"What was that Haladdin used to say? “Do the ends justify the means? Stated generally, the problem lacks a solution.”"

— Kirill Yeskov: The Last Ringbearer

Hm.

"Thereafter Grager’s memorandum was sent to the archives, where it gathered dust with the Faramir intelligence service’s other reports until catching the eye of Gandalf during a visit to Minas Tirith … When the war began exactly by their script, Tangorn realized with horror that it was all his doing. “… ‘The World is Text,’ eh, man – just the way you like it. What’s your problem?” Grager smirked woodenly, pouring yet another shot of either tequila or some other moonshine with an unsteady hand. “But we wrote a different Text, you and I, totally different!” “Whaddya mean – different? My dear aesthete, a text exists only in its interaction with a reader. Everyone writes their own story of Princess Allandale, and whatever Alrufin himself wanted to say is absolutely irrelevant. Looks like we managed to create a real work of art, since the readers,” the resident spy waved a finger near his ear, so it was impossible to say whether he meant the Royal Council or some really Higher Powers, “managed to read it in this rather unexpected way.” “We betrayed them … We got played like little kids, but that’s no excuse – we betrayed them …” Tangorn repeated, staring numbly into the murky opalescent depths of his glass. “Yep – it’s no excuse … Another one?”"

— Kirill Yeskov: The Last Ringbearer

I did not expect "The Death of the Author" in this work. Probably should have. Again, I wonder if that's the original author, or the translator...

"It should be mentioned that in terms of the amount of iron they had to carry (and especially the gold - plated doodads studding said iron) the Khand warriors were unequaled in all Middle Earth."

— Kirill Yeskov: The Last Ringbearer

I wonder what the Russian for "doodad" is...

"No one has the right to know more about a person than he is willing to tell, and both friendship and love die together with the person’s right to privacy."

— Kirill Yeskov: The Last Ringbearer

I feel like this is a line that fedi will like.

In another pondering of this book, I wonder if "somnambulant" is to match the original Russian's floridity, or if that was the translator's embellishment.

(comment on The Last Ringbearer)

"The nature of insight is always the same, whether in poetry or criminal detection, nobody knows where it comes from (one thing is certain, though – it is not from logic); and the moment itself, when for however brief an instant you’re equal to the One Himself, is the only thing truly worth living for."

— Kirill Yeskov: The Last Ringbearer

A Sherlock reference? I feel Tolkien would have hated that.

"Haladdin was of two minds about those flowers. Just as every tulip was beautiful individually, so did the half - acre patches they formed seem unnatural and ominous. It must have been because their color was too good a match to that of bright red arterial blood when in the sun, and crimson venous blood when in the shade, like right now. Serge and tulips; ash and blood. Perhaps he would have discerned different connotations at another time."

— Kirill Yeskov: The Last Ringbearer

"A professional at work (no matter what profession) is always fascinating to watch, and here there were two masters of the highest caliber. Too bad that all of the few spectators were too busy with their own affairs to admire the show – mostly they were trying to kill each other, which takes a certain amount of concentration."

— Kirill Yeskov: The Last Ringbearer

"“Among other things I’ve found a loose page of splendid verse I haven’t seen before:

I swear by near and by far, I swear by sword and fight that’s fair, I swear by the morning star I swear by the evening prayer… Would you happen to know the author?” “That’s Saheddin. Strictly speaking, he’s a wizard and an alchemist, not a poet. He publishes verse from time to time, and claims that he’s only a translator of texts created in other worlds. You’re right, the poetry’s excellent.” “Damn, but that’s a cute idea! For sure, one can describe the World in a myriad ways, but a true poetic text where you can’t change a single letter has to be the most precise and economical one, and universal for that reason alone! If there is anything in common between various worlds, it has to be poetry … and music, of course.

— Kirill Yeskov: The Last Ringbearer

Okay. Occasionally Florid.

Hopefully Quote text works in Bookwyrm.

I will say this book is definitively not Tolkienian in it's speech. Maybe that's the translation and the Russian is as flowery as John's English, but it fits the vibe.

The winners have all the time to gussy up the histories. The losers grumble in barrooms.

It works.

(comment on The Last Ringbearer)