Olga Gromyko: features of Slavic humorous fantasy

2024 Author: Henry Conors | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-02-12 02:47

Olga Gromyko's books have been enjoying well-deserved popularity and recognition among fans of fantasy literature for more than ten years. The style of narration, atypical for a domestic writer, original or adapted plots, as well as sharp humor attract more and more readers to the works of the writer.

Short biography

Born in 1978 in Vinnitsa (Ukraine), living in Belarus and working in Russian, Olga Nikolaevna Gromyko may well be considered a Slavic writer in the broadest sense. Moreover, the content of her books, one way or another, concerns Slavic mythology. Often stories and novels are based on fairy tales and epics familiar to everyone since childhood.

Olga Gromyko has a major in microbiology and holds a position at a research institute in Minsk, where she lives with her husband and son. He is a member of the Writers' Union of Belarus.

Interests and hobbies

Writer cannot be nameda traditional housewife, since she openly admits her dislike of household chores. Many active and active women will agree with her, because the idea of obtaining some interesting information or mastering new skills is much more attractive to them.

So Olga Gromyko did not waste time in vain: she is familiar with such seemingly unfeminine professions as a janitor, a gas welder and others.

To rest her soul, the writer cultivates bulbous plants, collects beer mugs and labels, goes fishing and travels. Olga speaks about trips with particular enthusiasm. All possible ways and directions are good for her, however, traveling around the world remains her cherished dream.

Literary success

Olga Gromyko made her debut in 2003 with the book Profession: Witch. Taking part in the Kharkov festival of international importance, she received a prize from a major publishing house. Since that moment, the world has come to know and love the heroes of a fictional, but such a real magical land.

Olga Gromyko's books depict familiar heroes of legends and fairy tales in a completely unexpected light. In this world, you should not be afraid of witches, vampires, werewolves, dragons, trolls and manticores, as they are all positive characters.

The specifics of the writer's books

The first and, without a doubt, one of the most interesting books that Olga Gromyko wrote is “Profession: Witch”. It cannot be said that the plot is one hundred percent original, because it includes several ratherpopular among fantasy writers. For example, the exploitation of the image of an apprentice magician who is sent on a difficult task and who, in the course of his journey, finds friends, love and knows himself at the same time.

However, when reading the story about the life of the young witch Volha Rednaya with her absurd character, there is absolutely no sense of plot predictability. Of course, the reader understands that according to the laws of the genre, everything will be fine and “ours will win”, but it is extremely interesting to follow how this happens.

As a fan of comedians such as Terry Pratchet and Joanna Chmielewska, as well as fantasy writer Andrzej Sapkowski, Olga embodied the best elements of each of these styles on the pages of her books.

From Sapkowski with his gloomy gothic monsters, several very serious monsters appear in the world of Gromyko, and the influence of other writers is noticeable in numerous funny and witty dialogues.

Metaphoric fantasy world

On closer examination, you can see the obvious similarity of the world created by the writer with the real Slavic. There is Beloria with the capital Starmin, these names are consonant with Belarus and Minsk. The neighbors of this country are Vinessa (Ukraine) and Volmenia (Russia).

Other works of the writer

Olga Gromyko, whose books are unlikely to fit on one or even two shelves, is extremely productive. To date, she has written more than forty works. Here andcycles of novels with sequels, and separate independent stories.

You can read them from almost any part, as often a brief retelling of the events that took place in previous books is given first. Despite the fact that the stories describe a fictional reality, their relevance and significance remains at a high level. Everyone can see themselves or their friends in these images.