Reviews with content warning for Domestic abuse - Deathless

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Deathless by Catherynne M. Valente

10 reviews

wayward_flowers's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

"That’s how you get deathless, volchitsa. Walk the same tale over and over, until you wear a groove in the world, until even if you vanished, the tale would keep turning, keep playing, like a phonograph, and you’d have to get up again, even with a bullet through your eye, to play your part and say your lines.”

I'm broken and shattered. Finishing this book wasn't like breathlessly running through the fire but rather as though you've plunged into the depth of the coldness of the ocean-- a different kind of intensity and breathlessness.

Deathless has yet to be one of the most tragically beautiful tales I've read.
In it we follow our beloved classical fairytale characters and aspects of them, that we have grown up with. But, It is also the story of Russia during the 20th century and the tragedies that occurred in its history. Intertwining both elements together,
It is a world that possess the beauty and richness of fairytales but is entailed with the inevitability of war and death.
It talks about War and Grief. Love and Lust. War and Love.

"All the human world is the Country of Death, and in thrall, and finally, after all this time, we are just like everyone else. We are all dead. All equal. Broken and aimless and believing we are alive. This is Russia and it is 1952. What else would you call hell?”

The delivery of the story was immaculate. The writing and atmosphere was absolutely stunning.
The relationship dynamics between Koschei the Deathless and Marya Morevna was told beautifully but had the care to not conceal the terror or toxicity of it. And than seeing her navigate through this strange yet seemingly beautiful relationship, her heart and head in a constant argument, her fairytale life eclipsed over the one she lived when she was young.

"Oh, I will be cruel to you, Marya Morevna. It will stop your breath, how cruel I can be. But you understand, don’t you? You are clever enough. I am a demanding creature. I am selfish and cruel and extremely unreasonable. But I am your servant. When you starve I will feed you; when you are sick I will tend you. I crawl at your feet; for before your love, your kisses, I am debased. For you alone I will be weak.”

"Do you know, Masha, how revelation comes? Like death. So sudden, though you knew all along it must occur. A revelation is always the end of something. It might even be cause for grief.”

One of the things that Catherynne portrayed in this book that had me experiencing moments of realisation and reflection, were the aspects of..what does it truly mean to be good or bad.
Koschei, though in Russian folklore is a menacing and wicked creature, and while the author did not strip that element from the story, she, in my eyes, kept his true intentions hidden. I, as the reader at times tried to place Koschei as the character that is.."wicked" or whatever that is supposed to mean. Often times, especially in fairytales, it is obvious as to who is the wicked and virtuous. The good or the evil. But taken into consideration. It is much more complicated. I suppose IF taken simply, it really comes down to your intentions and what you do with them.
At the end of the day, no one is rightfully either when it comes to the play of Life and Death.

Other than that, I think the various topics and discussions done in this book, were quite meaningful and, once again, beautiful.

"The rapt pupil will be forgiven for assuming the Tsar of Death to be wicked and the Tsar of Life to be virtuous. Let the truth be told: There is no virtue anywhere. Life is sly and unscrupulous, a blackguard, wolfish, severe. In service to itself, it will commit any offense. So, too, is Death possessed of infinite strategies and a gaunt nature—but also mercy, also grace and tenderness. In his own country, Death can be kind. But of an end to their argument, we shall have none, not ever, until the end of all."

I shall end my review here. I could go on and on raving about this book. Every aspect of this book was enthralling and heartbreaking. I truly loved this.

"I will not let her have the whole thing. I have this power. I will not let her speak because I love her, and when you love someone you do not make them tell war stories. A war story is a black space. On the one side is before and on the other side is after, and what is inside belongs only to the dead. Besides, what happened between the two hands I am holding up is squeezed between the pages of the books of the dead, which are written on my hands."

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semlan's review against another edition

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challenging dark sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.0

I found the book to be very confusing and had a hard time connecting to the characters. I liked the beginning of the book though, but unfortunately it went downhill from there.

Content Warnings

beanaroni's review against another edition

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adventurous dark medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

Content Warnings

ilovejaydyn's review against another edition

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dark emotional reflective slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Content Warnings

lanarkunas's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

Content Warnings

theflowergarden's review against another edition

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dark medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

Content Warnings

pravda_iskra's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

I should’ve loved this book.

The cover immediately intrigued me, the Black Maria standing out as an immediate Akhmatova reference. I speak Russian, have read the Russian literary canon, and I’ve lived in the post-Soviet space. I loved all the mythology Valente added into the story and the world she created for those mythological creatures.

But Americans can’t write Russians well. We’re still stuck in our Cold War mindset where Russian people can only be conceived and written one specific way. We can only look at their history through our own biases towards it. And this was so glaring and annoying to me that I almost DNF’d.

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abominablesnowaro's review against another edition

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adventurous dark funny slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

Content Warnings

untraveledworld's review against another edition

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challenging emotional mysterious sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

Content Warnings

archaicgambit's review against another edition

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adventurous dark medium-paced

Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

This book was a beautiful gateway into russian mythology and history! I adore all of Valente's work, and the struggles of Maria are so real. The prose is sumptuous, as always, and there is a beautiful tragedy inherent from the beginning as you know this has all played out a thousand times before.

I am docking .25 stars because i feel the prologue/ending were a little confusing and knowing Valente's stunning work I feel like it could've landed better. </spoilers> I understand this is subjective and still totally love the book!

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