Wild Energy. Lana

Wild Energy. Lana (orig. Ukrainian Dyka enerhiya. Lana) is a 2006 fantasy novel, written by Maryna and Serhiy Dyachenko and published in the Ukraine. The authors were named the best European fantasy writers in 2005.

The storyline of Wild Energy. Lana was inspired by Ukrainian musician Ruslana, and contains many elements from her unique lifestyle. The main character Lana is supposed to become the prototype of Ruslana's new music project. The first music video for this project was due in summer 2006. In 2008 the English version of the book should be released in Europe. A German version is also planned.

The book was released with two different covers.

Plot

The heroine, Lana, lives in a synthetic city and works as a pixel. Every evening millions of people, working as pixels, perform a 20-minute light show for the other citizens. They wear colourful robes and during each sunset they receive commands in the form of music through headphones. Each command means a certain type of movement, so that by moving/dancing, different parts of their clothes are exposed to the sun rays, thus reflecting the sunlight in different colours. All this can be seen on a huge screen in the synthetic city, where all citizens watch it.

After every light show all pixels receive a packet of energy which allows them to survive until their next dose. If a pixel makes a mistake during a show, so that the picture appears distorted, they are punished by not receiving an energy packet. If they haven't stored anything from their previous doses, they will not survive the next day.

Lana's best friend, Eve, makes such a mistake and is not given a packet. Lana does her best to save her but doesn't succeed. In the synthetic city there is a rumour spread that some people don't need these packets of synthetic energy and can live on their own, by the energy their hearts and spirits produce. These people are chased by the energy police: they are slaughtered in the factory (a mystic place about which little is known) and their energy is used for maintaining the lives of the synthetics by turning it into energy packets.

Lana is determined to find the Wild people and try to live by her own energy (the phrase "I'll find it or die" becomes the motto of the book and Ruslana's project). She finds them in a place called Overground. Overground is located on the roofs of abandoned or ruined skyscrapers, high, where no one can reach the Wild. They have created their own world and culture, possess wings as means of travelling, and have their own language, similar to that of birds. Lana stays with them for a while and finds friends. Lana turns out to be a powerful generator of wild energy, for which she is chased by the energy police. Being in Overground she exposes also her friends to danger. One day, while she is away, the energy police, in search for her, attack the Wild from Overground. When Lana returns, her home is devastated. She sets off to find and destroy the factory where her friends have most probably been taken.

On her way she meets the people-wolves, living in the woods, where she stays and learns how to summon the forces of nature, which will help her destroy the factory. During those rituals she is helped by a small drum, given her as a present by an old man from the synthetic city. She gathers a group of devoted young wild "wolves" and they go to fight with the factory and its devastating energy. The first attempt is not successful, the young wolves die, but she manages to enter the factory and is caught by the factory's host, who calls himself "The Heart of The Factory". Lana becomes his hostage and while she is there, it is implied that the factory's host might be Lana's father.

Lana manages to escape and saves her Overground friends. They go back to the people-wolves, where they gather a team for a second time. Another fight with the factory follows. The characters' weapons are different musical or noise producing instruments, including drums and trembitas. The factory's power is deafening silence. All sounds, all rhythm is lost when approaching the factory. Its anti-rhythm is usually stronger than any other life energy or rhythm. Lana's task is to defeat this anti-rhythm and, by summoning lightning, which must simultaneously strike all the weakest parts of the factory to destroy it.

The friends manage to do this and enter the factory, but once inside, the factory's anti-rhythm almost kills them. They survive because "The Heart of The Factory" helps them by taking their place in the dangerous anti-rhythm zone. He dies and Lana and her friends remain safe and sound. The Wild go back to their homes and Lana becomes the new "Heart of the Factory".

See also

• "Dyka Enerhija"