Alexey Alekseevich Glushanovsky is one of the most readable Russian science fiction writers. The lack of specialized education does not prevent him from creating interesting worlds and stories.
Biography
Alexey Alekseevich was born in Yekaterinburg on February 20, 1981. In 1998 he entered the Ural State University at the Faculty of Biology (specialty - ecology) and successfully completed it in 2003. Still working in this specialty.
The young writer does not like fiction, although he writes in this genre. He goes fishing and hunting, holds a dog - a spaniel named Lord. Although in the columns "about himself" on various sites (for example, "Samizdat"), he self-critically calls himself a bummer and a slob, it is difficult to believe this, since he has more than one book behind him. Alexey Alekseevich Glushanovsky admits that he began to write his first book only in order to impress his beloved girl. The romantic story ended prosaically: after a while, he broke up with the girl, but the book was already released at that time. Many lovers of fantastic prose are now reading it and her.
Books
"The Way of the Demon" by Alexei Glushanovsky among fans of fantasy is considered one of those series that is worth reading. The first book is called The Road to the Magicians, and it was released in 2007 by the Alpha Book Publishing House. It is in this publishing house that Alexey Glushanovsky is usually published. Books were published in order every year. The Wizard's Trail and The Path of the Sorcerer, the second and third books of the series, were released a year later by the same publishing house. The final book, The Way of the Demon, was published in 2009.
Tetralogy tells of a young man named Oleg, who came from our everyday world to another, filled with witchcraft and other races, for example, vampires, demons and wizards. The main character is fond of magic, this becomes the key to the transition to another world. There he becomes a half-demon and begins his journey. "The Wizard's Trail" - the second book of the series, tells how Oleg is studying at the Magic Academy, but is not going to change his old habits, remaining "a plug in every barrel." His considerable magical powers should protect him from trouble, but every time everything turns out to be the other way around.
In the third book ("The Path of the Sorcerer") Oleg finishes the first course and is transferred to the fiery faculty. He decides to start studying the light magic of fire, but in addition to this, life teaches him other lessons: intrigues are woven around, in which one has to participate one way or another.
Dark fantasy
The fourth book is very different from the others that Alexey Glushanovsky wrote. The Way of the Demon is a gloomy book full of blood and cruelty, and it should not be considered separately from the cycle, since then the impression is created of excessive bloodthirstiness of the author. Nevertheless, when reading the tetralogy, you can completely follow the events, and then the reader will understand the actions of the protagonist.
In the final book of tetralogy, written by Alexei Glushanovsky, the demon Oleg helps to elevate the ruler to the throne, but after that he himself is in danger: conspiracies are built around him, hired assassins are sent to him, but, of course, only for the “state need”. Traitors did not take into account the abilities of his opponent and the fact that over time he ceased to be a simple cheerful student from another world and turned into a necromancer demon. He has vampires and lychees in his friends, and they do not want Oleg to go to the kingdom of the dead because of such nonsense as the ruler’s disgrace. The main character, having paid for his carelessness, is forced to literally get out of his own grave. After that, Oleg takes up the restoration of justice and spares almost no one.
Stories and Tales
In addition to voluminous cycles, Alexey Glushanovsky wrote more than a dozen novels and short stories. Some of them are associated with the main books of the cycle, for example, the story "The Sword of the Emperor" is a prequel to the tetralogy "The Way of the Demon". The author mentions that all the stories in one way or another connected with the heroes of his novels can be read separately from all other works. “These are completely finished pieces without a sequel, ” he says.
You can familiarize yourself with the work of Alexei Glushanovsky, including his short stories and stories, on the page of the Samizdat website, where he uploads not only finished works, but also various versions of the same work. For example, the story "Spider" is in two versions, and they were created at the request of publishers. On the same portal, you can ask the author questions, he often answers users in the comments. You can also look at his page in the "Science Fiction Laboratory".
Other novels
Outside of the cycles is the novel The Birth of Magic. The Keeper of the World. This book talks about the Mayan prophecies and the iconic year 2012 for humanity. Portals from other worlds appear on our planet through which fairies come to us. The complete death of humanity can only be prevented thanks to the mysterious bards, who somehow managed to negotiate with the fairies and stop their invasion. Bards become the only defenders of the Earth, but there are few of them, and they are not only not immortal, but also suffer from their own forces. The main character of the novel is called Arthur. He is also a bard and has long come to the limit after which his brothers die, but for some reason Arthur is still alive. At some point, the killing of bards is becoming more frequent in the world and the hunt for the protagonist begins.
Alexey Glushanovsky also wrote several works in collaboration with colleagues. For example, the book “The Hussar’s Smile” (released by the Alpha Book in 2009) was created with Vlad Polyakov, and the collection Price of an Empire (Alpha Book, 2012) was written with Svetlana Ulasevich.
Winter tales
Another series of books by Alexei Glushanovsky is the “Winter Tales” trilogy. The first book is called "The Heart of the Blizzard." Publishing house "Alpha-book" released it in 2010. The Hope of the Wasteland was released a year later, and the third, The Abode of the Snowstorms, has not yet been completed.
Winter Fairy Tales tells of Prince Rau, a talented snow elf commander, a nation that has been almost completely destroyed. Of course, the young prince wants to take revenge on his enemies, but the enemy’s forces are too great. In this unequal battle, a powerful amulet can help, allowing you to open portals to other worlds. There, Rau hopes to revive the former greatness of his people. Unfortunately, the amulet scatters all the Prince’s allies across different worlds, and throws him, weakened and wounded, onto modern land. Rau is facing a man-made civilization.
This trilogy is also addressed to adolescents. She can be called a representative of combat fantasy, as the plot is replete with skirmishes. A share of humor is present, which makes the book a good entertaining literature.
Reviews
Alexei Glushanovsky can be attributed to the strong middle peasants of modern domestic fantasy. Yes, in his books there are a lot of cliches and illogical turns of events, some characters lack personality, humor is peculiar, and also in some books there is a significant proportion of sex scenes. On the other hand, the author works on himself and develops, which can be traced along the cycle "The Way of the Demon", where the third and fourth books are significantly different from the first two for the better.
For whom does Alexei Glushanovsky write? All books are interesting primarily for adolescents, because the works of this author are addressed to this particular audience. Fans of serious fantasy can read these books as light literature at one time.
