Раз мальчишка, два мальчишка

Andrei is thirteen, and in school, they call him the son of a zombie, as he lied for half a year that his mother was alive, even though she had died. He has a difficult relationship with his father and... stepmother, so the stepmother decides to get rid of him by sending him to the army. At first, the presence of a child there seems strange and unnatural. But soon it turns out that among his fellow soldiers, there are many much stranger people.
The novel by Asya Demishkevich, written in the traditions of Russian fairy tales, simultaneously affirms and dismantles the fairy tale canon. Before the reader unfolds a picture in which archetypes and folklore characters acquire a new, alarmingly relevant embodiment.