Chernevog

Chernevog

Del Rey hardcover first edition, 1990
Author	C. J. Cherryh
Cover artist	Keith Parkinson
Country	United States
Language	English
Genre	Fantasy novel
Published	1990 (Del Rey Books)
Media type	Print (hardback, paperback, e-book)
Pages	328 pp (hardcover edition)
ISBN
Preceded by	Rusalka
Followed by	Yvgenie

Chernevog is a fantasy novel by American science fiction and fantasy author C. J. Cherryh. It was first published in September 1990 in the United States in a hardcover edition by Ballantine Books under its Del Rey Books imprint. Chernevog is book two of Cherryh's three-book Russian Stories trilogy set in medieval Russia in forests along the Dnieper river near Kiev in modern-day Ukraine. The novel draws on Slavic folklore and concerns the fate of a girl who has drowned and become a rusalka. It is also an exploration of magic and the development of a young wizard.

Cherryh self-published a revised edition of Chernevog in e-book format in March 2012 at Closed Circle Publications. Authorship of this edition is credited to C. J. Cherryh and Jane Fancher because of Fancher's contributions to the revisions.

Chernevog begins three years after the conclusion of Rusalka. Sasha, Pyetr and Eveshka are living in Uulamets' cottage; Sasha is 18 and a young wizard, and Pyetr and Eveshka are married. Chernevog is still asleep in the forest, guarded by the leshys, but Sasha and Eveshka have disturbing dreams about him waking up. One day Sasha and Pyetr find that Eveshka has disappeared, and they set off to find her. They suspect that she may have gone to confront Chernevog, who still controls their lives.

Sasha and Pyetr travel into the forest and find Chernevog still asleep. Pyetr tries to kill him once and for all, but an owl, a childhood friend of Chernevog's whom he gave his heart to, attacks Pyetr. Pyetr kills the owl and Chernevog regains his heart, which wakes him up. Chernevog had given away his heart to free his conscience, enabling him to practise magic freely. Sasha has learnt that Chernevog had rejected Uulamets' teachings of wizardry, which works within nature and considers the consequences of wishes, and turned to magic, which taps dark forces and is not concerned with laws of nature. Pyetr tries to kill Chernevog again, but Sasha stops him. With his heart, Chernevog's actions are limited and Sasha is able to control him. Sasha and Pyetr resume their search for Eveshka, taking Chernevog with them.