Content Warning: Two different characters in this book each experience attempted sexual assault through the course of the story. Violence of all kinds (but especially against women) is a major element of the story, and is often described in explicit detail.

Though I (still) haven’t published any fiction yet which features the most infamous witch in Slavic folklore, the Baba Yaga, I can’t help but collect references here and there as I read, and try (barely if convenient) to keep up with current depictions, uses and representations of this mythic and legendary figure.

So when I was walking around a Barnes and Noble, looking for a copy of We Used To Live Here (shows how long my backlog is), and spot a blood red cover which depicts a woman’s face — covered in gore — in a shadowy distorted rectangle which hints subtly (or perhaps not so subtly) at the shape of a samurai sword, and bold white text proclaiming: The Night of Baba Yaga . . .

Well there was never really any chance I wasn’t going to pick that up. I was further intrigued by the inclusion of a queer love story, and especially by the description: “Part kick-to-the-solar-plexus” martial arts thriller . . . “

Like who doesn’t want to read that?

But mostly, I was wondering what the heck Baba Yaga had to do with what I assumed (mostly correctly) would be a John Wick style Yakuza beat down.

Before reading, I had some vague notions of a large immigration to Japan by Russians hoping to escape persecution during the Russian Socialist Revolution of 1917. After reading this book (novella?), I did some googling and found out from the Russians in Japan wikipedia page, that “the first recorded landing of Russians in Japan was in 1739 in Kamogawa . . . “

Also from that page, I learned there was a Russian Orthodox mission in Japan as early as 1861, and that Russians were landing in Hokkaido even earlier than 1739 only that the island was not under Japan’s administration at that time. During the 18th century Russians were often described as “Red-haired Ainu”, and the page mentions that in modern times there is quite a bit of discrimination against Russians with 72% (in 2012) of Japanese voting for Russia as the most unfavorable country (this has apparently only increased with the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine).

This historical context is mostly pretty absent from The Night of Baba Yaga. The main character, Yoriko Shindo, comes from Hokkaido (where the earliest unrecorded Russian landings were), but other than like ONE reference to her mother having (I think) blonde hair, and (if I’m remembering correctly) blue eyes, and some talk of Shindo’s grandmother always being bundled up despite her being from somewhere very cold, there is very little that connects the events of the book with the Baba Yaga other than some fairytales Shindo’s grandmother would tell when Shindo was growing up.

I’ll admit, I was hoping for the Baba Yaga element to have a higher relevance throughout the story, but taken for what it is, The Night of Baba Yaga still has quite a few aspects which are quite enjoyable. Its pacing is relentless, and I actually really enjoyed the effect of the kind of stunted, two or three word sentences which appear frequently throughout the prose. The fight scenes (of which there are many) are graphic, but beautifully choreographed and never dull to read (a feat to be sure).

I also enjoyed Shindo and Shoko’s romance, though — as with seemingly everything about this book — it did not evolve in quite the way I expected. I love the following description from Kathryn on the Contemporary Japanese Literature blog:

“I’ve seen social media reviews hailing The Night of Baba Yaga as ‘an inspirational queer romance,’ and it 100% most definitely is not that. Nobody does any learning or growing in this story, which has exactly zero social commentary. Rather, The Night of Baba Yaga is an adrenaline-laced lesbian power fantasy about being the most badass fighter you can be until you die.” – Contemporary Japanese Literature: The Night of Baba Yaga

And this kinda just works.

We’ve got a fair bit of words down now so I’ll try to start wrapping things up. Other than wanting to see more Baba Yaga throughout, I had two other gripes about the story. The first was with one of the twists which involved some non-linear storytelling (I hope that didn’t give too much away). Usually I love this sort of thing, but it didn’t feel well executed here (perhaps I’m just becoming a bit of snob).

And the second has to do with the content warning up above. Depiction of rape — or in this case attempted rape — in fiction is a whole mess of things which I’m not going to try to unravel here. However, I will say that it is not my favorite thing to read. I think its inclusion in this story made sense, but I just didn’t enjoy reading those scenes.

Give The Night of Baba Yaga a Read?

I think the answer to this question will largely depend on what you’re looking for when you read (or in the mood for at the moment). If you ARE looking for “adrenaline-laced lesbian power fantasy”, then I’ll second Kathryn in saying “. . . {this book} is the best at what it does, and what it does isn’t very nice. This short and compulsively readable novel gets in, gets messy and gets what it came for.”

I can’t say I was really looking for Lesbian power fantasy in particular when I picked up The Night of Baba Yaga, however, despite all my gripes listed above, I’m mostly glad I did.

That’s all I have for us this week! What’s your take? Has anyone read this one before? Are there connections between Baba Yaga and Japanese culture I’m unaware of?

Leave your thoughts in the comments! I’m looking forward to talking about this one!