P L U T O N I
- You live, you work, you groan from grief,
Do you meet the storm and the wind with a song, -
And somewhere the country of Plutonium sleeps!
– Which was nowhere in the world?!
- What do you mean it was?.. What do you mean it wasn’t?!
This is not an idle question! The question is alarming...
Perhaps we consider it a fable,
What is it we still can’t understand?..
We don't like the weird and weird so much,
We don’t trust everyone who is different!
It’s as if we feel with our skin,
that their dissimilarity hurts our hearts...
After all, we see that they don’t drown
in paper backwaters, in everyday life!
They are stepping into their Plutonia...
– Which didn’t happen, doesn’t exist, and won’t happen?!
– Do you really want to always be right?
And in their rightness - indestructible?..
- But if we are right, we have the right
And suddenly - Plutonia... Why, what is it for?!
It’s not checked by logic!
She didn’t exist?.. She was invented?!
She's in common sense doesn't fit!!!
- Oh, calm down, safe ones!
A strange tribe will not touch you at all...
They aren’t calling you to the land behind the clouds?..
You will not be allowed into this Plutonia!
The country of Plutonium is not for the resigned,
not for those who live by bread alone,
those who can easily get along with any untruth,
not raising their heads to the sky!
O indifferent ones, O strangers!
After all, this is to spite you - those who don’t see her! -
The country of Plutonia lives and lives,
the country beloved of the unsound.
Raisa Gladun 1932–2001
"Echoes silver wind“is my attempt to find a way out of the impasse in which our world finds itself. A dead end of meanness, cruelty and self-interest.
To the experienced reader, the world of the Aarn Order may seem somewhat sketchy. Quite possible. But it was important for me to convey the main idea, and minor details and scientific credibility don't have any for me special significance.
Measures of weight, length and time in the novel are given in units familiar to the Russian-speaking reader.
New terms are explained either in the text itself or in footnotes. New idiomatic expressions are close to Russian and, I hope, will not cause difficulties for the reader.
All coincidences with reality existing people or the events are random, the novel from beginning to end is the fruit of the author's imagination.
The author expresses his sincere gratitude editors Lyubov Zinovievna Leibzon and Evgeniy Gennadievich Konenkin, without whose help this book would never have acquired its finished form. It took too many years to write. The author also thanks the participants of the forum http://forum.elterrus.com for their help and tips, for the endless, years-long search for logical inconsistencies, for hundreds of ideas expressed, military concepts and types of weapons, for drawings, poems, songs and compiling an encyclopedia of the inhabited galaxy , which the author himself simply would not have had the patience to compose.
Song of the Strange.
It happens... It happens. You again don’t know who you are and what you are, you are again tossing around in a strange web of waves of life. They change you, but you yourself don’t notice it and think that you are still the same. And then you realize that this is not so, and you don’t know what to do... Nothing! Just listen to the silver wind playing with the leaves of the Tree of Stars. Just don't forget that you can fly. Just remember that there are stars out there, far away, and they are calling you into the unknown, into a world where there is no meanness and lies. Alas, how many do not want to remember this and lose their wings, feather by feather, and become, in the words of the poet, “wingless evil spirits" This is the truth, and nothing can be done about it. But we do not want and cannot live without wings. And glory to the Creator for this. Because He gave us Something else, incomprehensible to those preoccupied with their well-being. Well, they will never hear the Wind of the Stars, never understand the ringing beauty of the incredible. They are blind and deaf, and it is their fault, they blindfolded themselves and plugged their ears. But it is their choice, and they have the right to it. We are not with them, we don’t want to be with them, we are disgusted with being with them. And it's better to be alone than with one of them. Remember once and for all – WE ARE NOT LIKE THIS. Their idols and their idols, their aspirations and their hopes, their sorrows and their joys are alien to us. We always left the ground and went to places where they would never go, where none of them would simply be allowed. And for this, for centuries and centuries, we were stoned, we were burned at the stake, we were trampled into the mud and thrown into dungeons, we were laughed at and declared crazy. But we still refused to give up on our dreams. Let them. They turned away from the Creator, and He turned away from them. The Creator smiles on those who are able to look beyond the horizon and are not afraid to throw themselves off a cliff and spread their wings, not knowing whether they will fly or fall. Let them enjoy their “riches” and rejoice in their “property”. But this is not enough for them, they are scared by us, NOT THE LIKE. There is something available to us that they will never understand, and they are afraid of realizing it. From the realization that they have only us ahead of them. They want to deprive us of our wings, to convince us that we do not have these wings and cannot have them. Sometimes one of us falls, accepting their values, but to replace the fallen one, dozens of others spread their wings and fly up, not hearing the frightened squeal of those remaining below. They can't stop us! We are doomed to remain outcasts in a world of pain and grief, often following our path completely alone, not paying attention to the stones, spitting and curses flying at us. Remember, it is we who force humanity to move forward, not allowing it to turn into a herd of well-fed, happy with life animals. Do not be afraid! Spread your wings and fly high! Yes, the price for this will be terrible, but the sky awaits us! To the fire? Well. Remember, the Creator smiles at us even at the stake! And no matter what they do, they can’t stop us! We will take off anyway, leaving the swamp below. We were! We are! We will!
