The Anome (Book 1 of 3 in Durdane series, Russian translation)
The land of Shant on the planet Durdane is ruled by a purposely anonymous dictator called the Anome or Faceless Man. He maintains control by virtue of the torc, a ring of explosive placed around the neck of every adult in Shant. The minstrel Gastel Etzwane lives in Shant - a country of cantons, each independently dictating its own law and customs. The enforcement of law is simple, quick, and inevitable: death by decapitation, from an explosive torc clamped around each citizen's neck by authority of a single man, the Anome. For millennia Anomes have ruled Shant, dealing death as they see fit - and none dares defy them, until Gastel Etzwane risks his head to expose the Anome's identity and to end the tyranny of these faceless men forever.