Кэролайн Черри: Rusalka

A Rusalka—the spirit of a maiden drowned by accident or force—will return as a ghost to haunt the river and woods where she met her death. The locale for this fantasy by SF writer Cherryh (Downbelow Station) is pre-Christian Russia. Two young men flee the village of Vojvoda—Pyetr, accused of killing a wealthy noble, and Sasha, an accessory to his escape. They are making their way to Kiev when, in the middle of a forest, they become involved in the search for the wizard Uulamets’s dead daughter Eveshka, a Rusalka and a wizard herself. Uulamets wants to resurrect her, but evil forces oppose him, among whom may be Kavi Chernevog, Uulamets’s former student, and a suspect in Eveshka’s death.

Cherryh fills her story with myriad magical creatures from Slavonic mythology. A richness of detail and characterization enliven this drama about the human (and unhuman) greed for power and the redemptive power of love.