Enchantment: Difference between revisions

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"...And then they lived [[Happily Ever After]]?" Nope: [[Reality Ensues]].

First off: Our maiden? Princess Katerina of Taina, a 9th-century Slavic kingdom growing in the shadow of proto-[[Kievan Rus]] and unremembered by history, which tells you [[Kill Em All|what its long-term fate will be]]. Ivan has promised to marry Katerina, and that marriage promise is all that is keeping the evil witch [[Baba Yaga]] from using [[Loophole Abuse]] to claim rulership of Taina. She's already enslaved Bear—''The'' Bear, the god of winter—to be her [[The Dragon|Dragon]] and do her bidding, so keeping her at bay is not an idle concern for the citizens of Taina. Especially since their most-loved deity, Mikola Mozhaiski (a version of [[Santa Claus|Saint Nikolaus]]), hasn't been seen in years. Second: Ivan? Not a [[Knight in Shining Armor]]. A man of good heart, yes, and a decathlete, fit by the standards of [[The Nineties]]... But this is [[The Low Middle Ages]], Russia in 890 AD, and manhood involves being able to sling around five pounds of sword for hours at a stretch. Oh, and he's engaged to a girl named Ruth, back home in 20th-century America—''and'' he's a Jew. And Taina? An outpost of [[Useful Notes/Christianity|Christianity]], many years before (20th-century) scholars believed it had gotten that far east. Even better, the local priest was an apprentice to Kirill—''[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saints_Cyril_and_Methodius Saint]'' [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saints_Cyril_and_Methodius Cyril], after whom the [[Cyrillic Alphabet]] is named—and has some of Kirill's manuscripts. Ivan, a linguist, came to (modern-day) Russia in part to answer how the Russian tongue evolved from [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Church_Slavonic_language Old Church Slavonic]. In 9th-century Taina, he literally holds the answers in his hand.

First off: Our maiden? Princess Katerina of Taina, a 9th-century Slavic kingdom growing in the shadow of proto-[[Kievan Rus]] and unremembered by history, which tells you [[Kill'Em All|what its long-term fate will be]]. Ivan has promised to marry Katerina, and that marriage promise is all that is keeping the evil witch [[Baba Yaga]] from using [[Loophole Abuse]] to claim rulership of Taina. She's already enslaved Bear—''The'' Bear, the god of winter—to be her [[The Dragon|Dragon]] and do her bidding, so keeping her at bay is not an idle concern for the citizens of Taina. Especially since their most-loved deity, Mikola Mozhaiski (a version of [[Santa Claus|Saint Nikolaus]]), hasn't been seen in years. Second: Ivan? Not a [[Knight in Shining Armor]]. A man of good heart, yes, and a decathlete, fit by the standards of [[The Nineties]]... But this is [[The Low Middle Ages]], Russia in 890 AD, and manhood involves being able to sling around five pounds of sword for hours at a stretch. Oh, and he's engaged to a girl named Ruth, back home in 20th-century America—''and'' he's a Jew. And Taina? An outpost of [[Useful Notes/Christianity|Christianity]], many years before (20th-century) scholars believed it had gotten that far east. Even better, the local priest was an apprentice to Kirill—''[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saints_Cyril_and_Methodius Saint]'' [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saints_Cyril_and_Methodius Cyril], after whom the [[Cyrillic Alphabet]] is named—and has some of Kirill's manuscripts. Ivan, a linguist, came to (modern-day) Russia in part to answer how the Russian tongue evolved from [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Church_Slavonic_language Old Church Slavonic]. In 9th-century Taina, he literally holds the answers in his hand.

So now Ivan is stuck in Taina, and has has to figure out what to do with Katerina (as opposed to Ruth), figure out how to win the respect of the townsfolk, avoid Baba Yaga as much as possible... and, preferably, get back to his own time and his own life and his actual fiancée so that he can go on with all that, instead of being trapped in a 9th-century backwater where magic, rather obviously, exists. And, uncomfortably, he is in fact attracted to Katerina, and she to him. Oh, and, Baba Yaga's out to get both of them. And so we have our adventure: a fun fairy tale, a workable [[Romance Novel]], and speculations on just how Baba Yaga got her reputation for having a house on chicken legs.

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Not to be confused with the [[Disney]] film ''[[Enchanted]]'', though both are affectionate [[Deconstruction|Deconstructions]] in which fairy tales collide head-first with modern-day New York citizens. OSC's novel, however, lacks [[Crowd Song|Crowd Songs]].

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=== This novel provides examples of: ===

* [[Affably Evil]]: The book is interspersed with short(er) chapters from Baba Yaga's point of view. She does horrific things, but she's very friendly (and funny) about it.

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* [[Deliberate Values Dissonance]]: To the point that good ol' [[Values Dissonance]] is a [[Discussed Trope]].

* [[The Dung Ages]]

* [[~~Everythings~~ Worse With Bears]]: Depending on how you look at it, this is either played straight or averted. Ensorcled by Baba Yaga's magic, Bear can now talk, and serves as her [[The Dragon|Dragon]], but his dialogue and attitude make it clear that he's not the malicious sort.

* [[Everything's Worse With Bears]]: Depending on how you look at it, this is either played straight or averted. Ensorcled by Baba Yaga's magic, Bear can now talk, and serves as her [[The Dragon|Dragon]], but his dialogue and attitude make it clear that he's not the malicious sort.

* [[Expy]]: Father Lukas, the Christian priest of Taina, is basically a reskinned Bishop Peregrino from [[Ender's Game|Lusitania]].

* [[Eye Scream]]: Ivan subdues Bear by throwing a rock at his eye.

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* [[Giving Radio to The Romans]]: Part of Ivan's (eventual) plot to defeat Baba Yaga.

* [[Gods Need Prayer Badly]]

* [[Load Bearing Boss]]

* [[Load-Bearing Boss]]

* [[Love Triangle]]: Both Ivan and Katerina had people they had been matched with already. Katerina's is Dmitri, her father's head knight.

* [[A Man Is Not a Virgin]]: Averted. Ivan wants to wait until marriage. (Ruth thought it was cute.)

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* [[Training the Peaceful Villagers]]: Deconstructed when Ivan tries to learn European swordwork. {{spoiler|Played straight later when he brings back the secret of [[Molotov Cocktail|Molotov Cocktails]].}}

* [[Villains Blend in Better]]

* [[What Year Is This]]

* [[What Year Is This?]]

* [[Will They or Won't They]]: Dragged out a fair deal. First there's the question of whether Ivan will duck out of the betrothal. ''Then'' there's the question of whether he and Katerina have consummated. And, of course, one can always wonder whether they actually love each other...

* [[Will They or Won't They?]]: Dragged out a fair deal. First there's the question of whether Ivan will duck out of the betrothal. ''Then'' there's the question of whether he and Katerina have consummated. And, of course, one can always wonder whether they actually love each other...

* [[You Can't Fight Fate]]

* [[Your Normal Is Our Taboo]]