Mezhivets - The Hungry Season
Between the living and the dead, the boundary is breaking.
Perfect for fans of Uprooted, Mexican Gothic, and dark folklore fantasy, this Ukrainian folk horror continues the story of Fedir-a dead man who returned as boundary-walker to protect his village from the things that hunger in the dark.
The dead won't stay buried this winter.
Fedir, the Mezhivets of his village, has held the line between the living world and the spirit realm for years. But something is accelerating the corruption that creates upyri-the vampiric dead. Graves that should stay sealed for months are tearing open in days. Fresh corpses walk with impossible hunger.
When a desperate widow begs Fedir to resurrect her son, he refuses. There's a difference between his return and true resurrection-a line that must not be crossed. But grief makes people dangerous. And someone in the village is teaching them how to use death-magic to survive the brutal winter.
Now the boundary between worlds is tearing.
As Fedir hunts the source of the corruption, he discovers a cunning woman selling forbidden knowledge at the crossroads. She argues that he hoards the power of death while people starve. That he's become a tyrant, not a protector. And she may be right.
Worse, his eight-year-old daughter Ulyana is beginning to see what he sees-the shadows between worlds, the hungry dead, the spirits that feed on the living. His curse is becoming hers. The boundary-walker's burden will pass to the next generation whether he wants it or not.
To seal the breach, Fedir must sacrifice what little humanity he has left.
In this morally complex dark fantasy, humans are often more monstrous than the spirits they fear. Every choice has a cost. Every victory demands sacrifice. And the line between protection and tyranny grows thinner with each passing day.
WHAT READERS ARE SAYING:
"Atmospheric Ukrainian folklore meets monster-hunter investigation. Dark, philosophical, and impossible to put down."
"Morally grey in the best way. No easy answers, just consequences and the people who face them."
"Folk horror done right-respectful of the culture, terrifying in execution, deeply human at its core."
"Ben Aaronovitch's investigative structure meets Naomi Novik's Slavic darkness. Brilliant."
THE MEZHIVETS CHRONICLES is an episodic dark fantasy series where each book contains multiple complete investigations that build toward larger mythology. Read them in order for the full experience, or start anywhere and discover a professional monster-hunter facing impossible choices in a world where magic always costs.
Book 1: The Drowned Maiden's Week
Book 2: The Hungry Season ← You are here
Perfect for readers who love: ✓ Monster hunting with moral complexity
✓ Authentic Slavic and Ukrainian folklore
✓ Folk horror with philosophical depth
✓ Episodic fantasy with serialized character arcs
✓ Protagonists who are feared and needed in equal measure
✓ Dark fantasy where humans are the real monsters
✓ Magic systems with terrible costs
✓ Boundary-walkers and liminal spaces
Genre: Dark Fantasy Folk Horror Slavic Mythology Supernatural Mystery
Content notes: Dark themes, body horror, death of children (off-page), violence with consequences, complex grief, existential dread, and one very tired dead man trying to protect a village that will never thank him.
Customer Reviews
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