Some scholars have proposed that the concept of Baba Yaga was influenced by East Slavic contact with Finno-Ugric and Siberian peoples. This Baba Yaga makes the same comments and asks the same question as the first, and Ivan asks the same question. It's not like there's poor grammar or a lack of action or nothing unique--it has all of these things. The shifting point-of-view not only provides additional perspectives on the events of the plot, but cuts to the heart of each character's commitment to the events.

The "hut on chicken legs deep in the forest" plainly resembles huts raised on one or several stilts using stump with roots for the stilts, in popular use by Finno-Ugric peoples and also found in forests rather than villages. This new collection includes beloved classics such as "Vasilisa the Beautiful" and "The Frog Princess," as well as a version of the tale that is the basis for the ballet The Firebird. The whole thing is a lavish hardback creation with a plethora of images of Baba Yaga ranging from old lubok prints, Ivan Bilibin illustrations, old laquerwork paintings to more modern renderings familiar and new, and amongst them is my painting! Gaiman also used Baba Yaga in The Books of Magic comic series, and the way he has deployed the character highlights her moral ambiguity: where she was helpful in Sandman, she is more of a baddie in Books of Magic.The Baba Yaga is one of my favourite mythic characters, and she seems to be making a bit of a cultural reemergence, so I thought I’d share a few contemporary books where she plays a starring role. Save yourself the time and instead of reading this, read literally anything else about Baba Yaga that's not written by a man. Here we have a old crone witch who has lived for centuries, a young and beautiful witch, an undercover CIA agent posing as a ad man and an uptight police detective. Meanwhile Stork Bites by EV Knight ramps up the horrific aspects of the myth as a salutary tale for inquisitive children. It borrows some interesting and surprising history about the CIA’s covert involvement with the Paris Review.

We ask all users help us create a welcoming environment by reporting posts/comments that do not follow the subreddit rules. I'm not going to lunge into comparisons here; and anyway the witches in the book were done with gusto and credibility (if one may say so about witches). Besides some thin characterization, pacing was a problem and there were far too many convenient coincidences. If you are like me, and of Slavic descent, you probably caught on that some things are “just done that way” with very little questioning. Tell us why you liked or disliked the book; using examples and comparisons is a great way to do this.There were paragraphs of observation, self reflection and philosophy that were very good, very gripping. I don’t know if you know this, but Slavic peoples are starting to take back their beliefs, not that they ever got far from them. This book does that in a fine, innovative way of telling a story (like “Baba” might do) and explaining what is actually going on.

At first I actually kept reading just to see what would happen to the flea man, but by the time he was floating on the air I was over it. The second of the two mentions occurs within a list of Slavic gods and beings next to their presumed equivalence in Roman mythology (the Slavic god Perun, for example, appears equated with the Roman god Jupiter). A delightful transposition of several Baba Yaga's from Russia to 1950's Paris -- mixed in with spy tales and murder mysteries.Some short chapters are witches’ songs, actual poems that are chanted by the witches and reflect their collective backgrounds, experiences, obsessions, and motivations. As someone who is of slavic heritage and have my own connections to this particular folklore, I must say I am offended by this shallow “pop culture-like” portrayal of something so ancient and sacred. In this part of the story, not unlike the witches’ story, it’s difficult to discern truth from lies, and to tell the “good guys” from the “bad guys.