He was a hardworker, but a bit of a dreamer. Personality įyodor was generally very calm and serious, though he did have a quiet humorous streak. Like most shapeshifters, he was ravenous after his change. His shapeshifting form was a large black bear. In 1361 DR, Fyodor, perhaps because of his proximity to rune magic or other shapeshifters on Ruathym, became a shapeshifter. Despite the dull blade, the sword had been enchanted by his grandmother to cut only those not of Rashemen. He carried a three-foot cudgel made of driftwood and a heavy broadsword with a dull blade, which he could not properly wield except during his berserker rages. He was less than six feet tall, but his berserker rages made him appear closer to seven feet. He had short ('carelessly cut') dark hair. How much worse it must have been for people having to take in great gusts of sometimes intricate, convoluted and lengthy dialogue? I really can't recommend this at all.Fyodor had thick muscles that made him resemble a tall dwarf, but he wore no beard and had finer features. They whizzed by, but even I could tell that not all was being translated. I don't speak Russian so I watched with subtitles. However, working against such deficiencies they were struggling. It's not a Shakespeare play that they are filming and thus have to remain true to the text, it's a novel whose internal logic and conventions are completely different to those of screen or stage. What is acceptable, nay riveting, on the page is verbose and unconvincing on the screen. Unfortunately, these seem to have been lifted from the book and grafted onto the programme. The book is driven by it and often the characters have long, involved conversations. The most abject let-down was in the dialogue. It was vanishingly unlikely that any director would have been able to convey properly the social, political and emotional currents of those complex and volatile times so the slavish adherence to the book meant that the whole TV project would be a failure unless it had been adapted for modern audiences while retaining and explaining the themes and background. But the series is 'based on' rather than an 'adaptation of'. The sets are magnificent and are the sole reason I have given three stars. The novel was a cry against and riposte to the fashionable nihilistic and Western tendencies of the times that were taking hold of some of the privileged Russian youth. The wonderful book, one of the best novels ever to have been written, was done a disservice by this mini series.

Demons fyodor