Ataman is the story of Maria and her dog's travels across Imperial Russia at the dawn of the nineteenth century, as they search for their best friend Alex. It is an adventure about friendship, loyalty and magic on the one hand, and treachery, greed and lurking danger on the other - set in a vast land just about to enter the modern world.
Maria and Alex live a quiet life in Ukraine until one day the remote monastery where they live is attacked and Alex is kidnapped. Ataman, normally such a lazy and cuddly dog, runs off after the attackers. Has he really forgotten his beloved mistress in his wild mission to rescue Alex? Hoping not, and filled with sadness, Maria is forced to undertake a life-changing adventure that crosses much of Russia. Only to discover by the end that neither Alex nor her dog Ataman are quite who she thought they were. Come to that, neither is she!
Set between 1798 and 1800, this adventure packs in a huge amount of real-life history and encompasses many different ethnic groups. It also captures the ancient magic that still pervaded rural Russia at that time and which is still within living memory.. Fans of magical sagas will be hooked by Gordonovich's story of intrigue, power and 'the Dark Arts' in this real-life setting of ice and fire. With characters such as the Record Keeper bringing to mind the charisma and mystery of Skulduggery Pleasant and Gormenghast's Sepulchrave, and the author's own illustrations at the start of each chapter, Ataman has the makings of a classic children's novel.
"The bishop smiled. "We have seen many that were called wizards dragged unwillingly through our town. But the word 'wizard' has no particular meaning child. It is not the title of any particular craft or rank. Practitioners of the arcane arts go by many different names. This one here is an 'alchemist', this one here is a 'Volshebnik'." He indicated the two monks standing beside him. "We have theurgists, enchanters and necromancers too at our school. If the Tsar wants to make something illegal, then perhaps he needs to be a little more specific on what it is that he is outlawing..." There was a mischievous sparkle in the bishop's eyes."
