In our book reviews, there is a significant increase in the number of works by Ukrainian authors, and I really like it. Especially when I get my hands on a new cinematic sci-fi detective horror novel «Stakhanov Movement» by Roman Budanov, a current military man and former screenwriter.
It is also a socio-cultural book about Donbas, a mystical story, and stories about de-occupation. It seems impossible, even strange or dangerous, to collect all these topics in one book, but the book still exists, and it is also read quickly, with ease and delight. Is everything good here? Definitely not, but I can already recommend it for reading, because the modern Ukrainian reader deserves such novels. Moreover, they need them.
Author Roman Budanov
Publisher «Tempora»
Language Ukrainian
Number of pages 496
Cover Solid
Year of publication 2024
Size 135×205 mm
Website tempora.com.ua
A few years ago, Russia’s war with Ukraine ended. Most of Donbass was de-occupied, and a huge wall was built on the border, separating the civilized world from the lands of the orcs. A former displaced person and military man, now a psychic, Leo Bahrianyi receives a strange order. In his native mining town of Yukom, people are disappearing and an eerie groaning of the earth is heard, and most importantly, a scientist who conducted important research on the pollution of local mines has disappeared.
The client, Mr. Balthazar, pays a lot of money for Leo to go there and investigate the situation, and the gift he received after being injured will help him do so. When Crimson touches a person or thing with his hand, he sees the whole truth about them.
And Leo Bahrianyi needs money because his mother has cancer, and he failed to get into a famous TV show with psychics on national television. It turned out that real people with superpowers are not needed there, and the whole show is deeply corrupt and only looks for freaks to boost ratings. So, Leo returns home to Donbas, where he finds a forgotten past and a terrible, strange, and mystical present.
The description of the book above is definitely strange, but it’s also interesting and makes you want to get to it as soon as possible. At least, that’s what I thought when I first read the blurb. I hope something similar happened to you, and you are ready to place an order.
However, I must say that this is only a small tip of a giant iceberg because in the novel itself you will find so many interesting and diverse things that you cannot even imagine. Again, I’m speaking from experience.
The synopsis of the novel «Stakhanov Movement» only intrigues, but does not give an understanding of the real depth of the book and its diversity of genres. At first, the story seems to be a mystery detective story where «Battle of the Psychics» and all similar TV shows are humorously mocked. Then the book adds a lot of tension and turns into a horror-thriller with secret organizations and strange monsters, and at the end it transforms into a bizarre science fiction with a deep social subtext.
Budanov’s novel skillfully combines genres, surprising the reader every time and forcing them to quickly turn the pages to find out what happens next. This is also due to the novel’s excellent cinematography, which was influenced by the author’s screenwriting background. The «Stakhanov Movement» would make a great miniseries. I really hope that someday we will see its film adaptation.
The author’s ability to work with words also plays a role in this. Yes, this is Budanov’s first novel, but it is clear that he has experience. The book catches you with its short sentences and precise words, the description is ascetic and artistic at the same time. And no excessive exposition or oversaturation of explanations of the world — everything is done properly, placed in the right places and works to reveal the story.
Let’s talk separately about the richness of the novel «Stakhanov Movement» with various social and pressing issues for Ukraine. Here you have the de-occupation and the return of people to normal life without the Russians, cotton woolen waiting, traitors and collaborators, military heroes who find it difficult to get used to peaceful life, and just ordinary people. There are also stories about the fear of a new war, the rejection of peace after the war, etc.
The book is imbued with the aesthetics of Donbas and Soviet times. Miners and mines are everywhere, they are part of the plot, the fantasy story, the places with horror, and other elements of the book. And the times of the «scoop» are not romanticized here, but rather the opposite, which is why the author sometimes mocks the myths about the «best of the USSR». Also, the novel often refers to the 90s and this causes serious nostalgia. At least for me, a child of those turbulent years.
Roman Budanov was able to create two interesting characters who are very cool to watch. The first is the protagonist Leo Bagryanyi, and the second is the local sheriff, a former military man, nicknamed Pepan. But the girl Sonya is not very voluminous, and the general story of her relationship with Leo is stretched too far and not revealed at all. This is supposed to be a love story, but it hardly develops at all, and it’s clumsy in places, so you can’t believe either Sonya’s or Leo’s feelings in this case.
And speaking of flaws, I didn’t like the main explanation of the whole story at the end. It’s such a classic science fiction explanation, but it’s also very simple and, in my opinion, doesn’t fit the plot. Yes, it’s definitely surprising, and my eyes are bugging out while reading it, but I think they should have come up with something more mystical, more horrific and fantastical, rather than going into science fiction. But this is just my opinion. Perhaps yours will be different.
Did this spoil the ending and my overall impression of the book? Almost no. «The Stakhanov Movement» is such a good book, so deep, so full of meanings and relevant problems, so lively and eerie that I want to recommend it to everyone.
And a few words about the publication itself from the «Tempora» publishing house. It is of high quality, has nice and thick yellow paper and an easy-to-read font, but without the boldness. The cover itself is kind of cool, but it doesn’t draw attention to the book at all and doesn’t make it clear how cool the treasure is.
I’ve seen «Stakhanov Movement» several times in online stores and in the photos of book bloggers, but it never caught my eye. And here we are again returning to the problem of fantasy literature in Ukrainian publications. They need to sell the maximum number of books, and this is an adequate desire for business, so they make universal covers that can attract the attention of the widest possible range of readers. But often, in my opinion, such things do not play into the hands of the book, but rather reduce its attractiveness. Especially sci-fi, horror, and other genre novels.
If it weren’t for a few book review videos on YouTube that told me more about it, I probably would never have noticed the «Stakhanov Movement» on its cover, and I wouldn’t have even thought it was fiction. So something needs to be done about it, more genre-specific design, somehow to indicate their subject matter, etc.