Interlude I
The pain gradually went away. I took another sip of alcohol and smiled with relief. Well, another attack is over, another torture is over. How many there were and how many more there will be... I listened carefully to what was happening on the cruiser and sighed. Someone is looking for me again. Children, children... How I love you all, how dear you are to me. It is easier for me to endure a hundred such attacks than to lose one of you. You are not immortal, like me, and you are leaving. Alas for me. But now you are happy, and I am glad that I was able to give you at least a little happiness, I was able to pull you out of the world of pain and grief, despair and hopelessness. Some will say that I am an idealist. Yes, an idealist. So what? I myself often doubt many things, but I still have no other way. I must, must atone for the evil I brought into the universe twenty thousand years ago. I was then the Dark Master, the Black Emperor. I was then looking for power and immortality. I found it on my own head... Why, why did I need this? Kill me, Creator, if I understand. Yes, then I didn’t yet know how painful it was to be immortal.
I listened to the emophone again and couldn’t help but smile. Tina had already searched me; she had some problem. You are my good girl... If only you knew how much I love you. But you won't know. Never. My destiny is pain and loneliness, and I will not allow anyone to share this burden with me. You, my children, don’t need to know how much I have to pay for everything that surrounds you. No need. And so each of you went through hell, so at least here, among those who love you and whom you love, may it be good for you. Let at least here you will not know pain and grief. Live, love, create. And my task is to cover you with myself, to protect you from all kinds of troubles. It doesn't matter at what cost, but protect. Prevent the reigning outside world evil to your souls who have forgotten about the pain.
The inhabited galaxy is huge, many intelligent races have gone into space, and they all live in their own way. Who is bad, who is good - everyone has different criteria. But in each there are reasonable ones who do not accept and do not understand life in the name of profit. They are so uncomfortable at home, and most often they die. However, they have hope - the Order of Aarn, a strange, unlike anything else civilization... Only intelligent people who have rejected such galactic values as self-interest and power can go there. In all the worlds of the galaxy, Aarn saves those for whom honor and love are not an empty phrase, who want and can create, in whose hearts the silver wind of the stars sounds. And the heavens light up with all the colors of the rainbow, and the Call sounds from there.
Life flows according to its own rules, most often incomprehensible to people and other intelligent people. Changes come unexpectedly and most often when no one expects them. The Order of Aarn, which arouses the hatred of the governments of the countries of the galaxy, also does not stand aside - there is a war ahead with religious fanatics who are ready to destroy for the sake of their faith intelligent life throughout the galaxy. To survive, yesterday's enemies are forced to forget about enmity and unite. They have no other choice...
IN in a galaxy far, far away A representative of a certain Organization dies at the hands of local intelligence services during a trip to visit relatives. The head of this Organization, as revenge, appeals to local residents with approximately in the following words: “Either you find and kill all the special services until the last cleaning lady, or you will be destroyed along with your planet. And don’t worry, I have enough strength and power for a hundred planets like yours.” He's not lying, by the way. There is panic and a great pogrom on the planet, during which most of The secret service members die (and with them many uninvolved people die, but representatives of the Organization, contentedly rubbing their hands on their space super-battleships from the pleasure of revenge, of course, have nothing to do with them). The head of the Organization complacently forgives the inhabitants of the planet that they were unable to fulfill his lordly will in in full and shoots only the shelters of the surviving special services from the guns of the space super-battleship. The victory is celebrated with a festive recruitment of collaborators into the Organization and an orgy on the largest space super-battleship, which blinks its nozzles goodbye to the devastated planet...
You have just read a description of what the Order of Aarn usually does, a good union of those who want the strange and do not want anything for themselves, living a dream and boldly putting their face to the silver wind. Yes, yes, this is not a typo - these nice people who will not hesitate to slam you and a couple of thousand more like you, because some of your compatriots, whom you have never seen, killed one of them - good ones. All that remains is to ask: “If these are good, then which ones are bad?”
The language of the cycle is monstrous: monotonously repeated metaphors about the “silver wind”, clumsy colloquial expressions like “not everyone wants to eat and rape each other”, and it was clearly not explained to the author who the “focal character” is. The characters are flat (in general this is not always a bad thing, but it is bad in a book with pretensions to psychologism). There is no logic at all:
In the novella that opens the first novel, stupid peasants discuss that: “The highest command has ordered that all “strange” people be locked up throughout the Parga Cluster. And who these “strange” people are is not said.” The peasants, of course, are stupid. But why the hell is the highest ruler undermining his authority by issuing orders such as:
Once - none of his subjects will ever fulfill them, because they will not understand their essence.
Two - the implementation of which cannot be controlled.
Three - which, if executed, will not bring desired result(Aarn can open portals anywhere, including indoors, and this is well known).
Four - even if the desired result is achieved in best case scenario will not provide any benefit, and at worst, they will only bring harm (why forcefully retain obviously useless asocials who can also threaten public order?).
And the world of the cycle is frankly boring - techno-fantasy, right? Middle Ages in space, really? After “Dune” it’s unoriginal, after “The Vorkosigan Saga” it’s unpromising, after “Star Wars” it’s hackneyed, and after “Warahammer 40k” it’s hackneyed. All plot moves (people who are carriers of Evil with capital letters Z, abandoned by the forerunners of the spacefleet) have already been somewhere and more than once.
So why do they even love it?
