The Boy and the Darkness

The Boy and the Darkness (Russian: Мальчик и тьма; aka "Sunny Kitten", aka "Door into Darkness") is a Russian fantasy novel written by Sergey Lukyanenko. It describes the magical adventures of a modern 13-year-old who has found a door into another world. The novel was completed in 1993, but Argus, the publisher with which Lukyanenko signed a contract to print the novel, refuses to publish. Lukyanenko was only able to publish the novel after the expiration of the four-year contract.

Plot summary

Danny (Russian: Данька), accidentally encounters a Sunny Kitten, a being made of True Light (sunlight appearing only at dusk or dawn) reflected off a True Mirror. The Kitten offers the boy a magical adventure and reveals a Secret Door, explaining that each world is connected to another with three such gateways. The world they find is completely without sunlight. Soon, Danny discovers that, in this world, humans sold their sunlight to otherworldly traders for certain comforts of modern civilization (electricity, hot water, indoor plumbing, etc.) and magical Wings.

Danny soon becomes an Elder Winger (Wingers always fly in pairs), taking a young boy-Winger named Lan as his Younger, despite them being roughly the same age. After Danny lets a wounded Flying go, the other Elders blind him with a knife, and only the Kitten is able to use the power of the Light to heal his eyes, unintentionally giving him True Sight (he can see through low-density objects and see to the very core of living things).

After arriving to the traders' city, the Kitten takes the boys to an arms shop, where he demands that the shop owner sell them the True Sword, the only weapon capable of defeating the Dark Lord.

In the final battle, the Wingers and the adults distract the main Flying force, while Danny, Lan, and the Kitten sneak into the tower to find the Lord. The Kitten soon abandons the boys, saying that he must go into the tower basement, where the Flyings keep a large cache of Sun Stones, from which he can draw the Light. The Kitten intends to become the new sun, hoping that the love of humans across the world will give him fuel. The boys continue moving through the tower. Eventually, they reach a mirrored room, where they encounter a former Winger, with a score to settle with Danny.

Danny and Lan return home. As the sun begins to set, Lan brings out a mirrored box, and Danny realizes that it is a True Mirror. The last rays of sunlight reflect off the mirror, and the Kitten reappears, claiming that he is simply a version of his now much larger self. He reveals to them another Secret Door, leading to a world other than Earth. From there, he hopes to find a doorway to Earth. The novel ends with the three characters stepping across the threshold, apparently into a world filled with werewolves.

References to other works

• The premise of the story is similar to Stephen King's The Talisman.
• The Kitten explains that there are three forces in all worlds: Light, Darkness, and Gloom. These three forces figure prominently in Lukyanenko's World of Watches series.
• One of the swords the shopkeeper attempts to sell Danny is an atomic sword from A Lord from Planet Earth trilogy. In fact, Danny appears to remember something for a second upon seeing the sword, but quickly forgets it. The second novel in the trilogy, The Planet which Doesn't Exist, has a secondary character - a teenage boy from Earth named Danny, whose memories of his extraterrestrial adventures get erased by a brain trauma.
• A similar theme appears in The King in the Window, by Adim Gopnik (Hyperion Children's Books), an adventure set in modern-day Paris starring an American boy who finds himself at the center of a war between window and mirror spirits, is a mixed bag of fantasy, technology and history. True Mirrors figure prominently in the story, as they are the key to defeating the evil Master of Mirrors, who steals souls through the deadening effect of mirror gazing.

External links

• Partial English translation of the novel