A handsome young man arrives in St Petersburg at the house of Marya Morevna. He is Koschei, the Tsar of Life, and he is Marya's fate. For years she follows him in love and in war, and bears the scars. But eventually Marya returns to her birthplace - only to discover a starveling city, haunted by death. Deathless is a fierce story of life and death, love and power, old memories, deep myth and dark magic, set against the history of Russia in the twentieth century. It is, quite simply, unforgettable.
This book was not for me. The writing is beautiful, but I couldn’t care less about the plot or the characters. I don’t usually pick up books about folklore or historical events or with magical creatures in them, so I knew I was probably not going to like Deathless, but the stellar reviews and recommendations convinced me to at least try. Well, it didn’t end well.