I confess that I myself am somewhat affected by the charm of “SALT.” I really want you to always be supported and protected. I really want to be one of my own. I really want to take revenge on all the trash. Novels (they are arranged as chains of short stories) repeat the same situation many times and in different ways: there is someone rejected by society, who has not found his place, who is suffering (there are a strictly limited number of types: a girl-swordsman with a delicate character, squeezed by social conventions, a military man who has remained faithful to the code of honor, a scientist or poet, immersed in the world of abstractions and unadapted to life). His torment in a society where he has no place reaches its climax (bringing him dangerously closer to death, physical or spiritual). But then suddenly Aarn comes (or he himself comes to them, but blindly and without knowing who they are, so it still turns out suddenly). At the last moment they manage to save him (they don’t have time, but they take revenge for his physical death or with varying success collected piece by piece after moral destruction). Among them, he finds his place, finds his calling, love and happiness (he is remembered in moments of light sadness). And so a hundred times in a row. All this successfully evokes one feeling - that it is YOU personally who are waiting for the Aarn to accept you as a brother in the order, because it is YOU who suffer from misunderstanding and indifference, there is no place for YOU in this world. Elterrus writes his books dishonestly. He does not show the life of some people on their own, but, clinging his claws under the heart, pushes the reader into his world - the extreme impersonality of the text, pumped to the brim with emotions that the reader will have to instinctively take personally, also works for this, and one and the same plot situation repeated many times, making you experience the moment of emerging from a black abyss into the light. Painful, excruciating release, sip fresh air and again the stuffy darkness for another attack of pain and another release. I think many who have a bad time in life get hooked on these experiences and get through the series to the end (I only got through the first two books, on the good White Guards, who in life hanged workers, flogged peasants and took away their land in favor of the landowners, and in book, they unfairly suffer from the dirty paws of red and green bandits, the degree of falsehood turned out to be such that I was completely sobered up), assimilating the author’s ideas at the same time.
And these ideas are not nearly as bright as they seem after being hit by a stream of emotions from the book. The Aarn, with their cruelty, sweetness, narcissism and lack of self-control, are not someone you would be lucky to meet on a narrow path. And this is not just a flaw - all the episodes with the “selection” procedure (brain probing in search of necessary and unnecessary qualities) are aimed at causing one reaction in the reader - yes, yes, I am like that! I'm not like others! I'm being bullied too! I also want to go to a beautiful utopia! The world of "SALT" is a world of very low moral standards. It is not even suggested that you fight for something or run somewhere - they will find you on their own, they will save you on their own - sit and wait for a miracle. Maybe, as an organization, the Order is still remaking the world on its own? No, there is such an omnipotent magician and an even more omnipotent god who will pave a green corridor for them everywhere. By the way, if you want to know more about this god: he sent his messiah into the world, whose main sorcery is to brainwash people, making them “good” (and I thought that this was the same as wiping us off the face of the earth and creating again... I, stupid, thought that God’s heart was full of pity and he couldn’t do this). And no, aarn don’t even have to strive to be good - all the vile “pashu” (this means “cattle” in Sanskrit... why in Sanskrit? But to make it sound smarter) are so disgusting, cruel and stupid that compared to them there is no shame to be a little imperfect. The quintessence of infantilism.
What is the structure of Aarn society that makes it a utopia? Why does it work and is everyone happy there? Firstly, it is aristocratic - only a select few are accepted into the aarn. Secondly, it is authoritarian - the sole power of the Commander is not challenged by anyone. Thirdly, it is collectivist - ceremonies of acceptance into the aarn involve connecting to a collective telepathic network with the ability to read the thoughts of everyone else. Fourthly, it is permeated with the culture of eros - orgies at the initiation ceremony, Swedish families, all kinds of promiscuity in general, big role visual art, foreign policy, based mainly on the emotions of the Commander (well, and all the Aarn who sympathize with him... they, by the way, are telepaths... by the way, the Commander is the only one who can close himself off from someone else's telepathy for a long time... it can't be true?!). Fifthly, it is quite militant.
What does this all remind you of? There was such a character in the history of the twentieth century - the poet D'Annunzio, who for two years held dictatorial power in the city of Fiume on the coast Mediterranean Sea. He preached hedonism, ecstasy and a Dionysian emotional approach to life (for example, poets in Fiume were the official ruling caste). At one time he also dreamed of the revival of imperial Italy, but the Italian government did not agree. Despite the freedom of morals in his republic, many features of its organization - primarily collectivism, militancy and general involvement in the spirit of the nation - were adopted by Mussolini in his ascetic state.
And, if you read those places in the text where it talks about Aarn’s relationship with everyone else, we will see a completely Mussolinist approach to the structure of society - where the Order interferes in political life, he seeks to build a strong state under the rule of one ruler or a small oligarchy of the chosen ones. The wiki on the world of Elterrus generally says that as a result, the almost ideal society that the Aarn built for the stupid and evil pashas turns out to be completely fascist regime in Ka El Enah, where there are no prisons, and for stealing chocolate from a supermarket you are immediately hanged. So much for utopia, hmm.
“Echoes of the Silver Wind” is a very stupid and evil book. Of course, you can read (if you have absolutely nothing to do), but there is nothing original, smart or bright there.
Rating: 2
I read the space opera by Iar Elterrus on the Internet. Actually, why I started reading this epic: I remembered some examples of this genre that I liked and decided to have fun. As it turned out, the name “space opera” in relation to Elterrus’s creation is not entirely accurate. The story about the cosmic order of Aarn, uniting people who want something strange and are unable to live in an ordinary, callous world, is really read in one breath, but after reading the novel, when the ability to think and analyze is restored in the mind, some questions arose in front of me.
1. Where does this contrast between the pure and bright aarn and the base and vulgar pasha come from? No, at the end of the epic the heroes understand that arrogance does not look good on anyone and generally leads to a dead end, but it took one and a half thousand years for the good and pure to understand this. Isn't it too much for the intelligent ones who have access to the Spheres of Creation?
2. Where does this clinical attitude towards sex come from? About the love I'm in in this case I do not speak. Although the author mentions love, and at times quite bizarre, it is always behind the scenes, as if Elterrus does not know what to do with it. But when it comes to sex, it’s either a nightmare, disgusting, or pleasure, which is torment and curse. At the same time, I do not mean violence, and it is clear that it is disgusting, which does not prevent the author from depicting it and horrifying readers. But why is sex to blame? Can't you just enjoy life?
