The Reeds are Burning

The brothers Andrei and Maloy waited for their father. He returned from hard excavation work. With his return, the former life should have been restored, but this does not happen, as their father has changed beyond recognition. He is afflicted... by a strange illness, causing him to be covered in black sweat and, against all odds, he longs to return to the bottomless pits of the slaughter. The sons do not understand how to help him. To distract themselves from their anxiety, they engage in treasure hunting. They decode encrypted messages and puzzles, unearth clues, and hope that the found treasure will help them reconcile with their new life. Evgeny Rudashevsky's new dystopia, written after "Beast 44", tells the story of a city whose life is distorted by events happening far beyond its borders. Somewhere out there, the hero-diggers are fighting against heavy soil and building fortifications to protect their loved ones from an unknown threat. Not everyone returns home. Many perish under landslides or are crushed by the wheels of huge digging machines.