“The Flower of Kameleynik” is the most controversial of all the works of the popular Ukrainian writer Olga Gromyko. Readers' opinions are divided so sharply that sometimes the question arises: did they read the same book? Some admire the exciting plot, well-written world and interesting characters. Others reproach the author for an abundance of obscure terms and a crumpled plot. Those who are not sure whether to buy this book can read the summary. The “Flower of Kameleynik” is quite voluminous (332 pages), and many prefer to imagine in advance what they may encounter in the novel.
Plot
The action of the book “The Flower of the Stamen” takes place in a world living by magical laws. All the achievements of technology, architecture, chores and even the climate are directly related to the blessing of Igr, the two-faced god, whose will is proclaimed by his governors dhera and their faithful servants - yery. Thanks to their efforts, the fields bring a bountiful harvest, and people live comfortably, not knowing wars and pestilences.
However, not everything is so rosy: the Game, as usual, has an adversary. Tvarebog, the protector of wildlife, hostile to people, was once defeated and banished from the world. However, from time to time, he again tries to be born in the world in the guise of a child, a girl whom her servants call the Gatekeeper. And then the yeers and ordinary city guards have to take up arms to destroy the “infection” and the priests protecting it.
At the center of the story are four seemingly unrelated people: the simple-minded and not-so-fortunate city guard Jai; an impudent and malicious snake hunter named ErTar; former yer, and now priest of the Gatekeeper Brent; and Radda, the girl assigned to the "bride" of Iggru. The company is supplemented by a huge fighting cat named Tishsh. People who turned out to be involuntary companions do not feel any warm feelings for each other. But gradually everything changes. Dislike and fear are replaced by interest, friendship and love, and random companions are the only ones who can figure out the riddles of a prophecy that has strangely begun to come true ...
Prologue
The story begins many years before the main events of the book. A squad of guards (or, as they are called in the Kingdom of Iggrovs, “guardians”) under the command of a yer attack a house where the last surviving sectarians hide a baby - the girl in whom Twarebog incarnated. Despite the fierce resistance of the priests, the servants of the Game kill the child. This time they use a magical weapon that forever closes the Path to rebirth. All priests are destroyed; only the last of the dead was captured by the victors. His soul is enclosed in a magic crystal and became the toy of the yer who killed him.
But the main intrigue awaits the reader at the end of the prologue: when one of the warriors looks into the cradle, instead of a dead child, he sees only a bud cut in two, a camellia flower ...
Tie
The story begins with captivating simplicity and leisurelyness: a young hunter-mountaineer arrives in the city with his battle corlisse - a cat that grows to the waist of a man. Having not yet managed to obtain permission for professional activity, he nevertheless decides to accept the proposal to clear the field of the local peasant from pests - predatory and very dangerous krigg. The operation is far from being as successful as the hunter expected: there are much more parasites than is usually the case, and he barely manages to escape. Nevertheless, he receives payment for the murdered krigg and again goes to the city. For permission not received by him on his first visit.
But he does not succeed in obtaining the coveted seal from the head of the guild. He is stopped by local hunters, very angry at a stranger beating their bread. And everything would be simpler if the earned money was apparently not scratchy, but by no means heartless, ErTar would not give up to a beggar with young children. Running away from the avengers, the hunter loses his cat, miraculously does not die in the river, and in the course of misfortunes, he comes to the representative of the local guard, who also has some questions for him, and decides to hide in the temple of the Two-Faced Igr.
Needless to say, guard Jai courageously (but not too sensibly) goes for the fugitive and ... finds himself in the very center of terrifying events. A girl dies before his eyes - his first love. And the “guardian" himself, along with the mountaineer, becomes a fugitive, hunted not only by the city guard, but also by the almost omnipotent yer. However, the servants of the Game have other problems: unexpectedly for all, a sign occurred that predicted a new rebirth of Twarebog. And from the already familiar to the reader by the prologue Hyeres, a seemingly weak-witted toy escaped him - a priest captured many years ago and revived for fun. He is also looking for two fugitives, interested in the same question: what exactly did they do in the temple? But, unlike the Yers, he does not want to kill, but to protect the born incarnation of the "Creature". Three people have to flee together from the city to find the Gatekeeper (namely, the priests call their deity) and get answers to all their questions.
Adventure begins: involuntary companions
The novel “Kameleynik Flower” prevents readers from taking a breath: events occur one after another. Not having time to rejoice at their salvation from one misfortune, the heroes fall into another. In the very first village, where they managed to bargain for food and overnight for simple work, the heroes encounter the undead - the Morun, who injures the guard and the mountaineer. There is no cure for this infection. And then the reader learns something interesting about the priests of Twerobog: it turns out that their companion, Brent, is quite capable of healing such wounds, unlike, as was believed, the omnipotent ministers of Igr.