3. How can the descent of the noble Aarn into psychoshock from killing even the last scoundrel be combined with the noble heroes’ predilection for the principle of collective responsibility with the subsequent mass physical elimination of those who came to hand?
But that's just my nitpicking. I was much more interested in something else. The entire beginning of the Elterrus epic is based on the fact that at that moment when people are unable to cope with their problems, a voice is heard from the heavens from the spaceship of the Order of Aarn and once again - the problems are solved! Are you doomed to fight a fight that you will lose? No problem - Aarn will disperse your enemies in an instant. Don't you want to get married? Aarn will take you to his place. The main thing is that you are clean and that they will help you.
Probably this is a promise that kind uncles and aunts will come and solve all your problems - very attractive. True, the author said that those whom the Order of Aarn considered unworthy were simply killed on some planets, and in such ways that even maniacs could vomit, but what reader would doubt that if he had found himself in that reality, he would certainly have ended up worthy to become Aarn. After all this, it is not surprising that the number of readers of Elterrus on SI is more than 90 thousand readers per year (and if we take into account the absurd statistics of Samizdat, it is clearly more) and about a thousand page views per day. And this despite the fact that neither the plot, nor the characters, nor the language of the epic are anything outstanding. Strictly speaking, the grades given to Elterrus for SI confirm this, but... what can we say about the grades? Somehow the author manages to influence the simplest emotions of a person, somehow he manages to turn the lever that completely deprives readers of the ability to think critically. The comic epic is written with such intensity that all other shortcomings and outright blunders pass by the mind. It is quite difficult to resist such intensity. Elterrus's manipulation of readers goes as far as highest point. And I don’t like being manipulated.
Rating: 5
Probably the silver wind sounds in many souls. And often we want to get into fairy world, where they will understand us, believe us, fulfill our wishes, and finally protect us. Dreams... The longer you live, the dimmer they become, the weaker the breath of the silver wind of the stars. And now - this dream, this fairy tale appears on paper, written by the pen of a very good master, and captures you from the first pages.
It’s not easy for a fairy tale in the unkind real world. In order to stop wars and killings, one has to fight and kill; in order for EVERYONE to be satisfied and happy, it is necessary to allow ALL possible relationships between people (Elterrus will apparently get it more than once for describing same-sex sex), in general, when faced with reality, the fairy tale somewhat ceases to be a fairy tale. But let's not look for shortcomings here, let's just read this rather epic epic with enthusiasm and let the echoes of the silver wind penetrate your soul. And then you will want more than once when the world will drive you into another dead end, raise your eyes to the empty sky and whisper: “Arn il Aarn”...
Rating: 9
I, one might say, devoured Elterrus’s first books. Interesting, unusual, unexpected, even obvious shortcomings - bad language, the abundance of cliches, the obsession with blood and sex, did not interfere. But then... The further I read, the stronger the feeling of deja vu. Too often similar heroes and situations began to flash, sometimes only the names of the heroes changed, and the characters were identical. This applies to all books by Elterrus, and in this series latest novels I didn't even bother buying from paper version, reading from the screen was enough. I just didn’t see anything new there. Everything is the same, only the same characters and situations are slightly shuffled and laid out in a new order.
Must have good heroes, so white and fluffy, of the purest soul, kindness itself, with raised fists, true, but kind... They inevitably end up in the most disgusting situations, from where they get out becoming even kinder and even fluffier. And there are vile things, bad, no, terrible! They are definitely terrible power-hungers, ready to sell their own children to a brothel for the sake of money and power, and their parents for organs, and, most importantly, diligently voice this position more than once. And sincerely confident that strength equals cruelty, and kindness equals weakness. And acting in accordance with this postulate.
Spoiler (plot reveal)
The plot of almost any novel can be retold in a few phrases. So: in the red corner of the ring those are the same white and fluffy ones, and in the blue corner there are fat ones. There are several intense rounds and as a result, the white and fluffy ones are sure to win. If not by knockout, then by points anyway. The evil ones are simply destroyed as a class, since only the good ones have the right to life. Some, however, are given a chance to “reforge” and go over to the side of the white and furry ones. This is so that the situation does not seem completely hopeless.
In any novel there is absolutely a certain number of cruel scenes, sexual violence- this is obligatory, at least in the form of an attempt or, in extreme cases, in the form of a promise to create it, but described in all details in the appropriate expressions. There is also love, but it is described in much less detail, rather in a somewhat clumsy language with terribly monotonous turns of phrase; apparently, the author does not have enough imagination for this. But there is a lot of hypocrisy; it looks very symbolic when the author vividly describes lesbian passions, asserting how good and normal it is and then immediately calls homosexual relationships between men “unhealthy.”
There are certainly a lot of rather utopian projects for the world order, perhaps interesting, but hardly applicable in practice, and the author’s dislike for democracy in general and the republican system in particular is noticeable in every chapter.
What else? There is also a fairly successful attempt to combine science fiction and fantasy, magic and technology, Tolkien's elves with orcs - with dragons and spaceships. It turned out not bad, by the way, unusual, at least.
True, the impression is pretty much spoiled by the simply astronomical number of jambs, blunders and inconsistencies. To the point where one thing is stated on one page, and the exact opposite is stated on the next.
In general, what can you say about this cycle? The idea can be given a 10, but the execution really let us down. It turned out a bit boring, monotonous. Either the author didn’t have enough talent, or something else, but alas...
Rating: 7
The attitude is very ambiguous.
