Голубятня на желтой поляне

«Dovecote in the Yellow Glade» — a science fiction novel about the clash of childhood friendship and adult responsibility with a faceless power that has subjugated an entire world. This is a story about a deep space scout and kids who find themselves in a space reminiscent of the Earth of their childhood, where foreign forces operate alongside ordinary life and resistance is growing. The book combines cosmic fiction, parallel worlds, adventurous movement, and philosophical subtext. The text will interest those who seek not only a plot filled with dangers and mysteries but also a conversation about choice, indifference, and the price of peace.

The hero finds himself on the Planet after an unexpected encounter with a boy, Ignatik, who can move between spaces. The new world is almost indistinguishable from the familiar, but here a faceless force controls everything, subjugating people for its own purpose. Together with Ignatik, Alka, Danka, and Chita, he gets drawn into the resistance, while a storyline involving Gelka and his friends, tied to a dangerous secret, unfolds nearby. Through temporal rings and neighboring edges of the world, the characters undergo trials where not only courage but also the ability to remain human is important.

• Yaroslav Rodin — a starship pilot-scout, an adult hero who becomes an ally and protector of the children on the Planet.
• Ignatik — a boy with unusual abilities, a connecting link between worlds and one of the key participants in the events.
• Alka, Danka, and Chita — friends from the dovecote. They look at what is happening differently, but they stick together and do not step aside when danger arises around them.
• Gelka — the hero of another storyline, a schoolboy whose actions prove important for the overall confrontation.

The novel is part of the universe «In the Depths of the Great Crystal», where reality consists of an infinite number of facets-worlds. Neighboring worlds may resemble each other, but live by different rules. Here, cosmic flights, children's games, transitions between spaces, and beings that have no physical shell and inhabit mannequins and statues coexist. Such a structure makes the fantastic element part of the main conflict, rather than just a decoration.

«Dovecote in the Yellow Glade» — a trilogy novel created between 1982 and 1984. The first publications appeared in the magazine «Ural Pathfinder», and this edition reproduces the complete set of illustrations by Evgenia Sterligova that accompanied the magazine publication. The language of Vladislav Petrovich Krapivin is precise and concise, with short sentences and a noticeable romantic intonation.