.
review 2: An effective little modern folk tale. I wish I was more familiar with the Russian or Ukrainian sources, but they aren't necessary. I'm aware of the Pied Piper of course, but the characters seems quite different.The story has a very strong Weird Tales vibe with a sense of suspended dread all the way to the end. I'm sure something was lost in translation, but this was still very creepy throughout, and the themes of loneliness and guilt come through. I'm not sure if it was intentional, but one aspect that worked very well was the very generic, unspecified location. Even before Guy meets The Piper, it wasn't clear to me where or when any of this was taking place. Even the translation of the protagonist's name to 'Guy' added to that sense of dislocation.I wasn't familiar with the Dyanchekos, but from the strength of this story I've added The Scar to my to-read list. less

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