I have to say first of all that I was very conflicted about this book. On the one hand I did like it, on the other hand I can see how it is very problematic and many others might not like it.

I am pretty much the target audience for this book. I enjoy mythology, folk tales, legends, etc... I also followed the latest Maidan revolution of the winter 2013-14 very closely. Just ask my wife. I was refreshing the news feed and watching the live streams late into the night. I spent a lot of time thinking about how things could have been different if I still lived in Kyiv, would I be out there on the barricades? Would I have lost my life in this struggle? Instead i was in the US watching the events unfold from the safety of my apartment. I feel like the author must have gone through a lot of the same emotions and thought processes.

I feel like the reason I enjoyed this book was purely for the two reasons given above. Aside from the magical realism tie in with mythology/folklore and the Maidan setting the book had a lot of problems. The characters were very one-dimensional, and the ending felt kind of rushed and was kind of a disappointing. I feel that if you aren't into myths or folk tales and if you have no idea about the Maidan protests in Ukraine this book won't offer much and will probably be a disappointment.

The main issue is a bunch of stereotypical one-dimensional characters. Especially groan-inducing were the "debates" between the Jewish professor from America and the Right Sector hothead. These were laden with Ukrainian nationalist fables and just read like a giant Ukraine love fest circlejerk. I especially loved the not-so-subtle reference to the debate about the etymology of the word Ukraine. Despite getting a kick out of all this, I found it to be slightly cringe-worthy. It reads like a mix between Maidan fanfiction and pro-Ukraine propaganda.

*spoilers to follow*
The character arc for the main male character Nick was kind of lackluster and didn't go very far. Pretty much he seemed to be trying to get laid. He started the book being down about the fact that the girl he liked seemed to be in love with his friend. He also seemed down about not helping out the girl and his friend when they got beat up by the police. By the end of the book he gets another girl to like him, they bang, and also he risks his life to help his friend. So I guess he gets what he wanted? Due to all the foreshadowing throughout the book i was kind of expecting more to happen, but nothing really did.

Natalka, the main female character had a bigger development as she (very predictably) switched sides from the pro-russia anti demonstrator baddies to become a volunteer on the maidan. Turns out her dad was a Ukrainian patriot who was killed by the soviets for his views, or something to that effect. The resolution of her story was probably the worst part of this book. Like with Nick it was foreshadowed that she would play some sort of role in helping everyone out. And she did help, however the payoff just didn't seem to quite work, and the sex scene at the end seemed very anticlimactic and out of place. Again, the ending was very weak for this character, and the book as a whole.

One of the things that really hurt the book were the random insertions of references that probably have no meaning to anyone that hasn't followed the events. For example the random insertion of a British freelance journalist, who very clearly is meant to represent a well known (to the Maidan F5 crowd) pro-russia propagandist. yeah i got a kick out of him getting his comeuppance, but guess what it interrupted the plot right in the middle of the (already weak) ending: and it won't make sense to anyone who doesn't know what it's referencing. That's just one example.

Overall I give this book a 2.5/5 to round up to 3/5.