The Ranger of Marzanna by Jon/Kelley Skovron

Name of Book: The Ranger of Marzanna

Author: Jon/Kelley Skovron 

ISBN: 978-0-316-45462-9

Publisher: Orbit 

Part of a Series: The Goddess of War Trilogy (The Queen of Izmoroz and The Wizard of Eventide are sequels) 

Type of book: Russian fantasy, gender bender tales, siblinghood, nature, undead, cultures, conquer, colony, magic, fighting 

Year it was published: 2020

Summary:

When their father is murdered by imperial soldiers, two siblings set out on opposite paths—one will destroy the Empire forever and the other will save it—in this thrilling new Russian inspired epic fantasy from Jon Skovron.

Sonya is training to be a Ranger of Marzanna, an ancient sect of warriors who have protected the land for generations. But the old ways are dying, and the rangers have all been forced into hiding or killed off by the invading Empire.

When her father is murdered by imperial soldiers, she decides to finally take action. Using her skills as a ranger she will travel across the bitter cold tundra and gain the allegiance of the only other force strong enough to take down the invaders.

But nothing about her quest will be easy. Because not everyone is on her side. Her brother, Sebastian, is the most powerful sorcerer the world has ever seen. And he's fighting for the empire.

Characters:

Main characters are Sebastian and Sonya. Sonya is the older sister who was taught the old paths and she chose to become a Ranger of Marzanna. She is impulsive, headstrong, very casual and was very close to her Auremain father who was a decorated hero. Sonya also desires to see her homeland free and will do whatever it takes, be it murder or betrayal to see that goal accomplished. Sebastian is a gifted young mage who is close to his Izmorozian mother and who is methodical, questioning but at the same time due to age and catastrophic events early in the book he becomes easily malleable and often is often naïve. He also feels very deeply but sees himself in the right. The secondary characters are Jorge Ellhuyar (Spanish styled kingdom of Raize) and Galina Prozorova (Izmoroz) I think its one of the rare times that I actually saw an intellectual woman being portrayed the right way in literature. (I loved how often Galina used the quotes and references to solve problems.) Jorge is an herbalist who seeks to grow his knowledge of plants and medicines and he has a strict religion that prevents him from premarital sex, while Galina is a highly intelligent woman who strikes me as a general and who also desires to see Izmoroz free from Aureum. 

Theme:

What does duty and loyalty mean

Plot:

The story is in third person narrative from Sebastian's, Sonya's Jorge's, Galina's as well as Irina's points of view. What is definitely most fascinating for me is how the traditional narrative is flipped when it comes to men and women. For example, Sebastian's story focuses a lot on romance and he also happens to be a mage (which is rare in fantasy I believe.) Sonya's story focuses on adventure and growth and she also happens to be a formidable fighter. (I think her story references something like Odyssey?) The paths the two chose, Sebastian for what seems like Italian style empire (Aureum) and Sonya for Russian style empire (Izmoroz) also speaks of flipping because when reading Sebastian's sections, there were a whole lot parties and I felt as if I was reading Tolstoy, while Sonya's is nothing but adventure and journey. One thing I don't think I was a fan of is the lack of patronymics in the story. For example, depending on gender, the endings of Russian last names change, yet its odd that the author, who seemed meticulous in plots and stories overlooked this factor, and it was definitely jarring for me to see a name like Lord Prozorova when in fact the -a should be removed when referring to a man. (Lord Prozorov) 

Author Information:
(From goodreads)

N/A

Opinion:

Seriously, why isn't this novel better known or better yet, why isn't the rating a lot higher for THE RANGER OF MARZANNA? As someone who has roots in Eastern Europe, I really enjoyed reading this novel a whole lot and will definitely be reading the sequels soon. Few things I loved about the novel are perhaps direct references to Russian literature (I probably didn't read as much as the author, but I do remember that there are a ton of parties and wealth in Russian literature.) There is also flipping of traditional gender roles and stories when it comes to men and women which I found truly delightful, and of course, compelling characters, both main and secondary. 

This was given for review

4 out of 5
(0: Stay away unless a masochist 1: Good for insomnia 2: Horrible but readable; 3: Readable and quickly forgettable, 4: Good, enjoyable 5: Buy it, keep it and never let it go.)