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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
a uniquely written fantasy, July 13, 2000
C.J. Cherryh's style of writing in Yvgenie (and in the first two books, Rusalka and Chernevog) is unique. It might be off-putting at first, but you get into the structure really quickly, and the style works well with the story. I liked this series, especially Yvgenie, because I liked seeing Sascha as a mature wizard. Not only the structure is unique; Cherryh's take on magic and wizardry is also. It's a refreshing break from the usual book-and-spells magic found in most other fantasies. All in all, a fun, worthwhile read.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
The best in the series; readable but still flawed, June 6, 2001
By A Customer
The essential premise of this series, set in a medieval Russia-like world, is that wizards can do magic just by wishing. This sounds easy, but in fact it's the source of a lot of problems: a casual impulse or a child's unconsidered desire can have unforeseen, possibly disastrous consequences. In this third and best installment, Ilyana, the daughter of a non-magical man and a mother who is both a wizard and a revenant from the dead, tries to deal with old, dangerous magic and new magical threats as well as more traditional teenage problems. The family stuff -- not only between Ilyana and her parents but involving her grandparents' generation as well -- is sometimes a little too much like a talk show. The plot here also has a nebulous quality. It's much more comprehensible than the prequel, Chernevog, which was utterly confusing at times. Still, though, the exact nature of the challenges facing the characters is often unclear and the final outcome is hard to understand. Readers don't need everything spelled out for them, but they do need a little more clarity than this novel offers. Still, I found all the characters appealing (except for the mother, Eveshka) and the magical creatures are particularly well done. This book is better than the others in the series in that the characters do less apparently pointless jumping at shadows (though there's still some), more people and places are introduced, and the plot makes a little more sense.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Interesting, April 7, 2000
Yvgenie is the third book in a difficult to follow, but eminently enjoyable series. it is awfully nice to get to enter the world of Sasha and Pieter again, and to try to wade through Cherryh's complicated prose, (it really is worth the you spend to try to understand it.) The way that Cherryh approaches magic in this book is really quite fascinating, and extremely complicated. When a wish that you make can defy all time constraints and work in the past, or the future, things are bound to get difficult. Well, I am not going to try to explain everything in this short review. Let me just say that if you are looking for a book that will get you thinking, or just a good time, don't pass this one up.
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