But the problems of the heroes do not end there. Behind them on the heels is a detachment of guards led by the already familiar reader Yer Arrhayn. Brent is trying to find the Gatekeeper and protect her, while looking closely at his companions and seeing in them the apparent abilities of the priests. Jai painfully tries to get used to free life in nature. A cheerful, but, as it turned out, very attentive ErTar is trying to unravel what lies behind the priest’s omissions.
Everything is complicated by the fact that the prophecy this time is not fulfilled as it should. Initiations, between which several months or even years should pass, follow one after another.
Rapprochement of heroes
Joint travel poses more and more questions for the characters. The reader learns a lot about the Gatekeeper and her priests, and gradually it becomes clear that everything is not as simple as it seemed. Dharas are by no means servants of God, but rather parasites, pulling juices from a dying world. Irns, rites designed to give fertility to the fields, in fact, only further deplete the earth.
The priest tells the companions the terrible truth about Yggre and Twarogog, which will probably shock not only the heroes, but also the readers.
- Every year the grass in the meadows thins, less flowers bloom in it, less insects buzz and chatter. In spring, you can hear well in the forest if two or three birds at once, while twenty years ago you could not have singled out a separate trill from the choir shaking the air. You’ve never even seen lizards ...
- Also to me, woe! - Jai stubbornly swaggered, although his inner voice had long been a treacherous assent to the priest. - What good is it from them?
- And from you? Are you sure you will have grandchildren? Or at least sons? And that they will not starve to death when nothing comes up on their fields, despite all the irns? - Brent snapped, breaking his vow to not impose anything on anyone.
Finally, the title of the novel becomes clear. The stamen flower has an amazing ability to indicate in which direction the newborn Gatekeeper is now. True, it still cannot be found: the magical “compass” looks in the opposite direction each time.
Fate clearly has its own plans for heroes. Every day they are getting closer and closer, ceasing to be suspicious strangers to each other. They save each other over and over again, wondering that they can’t leave and leave their companions in trouble, and learn to listen to someone else’s opinion. In one of the temples, they meet a girl who is doomed, as they now know, to become food for dharrs, and they are taken away with her against her will. Needless to say, the “captive” very quickly becomes an associate, and between her and one of the fugitives a feeling flares up in which they are afraid to admit to themselves.
The mystery
Olga Gromyko is a master of twisted intrigues and tense stories. Throughout the book, readers watched the adventures of the heroes with excitement, trying to solve the mystery of the mysterious Gatekeeper with them. And now, the denouement: the guards led by Yer finally caught up with the fugitives. To save friends, Brent agrees to conduct a magical search rite with the enemy, so that the two “compasses” accurately indicate not only the direction, but also the distance to the baby. And the flower of the kamaleynik in the hands of Hyere suddenly points to Brent himself. And the priest’s plant is on his friends. And readers are amazed to understand that all this time the four fugitives and their fighting cat were chasing themselves. After all, it is they, all five, who turn out to be that very mythical Gatekeeper, capable of saving the slowly dying world.
Epilogue: happy ending or open finale?
Towards the end, Gromyko nevertheless prepared a surprise for her readers, because of which many reviews of “Flower of the Kamalanik” were full of angry reproaches towards the author. The book’s finale leaves the question of what happened to one of the book’s protagonists, Brent.
The fate of the remaining characters remains unknown. However, the Gatekeeper (or, after all, the Gatekeepers?) Opened the invisible gateways, and the life-giving force again began to flow into the world. The description of the flowers of the kamaleynik, which at one moment turned into butterflies, becomes in the book not only a beautiful epithet, but also an important plot move: it is these fluttering moths that make the reader understand that everything is fine and nothing irreparable with the characters has happened.
Readers' Opinion
Reviews about the “Flower of Kameleynik” vary so much that you can’t seriously focus on them. Most readers admire the book. They celebrate non-standard, living heroes, unexpected plot twists, and the world, spelled out to the smallest detail. According to many, “Kameleynik Flower” is much more interesting than “Faithful Enemies” and “Year of the Rat” by the same author.
There are those readers whom the book disappointed. The main complaints are the abundance of names, the meaning of which must be guessed by context, the narrative on behalf of different characters, an overly saturated plot.
Many do not like the cover. Others, on the contrary, are quite happy with the illustration. The answer is simple and well understood if you look at the photo below: “Kameleynik Flower” was published several times, and the earlier version loses the next one in the beauty of the pictures.
In a word, the book is not for everybody. However, for those who love fantasy stories with a non-standard storyline, intense passions and the solution of complex moral issues, the “Storm Flower” will surely appeal to you!