LEGO by Boris Akunin, summary Automatic translate

This book is a philological novel-constructor set in 2024, combining six interconnected plots, masterfully stylized to represent different eras and genres of Russian literature. The narrative revolves around an ancient Spanish silver peso coin. Split in two, this magical artifact passes from hand to hand for centuries, bringing its owners irresistible passions, tragedies, and fateful trials until the two separated parts meet.

Lego

The action opens with the notes of the Spanish aristocrat Miguel de Sandoval, trapped by a storm in the Black Sea village of Ak-Sol. He languishes in boredom, pining for his married lover, Vera. Miguel wears a medallion containing half of an ancient peso. Family legend holds that the coin is cursed: its owner is doomed to spiritual coldness until the two halves are reunited.

In Ak-Sol, Miguel meets a mysterious blonde girl, Pannochka. She turns out to be in possession of the other half of the coin. The touch of the two halves evokes a searing, magical fire, instantly igniting the young couple’s feelings. That night, a woman comes to Miguel, but it is Vera, who has succumbed to forbidden passion. The next morning, Miguel learns of the Carlists’ military defeat in Spain and hastily returns home, leaving his silver pendant with Vera.

Pannochka, who turns out to be the gypsy Mavka, the adopted daughter of the old smuggler Yankel, is avenging the death of the Turk Kerim, accidentally shot by Miguel. She lies in wait for the Spaniard with a knife, luring him into a trap. Seeing the medallion and experiencing a magical glow, Mavka abandons her bloody vengeance. Left alone with the robber’s stolen gold, she sets out in search of her destiny.

Todo

In the second story, Konstantin Olenin, a dropout student, goes to teach in remote Temryuk. He squanders his money at the card table in a postal tavern and waits for help from home, whiling away his days in Ak-Sol. Olenin wears a silver ring made from half a coin with the blackened inscription "TODO O NADA." Fate brings him together with the mysterious Agafya Ivanovna, the companion of the cynical con man Tadeusz Todobrzetski.

Agafya Ivanovna asks Olenin to win back her necklace with the other half of the coin at cards. The young man, flushed, tries to fulfill her request but loses everything. Tired of her aimless life and her petty companion, she forces Todobrzhetsky to flee at night along a mountain road. Along the way, they are robbed by mountain bandits led by the cruel Plyzhy-Galim. The bandit kills the swindler, tears the necklace from Agafya, but throws the broken coin into the dust. The woman is left alone on the dark mountain road, trying to comprehend what has happened.

What

The third plot takes the reader to the singer Antonina Arkadyevna. She is caring for her husband, the composer Klimentyev, who is dying of consumption in Ak-Sol. Her husband gives her a pendant with half a peso, mocking her fears. Soon, they are visited by the doctor Yegor Fomich Kartuzov. He wears an unusually shaped silver ring, taken from the finger of a deceased patient.

When Kartuzov jokingly places a ring on Antonina’s thumb, they both experience a powerful electric shock and a mystical attraction. Frightened by the sudden eruption of love, Kartuzov promises to forget the strange incident and quickly leaves. Klimentyev, realizing his wife’s emotional turmoil, secretly flees to Yalta to die alone. The score of his farewell sonata remains on the table. Antonina rushes after her husband, missing Kartuzov forever at a fork in the road.

Buba

The events of the fourth part unfold in the 1930s. Typist Rita Karlovna arrives at the Buba Ikrinsky creative center, intending to avenge her lover, the writer Elena. Party officials hounded the talented author, destroyed his manuscript, and drove him mad. Rita deals with her enemies. First, she plants a poisonous snake and burning coals in the room of Bezbozhny, the head of the propaganda department. The official suffers a severe stroke.

Then, at night, Rita sneaks up to the chief executioner, the organizational secretary, Miron Shuster. She points a gun at him, but Shuster grabs her by the chain with half a coin. His silver ring, once taken from a shot underground fighter, touches Rita’s pendant. An energetic shock occurs, paralyzing them both. Iron Shuster speaks of a coming world war and a future communist paradise. Rita refuses to forgive the executioner and disappears without a trace, leaving the party member completely alone.

Sostrug

In the fifth novella, former Gulag prisoner Ilya Krylov arrives in Ak-Sol to secretly deliver his book about Stalin’s camps to the Lithuanian Juozas. Krylov wears a coin ring given to him by the executed Shuster in pretrial detention. At a seaside café, the writer meets a young woman, Felicia. On the way back, intelligence agents attempt to steal Krylov’s briefcase, but Felicia neutralizes the attackers with sambo techniques.

Having hidden the manuscript in the designated location, Krylov returns to his savior. The girl explains that she is a Krotonian who has come to Earth to retrieve a lost alien power generator. The device is split into two halves: one was given to her by the late Rita, the other is Krylov’s ring. Ilya voluntarily hands over the ring. The girl teleports to the orbital ship. Deprived of his usual inner armor, Krylov is left in the empty alley, completely distraught.

Pesos

The final story takes place in the fall of 2022. Financial investor Alexander Pushker arrives in Ak-Sol, hoping to make a bearish trade — buying up cheap real estate amid the market panic following the explosion of the Crimean Bridge. Pushker is wearing a silver ring with the remains of an engraving, purchased at auction. A mysterious woman, introducing herself as "Baba Yaga," lures the businessman to a hotel penthouse. She drugs Pushker and reveals a wild theory: Russian literature has destroyed the nation’s bestial nature, and an ancient prophecy will come true when the destroyed bridge separates the two banks.

Meanwhile, student Sonya hides in Kuban with her boyfriend, Rodos, who is evading conscription. At a checkpoint, Rodos fatally strikes a policeman with a hatchet. After a terrorist attack on a bridge, Rodos is detained without documents. Desperate, Sonya finds an ancient pendant with a broken peso on the seashore. She agrees to a monstrous deal with Baba Yaga: a night with a local pervert to save her fiancé. The witch also drugs Sonya.

Having forced the unconscious Pushker and Sonya together on the same bed, Baba Yaga joins the two halves of the coin. The artifact fuses tightly and begins to glow. The maddened philologist cuts out the beating hearts of her victims and washes herself in their blood. Transformed into a hideous fairytale hag, she mounts a living toilet brush and soars into the night sky. Reaching the Crimean Bridge, the witch laughingly throws the glowing coin into the dark abyss. The magical artifact sinks, lifting the ancient curse, and reality plunges into primordial oblivion.