"The Sorcerer of the Russian Empire" by Viktor Dashkevich, summary Automatic translate

"The Sorcerer of the Russian Empire" is a 2024 novel that opens the Count Hermes Averin series. The action takes place in an alternate Russia of 1982, where the Whites won the Civil War with the help of the Divs, and St. Petersburg remains a large city, but no longer a capital. From the very beginning, the detective plot examines the book’s central question: can a Div be more than a dangerous servant when the entire traditional order is based on fear, violence, and subordination.

Victor’s case

At the beginning of the story, private investigator and combat sorcerer Count Hermes Averin undertakes the search for the missing Viktor — a young nobleman from a wealthy family where outward propriety has long since overshadowed genuine emotion, and the adults are more preoccupied with their own comforts and grievances than their son’s fate. Along the way, Averin navigates the homes of St. Petersburg nobility, police conversations, street rumors, brothels, and the stories of clairvoyants, and gradually realizes that Viktor’s disappearance is connected not to an elegant secret, but to a grave family lie, ordinary debauchery, and the underground world into which the young man was drawn by weakness and neglect. Almost simultaneously, rumors circulate throughout the city about a demon behaving strangely and not killing people as expected, so for Averin, an ordinary investigation quickly ceases to be a private commission and turns into a confrontation with something that does not fit into his previous notions of divas.

Kuzya

These threads converge when a creature appears in Viktor’s case, arriving in Averin’s house almost absurdly — in a cardboard box, first as a cat, then as a young man with odd-colored eyes, who behaves boldly, curiously, and not at all like a frightened, captive diva. Averin initially acts like a man of his profession and class: he sets up protection, cages his captive, tests his reactions, and seeks a way to keep everything under control. However, conversations with Kuzya, his mannerisms, his quick wit, and his unexpected devotion disrupt the usual pattern of a diva being merely a tool or a potential disaster. Thus, Kuzya appears in Averin’s life, and with him, the very tone of the book changes: the dry, ironic, and distrustful detective gains a partner who simultaneously amuses him, irritates him, saves him in a dangerous moment, and gradually forces him to consider the entire relationship between man and diva without the old, comfortable formulas.

Family knot

The second major plot line brings Averin into the circle of his own family, when news of the illness of his grandmother, who has become the abbess of the Zaladozhsky Skete, forces him to visit his brother Vasil. There, he is met by Maria, little Misha, the family diva Anonymous, and the Averyins’ familiar mixture of politeness, authority, and long-held omissions. The investigation revolves around a wedding ring, conversations about Marina, long-held decisions of elders, village girls, and the sisters of the skete, and Averin, step by step, discovers that behind piety and family discipline lie coercion, fear, awkwardly concealed guilt, and a whole chain of actions that have led people who seemed quiet and submissive to begin to defend themselves harshly and desperately. This part is especially important for the hero, because it no longer concerns other people’s clients, but his own family: he is forced to look at his brother, his grandmother, Misha’s childhood traumas, and the impeccably raised Anonymous without the previous allowances, and he comes to the denouement with a clear feeling that family memory often lies as skillfully as a professional criminal.

Rana Kuzi

The family history is revealed at the estate and near the family crypt, where pent-up suspicions finally come together to form a coherent picture, revealing who sacrificed what, who covered for whom, and why old grievances haven’t disappeared but merely changed form. It’s here that Averin pays not only with his nerves and time: Kuzya suffers a grievous wound, and the scene in which the owner scoops him up and carries him into the house makes clear what he could previously have concealed: the diva has long ceased to be a useful find for him and has become a being for whom he is truly responsible. After this point, Averin’s attitude toward Kuzya can no longer be restored to the norm, because the fear of loss proves stronger than class rules, academic dogma, and all the words with which society has for centuries justified the convenient abuse of divas.

Anarchists

The third major plot line begins with the previously rescued Victor ending up in Averin’s house, and the detective’s daily life is suddenly filled with an almost familial concern for the young man, who has seen too much dirt and too little love, and is therefore easily drawn to the forbidden, the loud, and the dangerous. From here, the novel shifts to the anarchist case: Victor finds himself involved with people for whom rebellion seems like a way out, Averin tries to separate childish bravado from real crime, and a new threat grows nearby — a diva who no longer hides in someone else’s story but hunts the detective himself and his home. In this part, it’s especially noticeable how the established cast of characters begins to work together: Kuzya acts as a fully-fledged partner, Margarita maintains the house and restores its rhythm, Victor himself painfully matures, and meetings with Vladimir demonstrate that the police, public service, and personal honor in this world are far from always aligned.

The finale

By the end, Averin unravels the connections between the underground, private grievances, magical powers, and those who use other people’s beliefs as a cover. The case then ceases to be a simple hunt for the culprit and becomes a test of his own responsibility to his loved ones. The final scene leaves a sense of unease: Vladimir returns the watch with Anonymous’s amulet, gives Averin a cold warning, and disappears, clearly indicating that Kuzya’s story, family secrets, and the recent investigation have already spread far beyond the confines of a private home and private detective work. The novel ends not with a loud celebration, but with a quiet, domestic gesture: Margarita brings tea. Averin looks at what happened with new eyes and accepts a simple thought he would hardly have allowed before: with Kuzya, his life has become more dangerous, more complicated, and at the same time, incomparably more vibrant.