It feels like the author is a schoolboy, I was very surprised to find out how old he is. Cliches, pathos, clumsy language, endless repetitions of essentially the same situations. It feels like for 300 something ( exact figure I don’t remember) they chew the pages for us like little children do the same truisms. In my opinion, the wisest thing he should have done was to limit himself to the epigraph (“...to be better, and not to live better.”) Everything else that follows is nothing more than smearing snot around the same sore point (it seems oh, how painful!) topic.
Nevertheless, one simply does not raise one’s hand to evaluate this work negatively (in terms of literary value, it is a weak “two”), simply because the topic itself raised by the author is close, familiar and understandable. Despite the wild absurdity and exaggeration of the situations, tears appeared periodically while reading (although the brain understood that nonsense was nonsense).
When I was 10 years old I would have given this book a 10, now I really want to give it 1, the average is 5.5)
P.S. Instead of this stupid series, I would advise all “strange” people to read the story “Jonathan Livingston Seagull” by Richard Bach. About the same thing, in essence, but how beautiful and succinct!
Rating: 1
Interesting piece. Mystical sci-fi utopia is a rather rare genre, though. The language is bad only at the micro level (all sorts of “oh, mom!” heroines simply drive them crazy after the 20th repetition), but the layout of the books and their rhythm are successful: you read calmly and interestedly to the end.
Let's start with the fact that individualism does not in any way contradict empathy: the most absolute individualist can love, sympathize, and even sacrifice a lot for the sake of loved ones. If the author describes such a personality, it is only in conjunction with egocentrism and general savagery, I would even say frostbite, of the character.
Secondly, most people have no need for power per se. Of course, there will always be exceptions who would prefer to be a king in their swamp than an ordinary citizen of a supercivilization, but these are just that: exceptions. For the majority, power is simply a pleasant means of achieving other goals, and if they can be achieved without any effort, no one will strain themselves trying to climb higher in the social hierarchy.
And finally, those people who are “not like everyone else”, “will not offend anyone” and care about “ common good- they are not all the ideal of breadth of consciousness, wisdom and even sincere sympathy. Often this behavior is caused by complexes, zombification, misunderstanding of one’s own “I”, unwillingness to see the world as it is, in all its complexity and relativity of concepts.
To build a utopia in a world with absolute categories confirmed by practice (the mystical side of books) and magic-telepathy is also an achievement for me. Rather, one should wonder what a bad politician this Master was if he could not come up with something better for everyone.
Rating: 7
Could the kind of Universe that Igor writes about exist? I wanted to say, Iar... Or maybe Ilar?.. Isn’t the world just as real? Star Wars"Lucas? Maybe a piece of the Commander’s soul descended to our planet and inhabited the author to bring us the news about the Aarn Order and its fate? The author once admitted to me that on samizdat someone under a nickname like Observer or Wanderer wrote to him that everything he writes about actually happened in another reality, and he only established a connection with his guardian angels who convey the news about this. Of course, through the imprint of the personality of Iar himself, that is, Igor. Commander Ilar also went through inhuman torment, and the life of El Terrus himself was not too sweet, at least until recently. Now he is in St. Petersburg, he just married the woman he loves (it turns out that even after 40 you can fall in love like a boy) with one of the St. Petersburg bardesses. So let's hope that new status will have a positive effect on the quality of his works, otherwise many fans of his work have been waiting for a breakthrough of new ideas and books, and not the usual repetition of what they have already read.
ABOUT the polarity of opinions? This has always been the case. Many of my friends use his books as a barometer to determine the level of empathy of their friends. And if there is no spark in your soul and no call to Heaven appears, well, be quiet.
Rating: 10
Utopia. A perfect utopia. Completely unrealistic.
Well, to put it in order, this is a mixture of science fiction (people have mastered the galaxy, I fly and fight on spaceships, familiar with other races, etc.) and fantasy (sorcerers and magic), an interesting mixture, written without obvious excesses in one direction or the other, well, general peace turned out to be interesting. The plot is constructed from individual stories, which are then woven into an overall narrative. There are many heroes, not all of them are written thoroughly, and they are similar to each other, they are all so good, wise and capable. With another story of another such perfection, it covers feeling of deja vu, it has already happened that if they start talking about someone, it means he is either a brilliant scientist, or a brilliant military man, or a brilliant magician, etc. It's a bit tiring. The structure of the Order, the Principality, is interesting, in some ways very attractive, but how utopian! The idea in the novel is certainly interesting; who doesn’t want to live in a society of pure and bright people, under the leadership of an intelligent, kind and understanding Commander? I think many people will like this idea. Yes, myself main character- Commander... he's just so... unreal.
Spoiler (plot reveal) (click on it to see)
(He went from the Dark Emperor to almost the Light Creator, and his teacher was Melkor... that's how it is!)
In general, the author went by the simple way, all the stories are very emotional, in any case they will hook the reader with something. The first two books are pure torture, violence, murder and so on. It's hard to read. Such a stream of suffering and pain, if there were no hope for the best at the end, would not be possible to read. Halfway through the series, the stories changed. The heroes also have a difficult fate, but there is no more torture. There is the usual injustice of a society in which it is difficult to live to a pure person. And there was a lot of sex, especially with a pinkish tint. The author was clearly thrown in another direction. Latest books cycle, it’s almost a complete war. Most of the battle to the Cosmos is given, a few new stories and worlds, and the rest is taken up by the Commander’s rethinking of the goals of the Order and his later life. The ending is somehow blurry, unsaid. Only the Commander’s line received completion, the rest hung in the air, only hints about the continuation of the war and a change in the Order.
I liked the idea of the novel, but if you take away detailed descriptions violence, huge amounts of sex, constant and repetitive thinking, then the cycle would be cut in half and perhaps get better.
