Andrey Belyanin is the author of the book "Aargh in the elf house". Aargh Trilogy

2024 Author: Sierra Becker | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-02-26 03:46

Fantasy is fairy tales for adults who want to feel like children again. And humorous fantasy is a story for those who especially lack joy and kindness in everyday life.

Andrey Belyanin, the author of the book "Aargh in the elf house", is just a great specialist in writing funny, interesting and a little sad fairy tales.

About the author

Andrey Olegovich Belyanin was born in Astrakhan, which is famous for its multicultural population. One can easily guess about the author's love for his native city if you read the novel "The Taste of the Vampire". The future writer was born on January 24, 1967. Father is a simple worker, mother is an employee of a medical institution.

After eight years of age, Andrei Belyanin entered the Astrakhan Art School. Vlasov. In my fourth year, I became interested in writing poetry. He served two years in the border troops on the border with Turkey.

In 1994, Belyanin was accepted into the Writers' Union of Russia - at that timehe had three author's poetry collections and fairy tales "Red and Striped", as well as "The Order of Porcelain Knights".

In 1995, he began to cooperate with the ARMADA publishing house. He worked as a teacher at a school, headed the local branch of the Writers' Union and a literary studio. He has the rank of captain. He lived in Moscow and St. Petersburg, but at the moment the main place of residence is the city of Astrakhan.

Andrey Belyanin is a laureate and nominee of many literary awards. The most significant of them:

• "RosCon" - science fiction of the year, 2013, laureate;
• "Star Bridge" - Master of Feng-do, 1st place, 2000, laureate;
• Aelita Award - 2017, laureate.

For the first part of the trilogy "Aargh" Andrey Belyanin ("Aargh in the elf house" - the second book) was nominated in 2007 by the magazine "World of Science Fiction" in the sections "Best Russian Fantasy" and "Book of the Year". In the first nomination, Maria Semenova bypassed him with the work "Where the forest does not grow." According to the second - Yuri Burnosov with the book "There are no monsters."

Best books by Andrey Belyanin

"Aargh in the elf house" is not the best work of the writer. Readers are more fond of his early writings. The Sword without a Name trilogy (1997-1998) has the largest number of fans - these books are consistently included in the list of the best domestic fantasy. In addition to this cycle, according to regular readers and critics, the following works by Andrey Belyanin are worth highlighting:

1. The dilogy "My Wife is a Witch" (1990-2001) - in these works the poetic gift of the writer is especially clearly manifested.
2. "The Secret Investigation of Tsar Peas" (1999-2017) - 10 books saturated with Belyanin's signature humor. A funny detective story about the hard life of a police officer in fabulous Russia. Some say the last two books in the series weren't as good as the previous ones.
3. "Professional Werewolf" (2002-2007), co-authored with Galina Chernaya. Two brilliant employees of the detective agency, one of whom has a gorgeous tail, take under guardianship a student bitten by a werewolf. Many short stories have been written since the main tetralogy.
4. Taste of the Vampire (2003) is a novel about vampires living in the city of Astrakhan and their difficult, sometimes murderous relationship.
5. "Jack the Mad King" (1996-1999) - the first part of the trilogy was a kind of debut of the writer as a successful author of the ARMADA publishing house.

The book "Aargh in the elf house" was not included in this list, like many other very worthy works of the author. Andrey Belyanin's latest published book is the fourth novel in the Borderlands cycle, titled The Honor of the White Wolf (2018).

Aargh Trilogy

"Aargh in the elf house" is the second part of the "Aargh" trilogy. Here is the complete list of books in this series:

1. Aargh (2007) is a mixture of humorous and heroic fantasy with a half-human, half-troll protagonist.
2. "Aargh in the elf house" (2009) - the second part of the epochal campaign of the team of heroes.
3. "Aargh on the Throne" (2010) - the final part.

Book One –"Aargh"

In the first novel, the reader is introduced to a half-human half-troll, that is, aargh. Also known as the Kid. Outwardly, he is a pile of muscles, and most sentient beings see him only as a dumb guard who can be hired for their needs. But the Kid is rather an intellectual, who prefers to read a book in his free time, and in the presence of his employer - to keep quiet and occasionally growl menacingly.

The kid is hired as a guard by Count Ashley, who was sent to carry out an "important and secret elven mission." Further, other heroes join the team, and adventures await them on the way to the goal.

In fact, this is another novel in Andrey Belyanin's favorite genre - an ironic fantasy detective story. Only instead of fabulous Russia, as in "Secret Investigation …", the motives of classic European fantasy are mercilessly exploited here, and dwarves, elves, trolls and other recognizable creatures are present as characters.

Aargh in the elf farm

The plot of the first book is further developed. The half-troll named Kid still travels with a team of friends, fighting off numerous enemies. In addition, aargh unexpectedly becomes a mentor for a flock of elven children.

Belyanin did not forget about the love line that began in the first part: The kid still hopes for a relationship with the most ugly mercenary.

"Aargh in the elf house" is a kind of humorous fantasy western, with gatherings in pubs,scuffle and other characteristic features. And in this it differs from the first book of the trilogy, in which the detective line prevailed.

Aargh on the throne

In the final part, the semi-troll decides to restore justice and goes to an audience with the king. He is still accompanied by loyal comrades and an army of enemies. But in the end, everything will end more than well.

If you express an opinion about the whole trilogy as a whole, then it has many parallels with other famous literary works. So, there are clearly common features with Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson, only here the Kid and Count Ashley act as a detective duet. Aargh himself is most similar to the character of the famous cartoon - Shrek. The books also have similarities with The Lord of the Rings, as well as Simon Green's The Dark Side series - in the part that concerns the ugly mercenary.

Review with plus sign

The book "Aarkh in the elf house" by Andrey Belyanin is difficult to evaluate in isolation from the entire series. So let's try to give a general assessment, especially since all three parts are written at the same level and have approximately the same rating.

In general, the author once again turned out to be a good novel. Perhaps not the best, but the reader will not be disappointed either. The plot of the books is fascinating, the characters, although typical, are interesting, and a pinch of philosophical reasoning only added depth to the text.

"Aargh in the elf house" is a good book, very suitable to unwind a little, laugh a little, care for the characters a little.

Why Andrey Belyanin's fans were disappointed

Some fans have doubted whether Andrei Belyanin is really the author of "Aargha in the elf coop". In principle, there is no such a successful writer who sooner or later does not begin to be accused of using literary blacks.

But here the author is clearly innocent of all charges. This book has all the characteristic techniques that the writer uses: his trademark humor and style, so that doubts about the authorship, according to critics, disappear.

And yet, some admirers of Belyanin's work were disappointed. The books, as can be understood from the reviews, lacked gloss, some more elaboration. It's not that the books are so terrible or bad, it's just that Andrei Belyanin, as the flagship of Russian fantasy, was expected to be an impeccable masterpiece. Whereas he wrote an ordinary good book.

To read or not to read?

To read or not to read "Aargha in the elf house"? Belyanin Andrei is a recognized writer who has no bad works. All of his individual novels and series are quite readable - they are interesting, kind, with intricate humor and funny characters.

As for "Aargha in the Elf Coop", this book, like the entire series, was underestimated. This is a very multi-layered thing - it in itself is a parody of the entire fantasy genre, and all characters and situations are a collective parody of famous literary and cartoon characters. The only truly justified claim against the author is secondaryplot. But in all other respects, Andrei Belyanin, as always, is at his best and wrote another very good, kind, funny and a little sad tale. So it is definitely worth reading, if only to form your own opinion about the cycle.