A stand-alone SF book set in a post-Soviet Union Russia with a healthy dose of Russian myths.Elena Irinovna is an astrophysicist and she used to work in the U.S.S.R.'s space program. After the collapse of the Soviet government, the space program was ruthlessly cut down and Elena was one of the people who ended up unemployed. Like most people, she's trying to survive as best she can. She and her family live in Kazakhstan. She managed to get a job as a cleaner and smuggles stolen goods in order to get so much money that she, her mother, and her sister can move to Canada. On a run to Uzbekistan to sell clothing, her ride is stopped at the border and she runs into a corpse which has a curious, small object in his hand. Elena takes it.In St. Petersburg, Ilya Muromyets is again near death but like all other times before, a rusalka appears and heals him. Ilya was born 800 years ago and is one of the legendary Russian Sons of the Sun, a bogatyr. However, in recent years he's been very depressed and looking for death. Only heroin has given him a little solace. Then, a strange man called Kovalin appears in his apartment. Kovalin claims that he knows what Ilya is and he might even help Ilya – if Ilya helps Kovalin first. Ilya agrees to find a strange object Kovalin is looking for.The book has nine parts and each part has at least one chapter set in a world called Byelovodye where Colonel Anikova and her team are looking for a small object. Anikova's team includes a Mechvor who can look into other people's thoughts and dreams.Elena's and Ilya's lives have become bleak and desperate. Elena still dreams about stars but she doesn't believe that she can return to anything like her old job, even in Canada. At the same time, she's lucky because she has a job and can even save money. The book portrays the brutal reality of the modern Russians and parts of it are really depressing to read. Elena's sister was a lawyer and now she's a waitress and resorts to prostitution, too. Elena wants to protect her family but that's not easy.Ilya is a figure from Russian legends and we get to see a few more of the centuries old Russian heroes. For a long time, Ilya tried to live up to the legend but ended up as a soldier in various wars. He became bitter and disillusioned, and now longs for death. However, he still has the instincts to protect others from the rusalki, the female monsters from mythology.Byelovodye is a fascinating place and also from Russian myths. It's said to be another world where dreams can come true. The question is, whose dreams? The plot is slow at times, when our protagonists travel around, and furious at other times. There aren't many fight scenes but they're fast. Once again, people (and others) are usually not what they appear at first glance.I liked the ideas more than the characters and I would have loved to see more of the Byelovodye's side.
When the Soviet Union collapsed, Elena went from being an astrophysicist at Baikonur to being a janitor in her hometown of Almaty, who makes extra money buying and selling clothes on the black market. On her last trip, she picks up a small spherical object that is heavy, and oddly warm. As a scientist, she becomes curious and keeps it to study.Ilya is 800 years old, a warrior of myth and legend, not quite human, but not sure of what he really is, who has one goal in life — to be able to die. Every time he is close to death, the rusalka come and heal him, against his will. Ilya is hired to find the small, round object, and not only does he find it, he finds Elena, and together they discover the object can open gateways into an alternate Soviet Union, on another planet. Together, they must decide who gets the "key" and where they will live. Elena, the scientist does not know all the players. Ilya, the legend, does, and has spent 800 years hating and fearing some of them. But, are they who and what he has believed all this time?I had a hard time putting this book down. I loved the characters, and the travel down the Silk Road in both universes. The ending came at just the right time, and was both satisfactory and conclusive. There are a few loose ends flying in the breeze here and there, but nothing serious, and perhaps, eventually, there will be a sequel?I look forward to reading more books by Liz Williams.
What do You think about Nine Layers Of Sky (2003)?
If I could give 3,5 stars, I would. I found this book by accident and the title (however irrelevant to plot) captured my attention; and I keep thinking about the narrative. I gave it a big thumbs up for the interesting setting, but I'm still uncertain about the author's take on the so-called Slavic soul. Maybe for an American reader it'd be exotic, but for me reflections on Slavic-ness often bordered on unnecessary, unconvincing cultural fetishization. On the other hand, I liked the way that Russian folklore was intervowen into plot. Moreover, the protagonists were well-rounded and I was almost instantly invested in their backstories as well as the not-so-obvious romance. Another strong point was pacing: this book felt just perfect, not rushed and not too slow. It left just enough to readers' imagination. It could be longer and slightly more elaborate, and I wouldn't complain, but it's good as it is.
—kari
Just finished Nine Layers of Sky by Liz Williams. It took a long time to draw to a conclusion (it's a very thick trade paperback, which my currently-sprained left thumb did not appreciate), but it was fascinating throughout, bouncing between Russia and other parts of Central Asia, and an Other world that may be stealing its dreams, myths and heroes. Or is that where the mythic creatures and heroes came from in the first place? Interesting protagonists, including a female scientist who was once part of Russia's space program and yearns for a future where she could be part of that dream again.Recommended.
—Anne Gray
I have to admit that rating this book was a very difficult decision, somehow it became personal and even harder because of it. I'm not sure if projecting expectations on reviews makes me a good reviewer or quite the opposite.But actually, might be the former, because one of writer's tasks is to create expectations and then, either ignore them completely (do not read), fulfill them to the letter (mediocre stuff) or blow them up in a way which makes your brain short-circuit. The last one is called inspiration and is the best thing one can get from reading. Of course most books are somewhere on the axis, in between aforementioned defining points.Nine Layers of Sky creates so much promises at the beginning - awful, depressing, but still, very intense ones. Yet halfway through this intensity somehow burns down, or even worse, burns out. The author weaves this amazing atmosphere, both thick and chilly (for me even more striking since I'd qualify it as uncanny valley, not familiar enough to be perceived in a direct, conscious way, but also not alien enough to feel disconnected, something in between; all that spiced up with tales spun around historical references which is my favourite thing to do ever) and then kills it with infodump, almost nonexistent imagery and emotional shallowness. All this somehow simultaneously combined with complete lack of clarity about how this world works (Nine layers? Of sky? But why?) overdoing, or rather overusing (still, I wouldn't say abusing) folklore and multiplying angst.Feeling nothing while reading your potentially favourite book's finale is the worst case of the promise being broken.
—ark