Rating: 8
I understood the whole vitality of the saying: “The mouse cried, injected itself, but continued to eat the cactus” :) On the one hand, I really want to edit the text part of the work a little more often than in each paragraph. On the other hand, 2/3 of the cycle is already behind us.
The ideological part made me think a lot and look at what was happening in the real world. Yes, the author did not invent anything new, but at least he sketched a portrait of a “good man with fists” without intellectual reflection. Aarn's behavior is determined by their past ("don't wake up the mouse with the flamethrower:roof:"). The Commander's mistakes too. Ti-ankh heals the body, but not the soul...
Overall, I got the impression that the author understood well how and why he wrote. Maybe not very skillfully, but sincerely and with a clear plan in my head. I found answers to almost all the questions that arose while reading somewhere further in the text. The rest I thought out in my spare time. So, in my opinion, there is very little that is superfluous in the books of the series. As the poet and philosopher Winnie the Pooh used to say, “this “w-w” is not casual!..” Even if it is not always obvious why.
Upd. Having finished reading the last third of the series, I became even more convinced that the author was perfectly aware of what and why he was writing: the questions about Aarn that I mentally asked the writer while reading the first two books are asked by one of the heroes to the Commander.
Rating: 9
What is the ideal community? Maybe it’s really worth bringing together only altruists who live according to the laws of honor?
Although no. I won’t start with that... I’ll start with microbes.
Article No. 1: http://elementy.ru/novosti_nauki/430970/Altruisty_protsvetayut_blagodarya_statisticheskomu_paradoksu Although altruism is harmful for an individual and beneficial for the population as a whole, the number of altruists can grow
I couldn’t find article No. 2 on Google, but the point is this: there is a colony unicellular bacteria or algae (I don’t remember exactly). They live on the surface of the water. In order not to drown, everyone develops something buoyant. And to make it easier, there is also glue to stick together into floating rafts. But when such a raft is formed, some unicellular organisms may stop producing buoyant and adhesive substances. And live at the expense of others. Everything would be fine, but over time there are more and more of them and the whole raft sinks.
Now returning to the people. What's the difference? This is all true about people.
Although there is still one difference. Unicellular organisms do not have a leader. and people love to form certain social structures.
Somewhere I was taken to the wrong place... Returning to the books.
Alas, the answers are often one-sided.
For example, the question: which form of government is the best. Answer: absolute monarchy. I half agree: with a good monarch this is true. But I half disagree with the second: with a bad monarch, this worst form board. What is the correct answer? But it doesn't exist.
Although, unfortunately, there are drawbacks. The author touched on too broad a topic and did not fully master it. The emphasis was on leaders and war. Economics, education, art, ecology, technology and dozens of others no less important elements remain behind the scenes or almost behind the scenes.
Yes, exactly, this is just the motto of the cycle - and everything is more terrible than good.
And even with morality, everything is not good - because this is morality bordering on the corruption of morality.
Apparently everything was intended as a provocation - Angels of Darkness, the Abyss doing good, white inferno carriers...
Only after the first book everything is still back and forth, but in the second - everything. Too much. I can’t imagine how you can read this further.
The Aarns are first shown in broad strokes as FLAWLESS bearers of goodness, but then it is described in detail how lustful, downright stupid they are (and behave like teenagers). Despite the genius declared by the author - STUPID (at least the special operations described by the author cause a feeling of bewilderment at first and outright irritation later - but it is declared that because of their military genius, everyone in the GALAXY has, damn it, dried up... In my opinion, the author has lost common sense - I would read something about our earthly special operations, maybe I would understand what is actually called genius and what is failure. Or is there a smaller caliber in the galaxy? So our earthly GRU and Mossad would only have enough of such a galaxy for breakfast, and they wouldn’t have eaten enough).
Iar Elterrus
Echoes of the silver wind
Dedicated to the memory of my mother, Raisa Gladun.
Thank you for teaching me to strive to be better, not to live better!
Thank you for teaching me to dream about the unprecedented and unattainable!
P L U T O N I
You live, you work, you groan from grief,
Do you meet the storm and the wind with a song, -
And somewhere the country of Plutonium sleeps!
Which didn’t exist anywhere in the world?!
What do you mean it was?.. What do you mean it wasn’t?!
The question is not idle! The question is alarming...
Perhaps we consider it a fable,
What is it we still can’t understand?..
We don't like the weird and weird so much,
We don’t trust everyone who is different!
It’s as if we feel with our skin,
that their dissimilarity hurts our hearts...
After all, we see - they don’t drown
in paper backwaters, in everyday life!
They are stepping into their Plutonia...
Which was not, is not and will not be?!
Do you really want to always be right?
And in their rightness - indestructible?..
But if we are right, we have the right
And suddenly - Plutonium... Why, what is it for?!
It’s not checked by logic!
She didn’t exist?.. She was invented?!
It doesn’t fit into common sense!!!
Oh, calm down, safe ones!
A strange tribe will not touch you at all...
They aren’t calling you to the land behind the clouds?..
You will not be allowed into this Plutonia!
The country of Plutonium is not for the resigned,
not for those who live by bread alone,
those who can easily get along with any untruth,
not raising their heads to the sky!
O indifferent ones, O strangers!
After all, it’s to spite you - those who don’t see her!
The country of Plutonia lives and lives,
the country beloved of the unsound.
Raisa Gladun 1932-2001
Measures of weight, length, time, various terms in the novel they are given in units familiar to the Russian-speaking reader. The main thing for me, as an author, was to convey the main idea, my attempt to find a way out of the impasse in which our world finds itself. A dead end of meanness, cruelty and self-interest. Therefore, the world of the Aarn Order may seem somewhat sketchy to the experienced reader. Quite possible. So I didn’t pretend to be more; minor details and scientific reliability do not matter much to me. All coincidences with real people or events are accidental; the novel from beginning to end is the fruit of the author's imagination.
