Dancing Bears
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- £4.49
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- £4.49
Publisher Description
In 1906 much is changing in Russia, and on the huge Lohmatski estate a man-eating bear has attacked at least two men. When Gregori Lohmatski, an ardent hunter visiting London, receives the urgent summons home, he invites his American friend and fellow hunter, John Sherwood, to join him.
Russia is far stranger than Sherwood imagined. When he and Gregori arrive, they find Greg’s father gone, apparently killed by the bear; his brother Maxim missing; his beautiful, revolution-minded sister Natalya barely evading the political police; and the loyal but superstitious peasants in an uproar.
The Lohmatski men, Sherwood learns, have long been pursued by rumors of their ability to change into bears. Sherwood finds himself on the run with Natalya. From the Russian police. From Maxim, who is not quite what he seems. And from the fate that will inevitably follow Sherwood’s wounding at the werebear’s claws.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Fantasy and historical fiction blend well in this tale of were-bears in Russia on the brink of its 1917 Revolution. American John Sherwood goes with his friend Gregori Lohmatski to hunt a man-eating bear on Gregori's estate, only to find that the peasants' stories of men turning into bears are true. The heart of the book is an exploration of the savagery and abuses of power of both the czar's men and the revolutionaries, against which the ability to become a beast proves both helpful and, ironically, humane. When the manipulations of Gregori's power-hungry brother lead to Gregori's imprisonment, Sherwood and the incarcerated man's sister flee east across Russia to escape prison themselves and to free Gregori. Despite the panoramic scenery, the cultural and historical detail sometimes seems sparse. Still, the characters are very strong, and the suspense generated by their plight will engross most readers as Saberhagen (Merlin's Bones) weaves another satisfying story of the supernatural.
