How to Survive a Russian Fairy Tale: Or... how to avoid getting eaten, chopped into little pieces, or turned into a goat

by Nicholas Kotar

From the author who bravely faced down a seven-headed, fire-breathing, riddle-speaking dragon... and got eaten for his pains.

The realm of Russian fairy tales is perilous. You might think you know who’s friend, who’s foe. But you’d be wrong. Wolves might be friends. Old grandmothers might be cannibals. And the idiot might be the wisest man in the room.

So say you find yourself at the waystone, a boundary between the real world and the world of story. Every road you take from the waystone leads to danger and the potential of great rewards. But you could end up being eaten, chopped into little pieces, or even turned into a goat.

This book is a short guide for your survival. At the end, you’ll find the fountain of youth, riches unimaginable, the man or woman of your dreams…and maybe something even more lasting.

But getting there is the real pleasure. Buy this book today to enter the weird and wonderful world of Russian fairy tales.

Genres: Fantasy, Fairy Tales

80 pages, Paperback

First published July 1, 2019

About the author

Nicholas Kotar is a writer of epic fantasy inspired by Russian fairy tales, a freelance translator from Russian to English, the resident conductor of the men's choir at a Russian monastery in the middle of nowhere, and a semi-professional vocalist. His one great regret in life is that he was not born in the nineteenth century in St. Petersburg, but he is doing everything he can to remedy that error.

Reviews

[Nicholas Kotar]

A somewhat cheeky intro to the world of Russian fairy tales.

[Mimi · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is basically a college paper about the tropes and characters of a Russian Fairy Tale. Since that was one of my college focuses, it was a delightful read.

[Anne · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ran across this while trolling through the Fiction -> Fantasy -> Humorous category on Hoopla. The description might have said it was tongue in cheek, but it really seemed more like shameless self-promotion (the author mentioned his books. A lot.). Depite that latter bit, I stuck with it [I had to do something while the police helicopter was endlessly circling above my place tonight - I cannot concentrate on much with that going on] and might have even learned a thing or two.

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

Short and sweet overview of Russian fairytales. I would have liked it better if it had gone a little more in depth and if the author had refrained from pulling the reader out the storylines to drop in many points of shameless self promotion (ie “I added this character in my book ...”). I would absolutely check out an expanded version of this if he ever gives it another try.

[Peter Bradley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Please give my Amazon review a helpful vote - https://www.amazon.com/gp/customer-re...

This is a fairly short introduction to the genre of Russian Fairy Tales. Since most Americans or speakers of English, are absolutely unfamiliar with the subject, this book is fascinating as revealing a different set of traditions than the one we are familiar with. American culture is essentially Western European. Eastern Europe is just a bit too far out there for us to be entirely comfortable with.

This book gives a fairly shallow and cursory overview of the subject. It really doesn't take a deep dive into any of the stories, which often leaves the impression that Russian Fairy Tales are outre (as opposed to the talking animals of the stories we are familiar with.) Thus, we find out that Russians begin their fairy tales with Pre-stories" which are bits of nonsense that serve to disorient the listener into an attitude more accepting of the fantastic.

We get an introduction to Babi Yaga, who is not the Boogeyman described in the John Wick movies, but instead a kind of demigod who sits on the edge of the real and the fantastic and lives in a hut that walks on a pair of chicken legs. There are cycles of stories based on the Bogatyrs, the heroic Russian warriors, who engage in fantastic epic adventures. The author, Nicholas Kotar, gives a brief explanation of the tropes in Russian fairy tales and their symbolic significance.

The conceit that ties this book together is the notion that the reader is caught in a Russian fairy tale and what he or she might expect to come up against. This is actually a minor part of the presentation and doesn't particularly advance or retard the exposition.

All in all, this is a good introduction to a world that is exotic and generally unknown.

[Daniel Lieuwen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a fun introduction to Russian fairy tales, written in a rather quirky way as a survival guide. It has lots of details about heroes, villains, special kinds of magical items, ...

I would recommend reading this book either significantly before (say 6 months) or after his Song of the Sirin series, since it refers to them with spoilers.

[Shmuel · Rating 4 out of 5]

wonderful guide book for anyone looking to get to know a new and unique world of magic and wonder that is the Russian fairy tails (I'm a Russian myself and found this book quite pleasing on the mind).
needless to say, it goes wonderfully when read along his series "Raven Son"

[Melanie Roese · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book has been so helpful to me when it comes to having a deeper understanding of the Russian Fairy Tales I’m reading. Sort of a textbook but still entertaining and pleasant reading.

[Elise · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fun intro to the world of Russian Fairytales, the heroes , villains, and monsters as well as their deeper meaning.

[Melissa Bishop · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kind of an odd little book. A good how-to write a fantasy book with references on things going on in Russian fairy tales that we need to help us understand what we are reading.

[Nicholas · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very enjoyable, easy read. Insight to a tradition that most people are not super familiar with. The influence on his own novels becomes very clear, and I would be interested in exploring this topic more.

The only complaint I have is that he's very inconsistent about citing sources. Sometimes he gives credit, but other times it's possible that he's simply writing from his own knowledge. Nevertheless, this works exceedingly well as a companion to his Raven Son series, just wouldn't use it as a source for any sort of research into the subject.

[Julia Stephanie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’m glad I picked this up during an interlude of my current binge! It was refreshing and witty and thought provoking. I will say that for the last few days I’ve been constantly running through all of the Russian folklore stories I’ve read and silently checked off each aspect detailed in this book. I learned a lot of things I hadn’t previously been aware of and I found it interesting!

[Mary T · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have had little experience with Russian folktales. This book puts some prospective on them and in doing so gives them greater depth. I will now reread M. Kotar's books and get more meaning out of the stories based on the new knowledge imparted in this book.