Russian Orthodox Literary Concern Rekindled: Nicholar Kotar Pens Russian Fantasy -- Review of His "Raven Son"

NEW SCIENCE FICTION AND FANTASY REVIEWS

Reviews Of Recently Published Science Fiction And Fantasy Books

Reviewer: Forrest Schultz schultz_forrest@yahoo.com 770-583-3258

Blog Address: http://newsciencefictionandfantasyreviews.blogspot.com/

March 12, 2014

Russian Orthodox Literary Concern Rekindled:

Nicholar Kotar Pens Russian Fantasy

A Review of

Nicholas Kotar "Raven Son" (Conquering Time Pubs., 2014)

$16.95 282 pp ISBN: 978-0-61596-02702

Reviewer: Forrest W. Schultz

The examples set by C. S. Lewis and J. R. R. Tolkien are producing concern for literature among Protestants and Roman Catholics, but there has been no such example for Russian Orthodox believers since Fyodor Dostoevsky. Nicholas Kotar belongs to a Russian Orthodox community based in California which intends to do something about this, and his book under review here is a means toward that end. One of the attached photos shows him speaking on the subject to the "Prav Mir" group, and the other one shows the cover of his book, which is a fantasy based on traditional Russian legends and fairy tales.

I recommend this book for anyone who likes fantasy, and I especially recommend it to those who would like to read a fantasy placed in a traditional Russian milieu and incorporating Russian fantasy elements. The story is like Dostoevsky in grabbing and holding your interest but its characters, plot, and settings are very different -- it occurs in days of yore, not in the late 19th century! This story and these characters and these fantasy beings are quite memorable and attract your concern and are full of puzzles and surprises and mysteries, which call to mind the famous saying of Churchill about the mystery that is Russia!

For further information you can visit these sites: http://www.raven-son.org/,

http://www.conquering-time.org/, and www.pravmir.com/conquering-time-an-orthodox-cultural-response-to-the-world