Status Updates From Видунья (Год крысы, #1)

The story ends on a pessimistic note – or should I say that it doesn’t end at all? The heroes had reached the end of their journey, but it didn’t bring them what they were looking for, so while they don’t know where they would go now, the journey would inevitably continue. It’s as if the author wrote the story, realized it would be over 800 pages long and simply split it into two books when it was most appropriate.

Alk keeps saying that Ryska and Zhar are not his friends, that he doesn’t believe in friendship anymore and only stays with them because he needs their assistance getting to his grandfather's… and yet at the same time Alk shields Ryska from his own grandfather even though they’d already reached their destination and he doesn’t need Ryska’s help anymore, thus owing her nothing. Truly, actions speak louder than words.

It’s not surprising that Alk’s quest led nowhere and he failed – however, it’s surprising that he knew from the start that his chance of succeeding is 1 out 77, and he still went for it, because otherwise he had no chance at all. It just… really shows how desperate Alk is. And when Alk’s only option fails, Zhar pulls him back from depression – by forcibly dragging Alk with them. I like their dynamic more and more!

It’s staggering to finally see things from Alk’s PoV when he’s in the rat form, because he isn’t just trapped in the body of a rat – he’s trapped with the rat inside his head, two minds sharing one body. So he lives in constant struggle, always pushing against the beast, especially when in the rat form. That explains why Alk is so irritable and in such a hurry to remove the spell that literally drives him mad…

It seems that Ryska made peace with the fact that Alk is Savrian, but she’s still more comfortable around his rat form, because then she can ignore his nationality, because prejudice is still alive in her. And while Ryska herself experienced prejudice due to her half-Savrian heritage, it’s not until she sees Alk being treated with hatred and disdain that her world view begins to shift and she realizes her errors.

In the rat form, Alk was an endless source of sass and sarcasm. Back in human form, he still retains his sharp tongue – but now he’s also a serious badass, and him not being dependent on Ryska and Zhar any more shifts the balance of their relationship. Now, Alk is capable of pushing back Zhar, with whom he never got along – but he also develops a soft spot for Ryska, even if he hides his attitude under rude words.

Ryska is sincerely kind and selfless, and it shines even more since she is paired with Zhar, who only looks out for himself, and Alk, who has strong ‘quid pro quo’ principles, - while Ryska is ready to get in trouble to help someone she’d known for three hours. Yes, Ryska’s outlook can be naïve and even childish sometimes, but she is such a ray of sunshine that it’s impossible not to admire her faith in the world.

Ryska is deeply prejudiced against Savrians, sure that all of them are evil incarnate, so she’s beyond angry when it’s revealed that Alk is actually a Savrian – and yet she still stays with him, helps him and cares about him. And while Ryska insists that all Savrians are monsters, when Alk sarcastically agrees that yeah, he’s a murderer and rapist like the rest of his nation, Ryska is the one who argues against that.

Ooh, I think I know what happened to Alk there! Because of her lack of proper training, Ryska has trouble willingly changing paths of fate, but she can do it just fine when acting subconsciously or on instinct. And right before Alk’s change, she had been imagining him turning into a human while falling asleep – what if she used her path-walking abilities without actually meaning to?

There’s no magic in Ryska’s world except from the abilities of path-walkers and some fantastical animals, but what we see of path-walkers is fascinating. And while the path-walkers had always been respected and feared, it appears that they are not as noble as it may seem – not only Berek attempts to kill Ryska and Zhar as needless witnesses, but Alk is also sure that Ryska would’ve been killed by them anyway.

Alk can’t stand Ryska and openly mocks Zhar, constantly insults them and makes it clear that he’s sticking with them only because he needs their help – and yet when Berek threatens to kill them, Alk gives himself up though he could’ve escaped. When Ryska asks later if he did so because he didn’t want them to die, Alk says, ‘No, I did it because of my honor’, but it still says a lot about Alk.

Ryska had been terrified of rats all her life, especially after the scare she had experienced at the dying path-walker’s house, so it’s very inspiring to see her attitude toward Alk go from ‘I’m not going to touch that mangy rat with a stick’ to ‘Huh, he’s actually warm to touch and fuzzy’ and finally to ‘It feels empty and uncomfortable when he isn’t curled up under my dress’ in the course of three days.

Alk is not your typical ‘bad boy’ hero, because he brings this archetype to the max. He swears like a dozen of sailors, constantly insults and berates Ryska even after she saves his life, is rude, ungrateful, cynical… and also suicidal, trying to kill himself several times. But honestly, who wouldn’t be bitter if one were to be trapped in the body of a rat, constantly tied up and used as a magic battery for a month?

This book has a rather slow start – it begins when Ryska is 9 years old, and the early chapters are devoted to establishing her background and relationships. It’s almost halfway throughout the story when Ryska, at the age 17, leaves her uncle’s home and the adventure starts! However, the early chapters set up Ryska’s personality and viewpoint brilliantly, and I really enjoyed reading them.

Ever since Ryska went out of her way to save Zhar from a monster and ended up saving the monster - who was not what everyone thought it to be, - she began growing a spine. From standing up for herself before her parents, to demanding that her employer actually pay her for eight years of slaving, to simply taking her rightly earned payment and leaving. Not bad for a shy and timid girl who never raised her voice!

Ryska: I’m a terrible person, I’m not capable of love, I don’t even love my own parents.

Ryska, later: *risks her life to save Zhar from a monster than the whole village is afraid of*

Also Ryska: *attempts to sacrifice herself to save the very people who had thrown Zhar to the aforementioned monster in the first place*

Ryska and Zhar’s relationship is so adorable! They are so close, being more like brother and sister than friends, so much that Zhar is baffled when he’s told that it’s inappropriate for him to share a room with Ryska when they are teens – and while Ryska wants to get married and start a family eventually, she isn’t ready to break her ties with Zhar for someone else.