Yvgenie

Yvgenie

Del Rey hardcover first edition, 1991
Author	C. J. Cherryh
Cover artist	Keith Parkinson
Country	United States
Language	English
Genre	Fantasy novel
Published	1991 (Del Rey Books)
Media type	Print (hardback, paperback, e-book)
Pages	282 pp (hardcover edition)
ISBN
Preceded by	Chernevog

Yvgenie is a fantasy novel by American science fiction and fantasy author C. J. Cherryh. It was first published in October 1991 in the United States in a hardcover edition by Ballantine Books under its Del Rey Books imprint. Yvgenie is book three 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 Yvgenie in e-book format in 2012 at Closed Circle Publications.

Yvgenie begins 15 years after the conclusion of Chernevog. Pyetr, Eveshka, Sasha and Ilyana, Eveshka and Pyetr's 15-year-old wizard daughter, live in Uulamets' cottage. One day they are alarmed to discover that Ilyana has befriended a ghost, whom they suspect may be Chernevog. They explain to Ilyana who Chernevog is and the dangers he and his vodyanoi partner, Hwiuur pose to them all.

Later, during a storm, Ilyana rescues a half-drowned boy, Yvgenie from the swollen river. He has no memory of where he came from, but when she brings him home, he is locked up in case he is Chernevog. Ilyana, believing that Pyetr and Sasha are going to kill Yvgenie, uses wizardary to overpower them and frees Yvgenie. Having lost one friend she is determined not to lose another and runs off with him. Eveshka, Pyetr and Sasha pursue Ilyana and Yvgenie into the forest.

Fleeing with Yvgenie, Ilyana discovers that he is possessed by Chernevog's ghost, and that Chernevog had revived the drowned boy and occupied his body. Periodically Yvgenie's shy demeanor is replaced by Chernevog's commanding presence. Ilyana has sympathies for both the boy she rescued and her ghost friend, and lets Chernevog lead them through the forest.