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Reader Reviews | |
Review by Nigel (020314) Rating (9/10) Review
by Nigel If I had to explain to someone what Babayaga is about I would probably say witches. The story follows Zoya, a beautiful young woman who is also a very old witch, and her latest victim Will Van Wyck. Will works for an American advertising agency in Paris but also works for another more clandestine agency, the CIA. While the witches originally followed the ever warring armies, living off the chaos and carnage of the battlefields, in the 20th Century things aren’t as easy. Zoya finds in these more modern times that seducing a gullible rich man and becoming his mistress is a much easier, and a lot less gory, way of making ends meet. The story starts with Zoya disposing of her last victim in a fairly gruesome way that goes ever so slightly wrong and draws the wrong kind of attention. Wanted by the Police and alienating her elder witch mentor Elga, Zoya finds events spiralling out of control. Bring to the mix a rat that used to be a priest, a flea that used to be a Detective, various spies and spooks, as well as the ghosts of witches past and you perhaps start to understand the use of surreal to describe the story.
I enjoyed Babayaga immensely, the writing style reminding me of
Christopher Moore, another writer I greatly enjoy and to whom
the word surreal would equally apply. I particularly enjoyed the
back story of Detective Charles Vidot, turned in to a flea by
Elga, yet still pursuing the case and learning a lot about himself
in the process... a person whom exemplifies a ‘positive mental
attitude’ and makes most optimists borderline suicidal by comparison.
If you like your stories grounded completely in reality then Babayaga
won’t be for you. If you like very well written escapist fun that
is recklessly dark and funny you well love Babayaga. |
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