Kogda-to gde-to na idillicheskoy lesnoy doroge zagadochnyy starik podaril yunomu Ivanu Nekitaevu, synu russkogo ofitsera i kitayanki-hunhuzki, magicheskiy obzhigayuschiy talisman - artefakt, kotoryy sam vybral buduschego vlastitelya derzhavy. S teh por nachalsya ego neumolimyy put k vlasti i slave. Do slepoy revnosti vlyublennyy v sobstvennuyu sestru, lunolikuyu feyu Van TSzyden, besstrashnyy i zakalennyy v boyah voin, gubernator TSargrada i konsul Gesperii, tayno vedomyy svoim prispeshnikom Petrom Legkostupovym, - on ne ostanovitsya ni pered chem. Rossiyskaya Imperiya, znavshaya smutu, razdelennaya nadvoe i sobrannaya vnov voedino, dolzhna, nakonets, obresti svoego Imperatora... Modernistskiy roman peterburgskogo pisatelya Pavla Krusanova vyshel v samom nachale novogo tysyacheletiya i razdelil kritikov i chitateley na dva lagerya. Kto-to vozmutilsya ego otkrovennoy «imperskostyu» i naturalizmom, inye zhe voshitilis smeloy stilizatsiey i glubokim simvolizmom teksta. V lyubom sluchae pered vami shikarnyy obrazets russkoy antiutopii i misticheskogo realizma novogo veka. So vsemi svoimi prevrascheniyami, bluzhdayuschimi po zerkalam nespokoynymi dushami, raskladami Taro, tomnymi chaepitiyami na verande usadby, filosofskimi tetradyami, strashnymi obryadami i predatelskim zapahom ilang-ilanga... Kniga ponravitsya lyubitelyam zhanra alternativnoy istorii, uvlechennym mistikoy i ezoterikoy, a takzhe vsem tsenitelyam yazykovyh eksperimentov.