Song of the Strange
It happens... It happens. You are nobody and nothing, you are again tossing around in a strange web of waves of life. A web of the incomprehensible and unknown, something that changes you, but you yourself don’t notice it, thinking that you are still the same. And what to do if this is not the case? Never mind! Just listen to the silver wind in the leaves of the Tree of Stars. Just don't forget that you can fly. That you are not just a piece of protoplasm, concerned about your own feeding. Remember! There are stars there, far away, and they call you into the unknown, into a world where there is no meanness and lies. Alas, how many of us forget this and lose our wings, feather by feather, and become, in the words of the poet, “wingless evil spirits.” This is the truth and nothing can be done about it. But we don’t want to and can’t do that. And glory to the Creator for this, for the fact that He gave us Something else, incomprehensible to those preoccupied with their well-being. Well, they will never hear the Wind of the Stars, never understand the ringing beauty of the incredible. They are blind and deaf, and it is their fault, they blindfolded themselves and stopped their ears. But this is their choice and they have the right to it. I’m not with them, I don’t want to be with them, I’m disgusted with being with them. And I'd rather be alone than with any of them. Remember once and for all - WE ARE NOT LIKE THIS. Their religions and their faith, their concepts and their hopes, their life and their death are alien to us. We always left the ground and went to places where they would never go, where none of them would simply be allowed. And for this, for centuries and centuries, we were stoned, we were burned at the stake, we died of hunger and cold, but we stubbornly did not want to become like these. Let them. Let them pray to their gods, they will never reach the Creator. The Creator smiles on those who are able to look beyond the horizon and are not afraid to take a step over the edge of the abyss. Let them enjoy their riches and rejoice in their wealth. But this is not enough for them. They see danger in us, NOT THE LIKE. After all, something is available to us that they will never understand, and they are afraid of realizing it. From the realization that they have only us ahead of them. And therefore we are forever doomed to be outcasts. This is true. Yes, I don’t want to belong among them. It's disgusting. I want to say just one more thing - we have always been and always will be, and it is we who move humanity forward. Let it be difficult for us, we know this and we have no fear. To the fire? Well... But we won't stop. We were! We are! We will!
Recently via close friend I came across the book Echoes of the Silver Wind.
The book, or rather a series of books, stunned me so much and began to awaken my deep memory so much that there is practically no time or desire to blog now; I am completely absorbed in their world and characters. It is in view of this fact that the work of the blog will be slowed down for a couple of weeks, and I Very I advise everyone who would like to experience something sobering and cosmic to read it.
If you can believe in cosmic magic, this series is for you. No sweet channelings and sessions even reflect 1% of the universal splendor of the true Spirit that reigns in these books! You will meet many civilizations and characters, experience their ups and downs, but most importantly, your heart will truly open to the silver wind and the ideology of the Aarn Order, which implies open interaction between billions of souls free from any shackles and templates.
I will quote here one of the most powerful passages, much like my own:
Dedication to Aarn:
Sit down, my children! And don’t be afraid, nothing bad will happen to you. I will only awaken certain types of cells in your brain. All intelligent beings have such cells, but they can awaken only in those who do not want to snatch something for themselves, those who are “not like that,” who are strange and incomprehensible to most intelligent beings. Who craves the incredible and unattainable more than life.
Ras smiled and headed down to the platform itself. He calmly sat down in one of the chairs in the first row and leaned his head back into a comfortable niche. A black hemisphere that emerged from the headrest slowly closed overhead. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the quiet newcomers slowly taking their seats. Feren and Rada were sitting nearby. Even across the chair, he saw his mother smiling at him and Ana’s frightened face. Ras smiled at them all - it was good that his fellow countrymen were nearby. It's good that mom and this sweet girl are here! And he received four smiles in response - a perky one from Feren, a shy one from Rada, a nervous one from his mother and an uncertain one from Ana. Still, somewhere deep down in his soul he was a little scared - after all, now something unknown was about to invade his mind and irreversibly change this very mind. But he believed in the order, he believed in the Commander and his fierce love. In addition, I remembered the confident and joyful strength of each Aarn he met on the ship.
Relax,” commanded the Commander standing in the center of the platform. - We begin.
Ilar looked at the excited faces of the newcomers and smiled quietly. The spaces have already completely turned inside out, and the primordial Darkness began to pour out from the magician’s soul into the surrounding world. And then it was the turn of the Light. The symphony of Creation began to sound in Ilar’s soul. Ancient spells intertwined as if by themselves, helping to tune this great symphony in unison with the Universe. And the worlds opened their faces, something fundamental moved from its place, moved and pulled everything around with it.
If anyone from the outside could see what was happening, they would be quite surprised. To the Commander of outer space Rings of Light and Darkness were collapsing alternately, millions of multi-colored lightning struck around, each of the initiates was enveloped in thousands of energy threads, glowing brightly against the backdrop of the blackness of the hall. Ilar no longer felt his body; he was in a different space and another time. The cosmos of ancient galaxies shone around him, and he fingered the suns with his hands.
Somewhere there, in the distance, one could feel the smile of the Creator, the Creator of the Universes. Affectionate and kind smile, with which loving father looks at the fuss of still stupid, but beloved children. Greetings from peers in power and knowledge flowed over Ilar, greetings from those who had long ago left biological existence behind and gone higher, higher and further.
