Swans Road

Maria Semenova is a Russian writer and a great master, a mythmaker who creates her worlds and describes them with "the accuracy of an ethnographer and the fascination of an illusionist." Readers know and love her fantasy novels, and even those who are not close to this genre have certainly heard of "Wolfhound"—a book that awakened enormous interest in ancient Russian history. Perhaps this is Maria Semenova's greatest achievement, having written, in addition to fantasy, a popular science encyclopedia "We are Slavs!", a number of historical novels, stories, essays, and retold pagan myths. ...They came from the sea, which they called the Swans Road. They were not afraid of great dangers and bloody battles, for those who fell in combat would ascend to the heavenly Valhalla, while the survivors would cover themselves with glory. These brave and fierce northern warriors were protected by the harsh gods, the Aesir. They were aided by the bright elves and dark jotuns. Their souls were carried off the battlefield by golden-haired Valkyries. They lived for war and for the sake of war. And they called themselves—Vikings.