Страж Раны (Око Силы. Первая трилогия

Око силы #2

by Andrey Valentinov

Таинственный тибетский монастырь Шекар-Гомп, который неизвестные люди с голубыми свастиками и красными звездами на буденовках превратили в хорошо охраняемую строительную площадку. Именно здесь оказываются друзья-недруги Ростислав Арцеулов и Степан Косухин, заброшенные далеко от полыхающей России и отныне знающие ее — и свое — будущее. Выберут ли они предначертанную им высшими силами судьбу — или же найдут в себе силы пойти наперекор ей?

384 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1996

About the author

Andrey Valentinov

Андре́й Валенти́нович Шмалько́ (псевдоним: Андрей Валентинов) родился 18 марта 1958 года в Харькове. Кандидат исторических наук, доцент Харьковского Национального Университета. Увлекается археологией. Жанр, в котором он творит, он сам называет термином «криптоистория». Андрей мастер слова, его книги читаются на одном дыхании и не оставляют равнодушными никого, кто хоть раз к ним прикоснулся.

Reviews

[Oleksandr Zholud · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is the second volume of the first trilogy of Eye of Power: 1920-1921. The first one, Volunteers of Chelkel, I reviewed here. The English title of this novel is Protector of the Wound, the wound here is the result of the victory of Kuntu Zangpo (Buddha Samantabhadra) over the wicked witch Brang Srinmo, who cast her to the ground. Her frozen body, petrified, became what is now called Tibet. But the wicked witch is still alive. Under the stone skin, blue blood flows, and in several places where Kuntu Zangpo's arrows pierced through the skin, this blood boils and evaporates, escaping in a stream of blue light into the sky.... This blue light is harmful for humans, so a Buddhist monastery is built over it, Shekar Gomp.


The book starts where the last book ended: white captain Rostislav Arceulov and red commander Stepan Kosukhin are sent away in Western China, knowing that soon they’ll be hunted down. Unlike the previous book, here supernatural interventions start almost instantly: they hide in a stone niche, where a monk gives them the ability to understand languages (if they try hard enough) and gives them to a group of magic riders from a legend, who quite quickly transport them several thousand kilometers to Tibet, also gifting them a powerful artifact.
Soon they find out that the mysterious Tibetan monastery of Shekar Gomp is captured by strange people with blue swastikas on their budyonovkas (the same symbol as the Reds special ops headed by the vampire from the same book). They turned into a well-guarded construction site, and of course, our frenemies, Rostislav and Stepan will help monks to return to their monastery and fight evil oppressors.

As several reviewers noted, it isn’t a historical novel anymore but an Indiana Jones kind of adventure, flashy, unrealistic but a good cinematic experience (for those who are into that kind of thing).