"Demon from the Wasteland" by Viktor Dashkevich, summary Automatic translate

"Demon from the Wasteland" is a 2024 novel, the third installment in the Count Hermes Averin series. It immediately picks up where the previous story left off, with Kuzya escaping into the Wasteland with the Imperial Div, and quickly shifts the private detective business into the realm of national crisis. While the original detective framework remains, the action increasingly revolves around the secrets of the Wasteland, the secret experiments of the elder Averin, and the struggle for the throne.

At the beginning of the novel, Hermes Averin lives almost mechanically: he drinks, eats poorly, can’t forgive himself for Kuzya’s death or disappearance, and therefore becomes increasingly withdrawn from ordinary life. Victor, Margarita, Vladimir, and other loved ones understand that Averin is only kept afloat by guilt and work, so they try to restore at least a semblance of composure and force him to focus on his work rather than self-destruction.

The turning point comes when Averin gets his hands on his father’s notes and discovers he’d studied the Wasteland far more deeply than his family and the authorities had believed. Traces of previous experiments are discovered in the family crypt, along with the possibility of opening a corridor to the world of divas, though such a step threatens the life of a human and could unleash a first-class creature into the empire. Averin nevertheless decides to take this risk, because it’s there that his last hope of bringing Kuzya back remains.

The search for a path into the Wasteland is also linked to the story of Princess Sophia, Vladimir, Monchinsky, and others, who are forced to consider not Averin’s personal plight, but the political and military consequences of such intervention. Trips, meetings, and examinations of old materials reveal that knowledge of the Wasteland was deliberately concealed within the empire, and a circle of individuals prepared to exploit it for power has long formed around this secret.

After a dangerous experience, Averin finally obtains proof that Kuzya hasn’t vanished without a trace. His friend’s return doesn’t bring simple relief: Kuzya emerges from the Wasteland changed, more feral, tense, and frighteningly powerful, and the first days at home are marked by caution, anxiety, and the slow recognition of his former self in a new form. For Averin himself, this isn’t a happy ending to his search, but a new responsibility, because now he must save Kuzya not only physically but also as a person.

The first major plot arc revolves around a case that initially appears to be a standalone investigation, but gradually merges with the theme of inherited power and ancient taboos. Averin and Viktor uncover the story of a girl named Alyona, her family, the sorceress Frenkel, and an old witch hidden behind false names and alien guardianship. Through discussions of witches, the illegal training of girls in witchcraft, and ancient customs of passing on the gift, the novel demonstrates that this criminal milieu is sustained not by fairy tales, but by violence, fear, and the habit of viewing children as raw material.

The investigation leads the heroes to secluded homes, exhumations, surveillance of suspects, and direct confrontations with those who have hidden the truth for years. Crucially, Averin sees this story not as an abstract evil, but as the real fate of children whom adult sorcerers and witches attempt to subjugate to their needs. Therefore, the "Witch’s Apprentice" storyline ends not with a dry revelation, but with a morally stark decision: a child cannot be left in a system where a gift is immediately turned into a pretext for preying and exploitation.

In the second part, the scale of events increases dramatically. The disappearances of influential sorcerers, the strange behavior of court figures, the work of investigator Serov, the growing tension surrounding Sophia, and signs that somewhere within the state machinery, a group long plotting a coup is at work. Averin realizes that behind these isolated crimes lies a single, calculated plan, and this plan is as closely connected to the Wasteland as the search for Kuzya.

The novel then begins to unfold in two distinct realms. On the one hand, in the human world, arrests, interrogations, secret negotiations, and a struggle for access to information are underway, with Averin himself at one point effectively isolated and forced to operate at the limits of trust in his few allies. On the other hand, kidnapped prisoners languish in the Wasteland, among them Prince Romodanovsky and other powerful sorcerers. Catherine stands by them, trying to keep them alive in a world of cold, hunger, and the constant threat of the Divas.

This parallel is particularly important because the Wasteland is depicted not as an abstract abyss, but as a place where its own brutal laws of force operate. Temporary alliances arise, Kuzya’s position shifts, self-proclaimed rulers emerge, and every false step threatens the death of all the captives at once. When one of the wounded returns through the corridor and Averin recognizes him as Romodanovsky, it becomes clear that the conspiracy has already crossed the line where it’s a matter of saving the entire empire, not just a few individuals.

The main adversary is revealed as a man who has been plotting for years, waiting for the moment when he can strike at once against the government, the army, and the peace between humans and divas. His plan hinges on a massive breach, on exploiting the Wasteland as a source of monstrous power, and on the conviction that the old rules will no longer hold anyone back. This leads to a climax in the palace: the space breaks, a chasm opens, a creature with gigantic wings bursts into the hall, panic engulfs the city, and the rift is held at the cost of a severe wound and almost superhuman effort.

At this moment, Averin no longer acts as a private investigator, but as a man who connects the various lines of struggle. He opens a corridor with the Alatyr and his own blood, receives the returning prisoners, coordinates aid, and tries to prevent a new breakthrough. At this moment, Kuzya once again proves crucial to victory: he brings information on the situation in the Wasteland, demands that planes be urgently launched with bombs and missiles, and effectively sets the military logic for the final strike against the forces bursting out of the rift.

The denouement doesn’t erase the cost of victory. After the catastrophe, traces of conspiracy must be unraveled, the wounded must be treated, the devastation must be rebuilt, and who now has the right to make decisions on behalf of the empire must be redefined. Sophia now comes to the fore as the supreme ruler, and her visit to Averin’s house for a modest dinner sounds less like a salon scene than a sign of a new political era, one that has emerged directly from the recent horror.

The personal arc also reaches a clear, though not cloudless, conclusion. Averin returns home, where, after a long series of crises, peace finally returns, and Kuzya once again wanders the rooms, grumbling, wearing his favorite shirt, and trying to fit into a peaceful life. This peace is fragile, because the Wasteland experience has already changed both of them, but now they have a home again, trust, and the opportunity to move on without the former hopelessness.

The final pages deliberately don’t wrap the story up completely. After the great battle, the novel briefly shifts to a new investigation: Monchinsky and Savely receive their first joint case, about a dismembered body on Krestovsky Island, and the narrative tone shifts from a national disaster to the grim, mundane work of the detective world. This final twist is necessary not for effect, but for the author’s precise message: the empire remains intact, the heroes survive, but evil has not disappeared, and the service continues at the next address.