“I have not yet accomplished all that I must, my brothers! I'm not ready yet! - the Commander answered their call. - I brought my children to you again, look at these pure and beautiful souls... Yes, I understand what I’m risking by bringing them here. I'm risking myself and my soul. But what does it matter? No, you're wrong. I love them, understand...” The magician shifted space and time, connected what could not be connected, which disrupted the very course of time and their connection with spaces. He destroyed the children’s karma as such, burned it out. And the laws of Retribution fiercely attacked the offender. But Ilar did not resist their influence, he is ready to pay his price. The magician simply continued to do what was necessary.
Patterns changed and became accidents, accidents turned into patterns, a huge egregor<1>The order was already nearby and joyfully greeted its Master. Ilar keenly sensed each of the newcomers, they were all ready, each was shocked by what he felt, and waited, impatiently awaited what would happen next. The commander smiled and continued to weave a string of spells, combining probabilities with primordial forces. The matrices of consciousness of the new aarnas opened one after another and froze in amazement at the incredible diversity of myriads of worlds and spaces.
**<1>Egregor (from Latin ex and grex - literally “from the herd”) - collective mind(or soul), an entity that appears in relation to social community the same thing as the soul is in relation to the individual person. An egregor is understood as a real or imaginary immaterial object, spontaneously generated by the human community and acquiring an existence independent of the latter. The strength and durability of the egregor depends on the consistency and size of the group.
Ras floated in some kind of viscous emptiness, the majestic chords of soul-elevating music thundered in and around him. It seemed to him that he had become one with everything around him, he felt the same joy and the same amazement of thousands and thousands of people nearby. Streams of incomprehensible energies permeated the entire body, and the man floated above the Universe in admiration of inhuman beauty. Something irreversibly changed in himself, Ras heard and felt that he was loved, loved and loved again. Countless other creatures - not only people, he felt among them others who were not at all like people. And he loved them all.
Ana also floated in emptiness and no longer felt needed by anyone. She heard that she was needed, really needed by them all. And how they all love her... It seemed impossible, but Ana heard their feelings, felt that some giant, warm, reliable hand was supporting her in the air and would never allow her to fall again. Everything terrible and bitter inside her crumbled into fine ashes and disappeared into the unknown, the girl was born again and laughed. There was no more soul-draining loneliness; there were those nearby who would always help and always support in any trouble.
Irena, who was nearby, smiled at Anya tenderly and affectionately. And thousands of thousands more smiles fell on the amazed girl. Happiness! What happiness! And this giant Shadow covering and protecting them all? Who is this? And I realized that it was him, the Commander. It is he who shields Aarn from the rage of the worlds and prevents evil from penetrating them. Ana sent the Master a timid smile and was rewarded with a feeling of love that pierced her. She was truly loved!
Confident and joyful strength gradually filled the girl, she felt the thoughts and feelings of millions and millions of beings. And now, without any fear, she opened up all of herself to them. Every hidden corner of the soul, every feverish dream and every desperate hope. And everyone was interested, everyone found her and her hopes necessary and close. The girl would never have found words to convey all this, and words are not needed here. No language in the Universe has created such words.
Ilar slowly folded the spaces and carefully returned souls to the bodies of newcomers shocked by the Merger. However, no, now they are no longer newcomers, now they are part of the Aarn brotherhood. He felt everyone completely, felt their admiration and amazement. All that remains is to put up a protective block, otherwise increased empathy can cause shock in unfamiliar people. A shock equivalent to that received by someone leaving the dungeon for bright sun, or a blind man who suddenly received his sight. Well, it's done, now you can wake them up. Yes, for him the price for each Initiation is high, but he paid and will pay this price - it’s worth it. A message of gratitude higher powers for help - a flash of Light and the soft heaviness of Darkness in response. The energy threads dimmed and curled up, and the chords of harmony of the spheres slowly faded away. Ilar continued to act very carefully so that, God forbid, he would not harm even the smallest of the children.
That's all. The initiation is completed, now they will begin to wake up to feel themselves at the same time themselves and part of a huge whole. Tight balls of pain were slowly tossing and turning inside the magician, but he did not allow even a drop of this pain to go beyond the e-shield. The price will be paid. Only at the first opportunity you need to hide in a cabin protected from empathy, where you can relax at least a little. And now he must take the blow, the children are starting to wake up.
Important addition from comments:
Q: Yes, unfortunately, even in a barrel of honey there is a fly in the ointment... but I really wanted to believe in purity! - specifically: I was surprised to find reviews online about one book by the author - https://fantlab.ru/work78218 - genre - attention! a curtain! - BDSM fantasy)) - commentators unanimously complain that, they say, it’s written well, but the work is too filled with cruelty and perversions... True, this was back in 2009, people still seem to change some. .. As always, we separate the wheat from the chaff.
A: I agree, in some things the stick really goes too far. It is worth understanding that the author is working to expand the spectrum of consciousness, touching on both high and low frequencies. expansion implies, if not acceptance, then at least familiarization with the problem, or with its possible sides/consequences, otherwise we are dealing with ostrich politics. The Inquisition at one time did a fair amount of work in the field of the atrocities described by the author, but this does not interfere with the church ( integral part which was the Inquisition) to be a “saint” in the eyes of hundreds of millions of people to this day.
where is the line that separates " real world"from fantasies of any kind?
where is the line separating the fearful and disgusting ostrich from the perverted narcissist, the bright prince from bloody dictator, a hellish spider from a fluffy arachne, a wise lizard from a vile reptilian? The dirt lies in our heads, “concepts”, morals, customs. What is chaos for a fly is everyday life for a spider. The point is that we always have a choice of what to accept as our everyday life, what to see and how to react to circumstances and others.
There is always a way out, even the most incredible one, you just need to believe in magic)
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