Description
This story rests on the ancient Thracian myth of the Mother Goddess and Zagreus (Sabasius, Apollo-Dionysus) and the ancient Thracian belief in immortality. The main characters in the book are three children who will have to restore the broken balance between the old (lower) world and the new (our) world. Our world is represented by the hidden village of Gorni Zagrei, somewhere in the Bulgarian mountains, the city of Munich and London.
The characters are called Meda, Pancho and the baby Brimo. Brimo's toys are also heroes. The toys are important because they come to life in the magical world, and now we have a talking frog, a living pinecone, a mirror girl and a living baby wool blanket. In fact, these are the actual toys of the child god from the ancient myth of the god Zagreus. Mara is also important. She is the mother of Meda and Brimo, and is actually the Mother Goddess herself. She is called Mara because she becomes a nightmare for the treasure hunters and their bosses in Bulgaria, Germany and England. When she is with her children, her hair is black and beautiful, but when she faces her killers, her hair is of black snakes, and she herself is a true fury.
The winds from the four world directions are also important for the story, and the budgies, gougeres and mermaids are also important. They all play their part in a wondrous magical tale of love, death, suffering, revenge and justice. In a tale that shows the price and the face of true immortality.
Reviews
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Knijni Krile
Big names have created this "little fantasy novel" of Kibea publisher. The storyteller Vesela Flamburari is working again on a joint project with the well-known artist Peter Stanimirov, and the result is the luxury edition "Gold from Zagreus" - a modern fairy tale for young and adults, in which ancient legends echo in our days, reality and myth intertwine, young heroes face greedy treasure hunters and criminal bosses... And good triumphs over evil again but in a way that is both classic and modern.
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Katri Mei Lightdeth
For some books I can write in a flash, for others I want to write but I can't find the right words, and there are some that I just don't care about... Well, "Gold from Zagreus" by the sorceress Vesela Flamburari does not fall into none of these my personal categories. It falls into a special category of books that I have something to say about, but the words are so many that I need time to gather them in one place.
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SciFi.bg
For me, the biggest advantage of this children's novel is that it does not shy away from a topic that children's books generally avoid - death. What happens after it, what remains of our loved ones after they die, how do we continue our lives without them? [...] In "Gold from Zagrej", death is, of course, presented in a more interesting way than we adults perceive it. Our loved ones do not disappear, but part of their essence remains with us, they continue to take care of us from their own dimension. Someone dying is still a cause for grief, in no way does the event belittle it, it is simply this concept that helps the living to cope better with sadness and loss and move on.
Continues on: SciFi.bg (in Bulgarian) scifi.bg
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Marin Troshanov
Whatever Vesela takes up – mythology, classical literary tropes and archetypal images, she refracts it so strongly and irrevocably through her own creative worldview and perception that something unexpected results every time. There is a sweet and gentle charm hidden in her children's books, but Vesela uses a different and mature style, avoiding simplistic, naive and deliberately elementalized narrative. In this way, adult readers would not only be able to fully and qualitatively enjoy the work, but they will also discover something new in subsequent readings. And in the end, there is something different each time…
The first world is our world: presented mainly by the mountain, the hidden village of Upper Zagreus, the city of Munich (Germany), as well as a rich man's villa around Munich.
The second world is the magical world in which the city of Dolen Zagrei (Lower Zagreus) is located (the cities were not big back then) - a flourishing ancient Thracian mountain city. It is a sort of a mountain capital of an ancient Thracian kingdom (similar to the city found on Kozi Gramadi). The mountain in which the city is located is very magical and inhabited by magical creatures. There is even a gold mine (the mountain Thracians were mainly engaged in mining, animal husbandry and beekeeping). There are also workshops in the settlements - for gold, ceramics, etc.
The main characters of the novel are three: Meda, Pancho and Brimo. They are called upon to restore the broken balance between the worlds.
Meda and Brimo's mother, Mara, is the Mother Goddess herself (because every mother is a Mother Goddess). Her name became a nightmare for the treasure hunters and their bosses in Bulgaria and abroad. When she is with her children, her hair is long, black and beautiful, but when she confronts her killers, her hair becomes snakes (looks like the Gorgon Medusa, but in the Thracian's mythology the snake-haired women were beautiful).
Meda is a mixture between an Amazon and a forest nymph. Like any girl, she is the future face of the Mother Goddess (daughter of Mara, isn't she).
Little Brimo, together with his toys, is an incarnation of the god Zagreus himself (Brimo is the son of Mara). The toys are important - they are part of the original myth and come to life in the magical world. So there is a talking frog, a living pinecone, a mirror girl and a living baby wool blanket. These were also the real toys of the mythical child god.
Here comes Pancho: Pancho is a complex character. He is actually the god Pan, but in his oldest and Thracian form. The word pan means universe, world. Pan is a mountain god who in his earliest appearance is again associated with the Mother Goddess. He is definitely older than the Olympians, and at the beginning he was not in the form of a half-goat, but a completely normal boy. He is the patron of shepherds, herds, beekeepers and fishermen - a kind god who protects the balance between nature and humans as a part of it.
He is always looking for his female partner and falls in love devotedly (later the Greeks and Romans turned him into an eternal lover). Above all, he is a god of the skills to subdue the universe/world/nature. He was a god who could acquire different skills and a god who learns, which is important to my story. (Usually, Pan is also associated with playing a whistle, but my Pancho only has a bell.)
Pancho's bicycle turns into two horses in the magical land. Because they assured me that there really are a little more than two horses in a good bicycle (as in cars).
Boreus is the north wind and Zephyr the south wind. In Lower Zagrei (Lower Zagreus) they are winds, not people.
Plaster heads are the furkos (titans) in the story (according to the myth – with plastered faces). They are the bad guys in the mythology and my story. The plaster heads are actually the people who killed Mara. For example, Žeko Tsarja is the first plaster head that will appear to haunt the children. There will be two more plaster heads: the 30-year-old Sofia boss and finally the third will be the biggest mafia boss from Munich.
Mara was the keeper of the two gold coins. The imbalance between the worlds happens when Mara is killed to take her coins.
In addition to friendship, love, responsibility to others, the meaning of life and in accordance with the belief of the ancient Thracians in immortality, the novel also touches on a topic that is often taboo for children's and adolescent novels. This is the death. How we accept death and how we fear it.
But most of all, the novel deals with the desire for creative immortality. If you want it, you have to fight for it every new day. The creativity unique to each human life can have a variety of manifestations, and everyone must find their own if they want to leave at least a tiny trace behind.
