The book has a Recycled Premise from Plutonia, but it's executed a lot better. Sannikov Land has a way stronger plot (in contrast to the Random Events Plot from Plutonia with only a couple of actual story arcs) and well-developed characters (while the explorers in Plutonia are almost interchangeable and the Frazetta Man Plutonians are barely sapient).
The heroes' attitude towards the Paleolithic cultures is considerably more humane. In Plutonia, the characters are perfectly okay with holding a Paleolithic woman against her will. Here, when the explorers raid a Vampu camp (Vampu are likewise at the Paleolithic stage of development), Goryunov has a Heel Realization and decides to leave some of their own things to the Vampu in compensation.
The film
Adaptation Displacement: The film is better-known (in no small part thanks to the beautiful songs) than the book. The book’s covers nowadays can even be based on the film’s depictions of the characters.
The Onkilon shaman is a cruel, power-hungry sadist Hiding Behind Religion. After he fears the explorers' group would undermine his authority, he tries to persuade the chief to get them killed, and when the chief refuses, the shaman has Dukkar kill him, and seizes the power for himself. As a cataclysm stops geyser activity in Sannikov Land, the shaman doesn't care that the rest of the Onkilons, who unlike him who don't know how to make fire, might freeze to death, as long as he gets his revenge on the explorers. With Mind Rape and some physical harassment, the shaman manipulates Goshar, a sweet and trusting Onkilon woman, into helping him against the explorers by first dosing them with a sleeping potion and, when that fails, by setting a trap. The latter is successful in luring Gubin, one of the explorers' group, out of hiding, and the shaman decides to torture him with a pitchfork so that his screams would lure out the rest of the group, and dies while trying to put out Gubin's eyes.
Dukkar is an Onkilon warrior held in high esteem by the chief. He dislikes the explorers from the start and immediately offers to kill them. His hatred of them is cemented after he overhears Annuir, after whom he lusts and who previously rejected him, confessing her love for Ilyin, head of the explorers' group. When the chief decides he won't have the explorers sacrificed, Dukkar allies with the shaman and eagerly agrees to murder the chief, which he does, stabbing him from behind while he is hunting. After that, Dukkar becomes the shaman's second-in-command. When the shaman has the idea of forcing Goshar to help them, Dukkar brings her to him and participates in her harassment. Dukkar prepares poisoned arrows to kill the explorers as painfully as possible and intends to take Annuir for himself after they are dead. Even after the shaman is killed and the previous chief's son takes over, Dukkar doesn't let go of his plans and, tracking down the explorers, shoots Ignaty, a harmless, bumbling Lovable Coward, for no discernible motive other that bloodlust.
Narm Charm: The shaman is a rather flat character that seems to be entirely made of worn-out clichés, but Makhmud Esambayev’s performance makes him utterly terrifying, and his voice can make your blood run cold.
" sung by Oleg Anofriev.