Oksana Chukhlib
Punishers
Vlad Yakushev 
Write about soldiers with humor! Read a book about the events of the war of 2015-2016 and laugh at jokes and curiosities, feel proud of the guys who in difficult conditions not only fought bravely, but also found strength for good deeds, friendly jokes, help the locals, (despite their ambiguous attitude). And wipe away tears in the sad moments when the boys lost their brothers.
Cabinet generals will NOT particularly like this book. Often they were the first to flee the battlefield and only spread demagoguery. Their images were almost caricatured and the fighters were not afraid to tell them the truth in their eyes. “Sorry, it’s infantry, brother,” says one of the main characters.
If you are a pacifist or think that you should just stop firing, it is better not to read, because the work has zero tolerance for enemies.
However, combat officers and volunteers are endowed with chivalrous qualities of self-sacrifice and show miracles of ingenuity, fighting with outdated weapons against trained enemy armies. Hurricane, Granite, Viking, Panda are their call signs.
Unusually, each chapter begins with an apt quote from a hero – a warrior, commander, priest, journalist. I can’t imagine when the author managed to write or memorize them?
And what self-irony about himself. Guess who the author’s prototype is, guess what.
In the light of the recent aggravation of the situation in Donbass, I calmly understand: we have a large motivated human resource and also an experienced one!
The book is written in a living, colloquial language. And this gives it color, life. And let literary critics argue among themselves that it is better to write novels and novels by professional writers in literary language or, for example, demobilized soldiers, and I decided for myself: military prose from an eyewitness – the truest, most sincere, it’s just pe-re-zhi-ta!
In conclusion, oh (how much I wrote), I want to say. In response to hostilities in Ukraine, a new genre emerged – modern military prose. And I know that I will read further, because there are many such works from fighters now.
And I’m waiting for Vlad Yakushev’s film adaptation of “Punishers”. The main thing is to find funds and a director who will be able to show not only the war, but also the PEOPLE in the war, as the author intended.