This is definitely a young adult/teen book. It is also written as the first book in a series that does not give you an ending this book. It is not a complete story within itself.

A classic attempt and a good vs. evil story, the young, fatherless "hero", is misunderstood by his peers and left, largely to his own devices. As a part of his growth, he explores the forest around his home and finds that there is an ancient evil looking to return. He needs to find out exactly what this evil is and a way to defeat it. But not in this book. Left me with an incomplete and unfulfilled feeling. ( )

When I received this book, I was quite excited. I would label this as a young adult or teen book, and generally I really enjoy reading books from this age group. However I believe that many readers might be frustrated with this novel. I found the writing style quite uneven, almost as if it had been written by two different authors. Having said that, I enjoyed, for the most part, the story. It's told in two parts, a fantasy part and a 'real' world part. The real world part is, in my opnion, the weaker half of the novel.

What I really liked was at the end of the book there was a character and critter list, along with illustrations. This made it very easy to reference the animal life of the fantasy world, The idea of the veil of magic was intriguing and fairly well thought out. However, without giving anything away of the storyline, there are holes and gaps in the story which leaves you wondering.

What I disliked the most was the sudden, abrupt ending to the book, that leaves the main storyline completely unresolved. One can only hope that this is the first of a trilogy or series, however it would have been nice if this had been indicated somewhere at the end (even a small "To Be Continued" at the end of the last paragraph would have gone a long way to solving the sense of abruptness.

Would I recommend this book? At this point of time, unless I knew for certain there was going to be a sequel to wrap up loose end, I'd have to say no.

I wanted to like this book, I really did. But I couldn't finish it; rare for me. This is more like an outline FOR a book, and not a book to read that has been published. I understand that it has been translated from another language but really can't give it the benefit of the doubt due to that factor. The author took too much knowledge of other cultures' mythologies for granted and based her story on that, so the reader feels like she has been plunged into the middle of a story she doesn't know. The characters are not given enough background and "flesh" to make the reader wish them well or want to remain involved with them. The story jumps around too much without enough facts and descriptions to bind it together. Whoever edited this and did not choose to be honest with the author that this was not ready to be published, should be fired.

Unfortunately this book just could not hold my interest. I managed to stay with it for the first 100 pages or so, but at that point there was just not enough to keep me engaged.
This book is a very run-of-the-mill fantasy story, which includes all of the standard memes for the genre: sword-fighting, sorcery, evil creatures, etc. all overlaid on the backdrop of good vs. unknown evil. I was hoping that there would be some interesting twists since this was written by a Russian author, but other than a large cast of characters with Russian names, nothing particularly interesting stood out.
My main problems with this story stemmed from the weak writing, poor character development and lack of a unique plot.
There were so many instances of the use of trite phrases, the overuse of the message "the monsters are coming!" throughout the chapters and just a real lack of worldbuilding.
This book might interest a young, novice fantasy reader, but for anyone who has read with any depth in the genre it will immediately become a banal read.

It's possible that part of the problem lay with the translation, however, the general writing just does not convey particularly interesting descriptions of landscapes, interesting dialogue and runs from plot point to plot point with little background information or scene setting.
I also noticed too many inconsistencies and poor writing choices. Early on the Duke's brother is described as having died in a tragic accident, but in the next chapter the author writes that he died in a battle with the monsters. Also, for instance, the sons of the Duke and his brother are referred to as princes throughout, when they would be simply Lords or Marquees.

Overall, considering the dearth of young adult fantasy on the market I would recommend other more worthy stories for your reading. ( )

I found this book a bit disconcerting at the beginning. The reader is very abruptly thrust into a medieval-type world of nobility and magic. The hero is a disaffected and fatherless youth at odds with his remaining family. There is very little background on the family, the youth himself or the fantastic world in which they live. It does not help that this book was originally written in Russian with much of Russian folklore and fairy tales as source material. In this day of books and movies such Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, Twilight, etc., most readers are familiar with mages, werewolves and artefacts of power, but the Russian creatures and names still require more introduction than they receive. It takes time but eventually the reader is drawn in -- for me, it did not happen until the hero finds himself transported into the future io our own time and world to search for a missing magical sword. There is always some comedy involved in becoming accustomed to computers, horseless carriages and modern dwellings, but it also invokes some sympathy for the newcomer. Along the way, the hero acquires some modern day friends and helpers which are abruptly abandoned at the end as Vraigo returns home, sword in hand. This book is in no way complete in and of itself. A sequel is required. The book is probably suitable for age 10 or 11 and up, but it is somewhat more densely written than a typical book for this age group, although if the reader can make it through Harry Potter, he or she could also work through this book. I did not love this book but i did get sufficiently engaged to want to know what happens in the next book of the set or series. ( )