Dream and reality, play and reality are intertwined in Oleksiy Nikitin's novel in such a bizarre way that Volodymyr Nabokov's paradoxical words about life imitating literature are involuntarily recalled. An ancient Chinese game, the secrets of bibliophiles, the mystery of the third volume of Nikolai Gogol's "Dead Souls" - the author successfully combines plot fascination with high metaphors, which acquire an almost prophetic and sometimes frightening depth as the bizarre plot develops.