Dovecote on the Yellow Meadow

In the universe of Vladislav Krapivin, wonder and fantasy operate on equal terms. Cosmic supercruisers of deep reconnaissance coexist here with boys who fly over the world like breezes, witches coexist with robots, and schoolchildren choose a very smart boy-robot as their friend. The universe itself in Krapivin's works is not just an infinite space with star galaxies-seas and planet-islands within them — it is an immeasurable crystal, the number of faces of which is infinite, and on each face, there is its own world, similar to the neighboring one yet different. On one face is the Earth, where we live. On a neighboring face — a planet virtually indistinguishable from ours, only everything here is reversed. Because those who command — creatures of an incomprehensible nature, lacking even their own shell, and inhabiting mannequins and statues — have subjugated it for some mad purpose. “When people become indifferent, lazy, or too full, when they don't care about their planet, those who command appear. And some of the people do not mind: it’s calmer and simpler...” — says one of the characters in the novel “Dovecote on the Yellow Meadow.” And it seems that this simple truth will not lose its meaning for a long time, neither in the twin world of the novel nor in our world. The cycle of the Great Crystal in the works of Vladislav Krapivin occupies a special place. The works that are part of the cycle, written at different times but connected by a unified thought, are not just prose; they are a philosophy of heroism. This is a philosophy of life, as it is meant to be. Fantastic, and nothing else.