Reviews

Vita Nostra by Marina Dyachenko, Sergey Dyachenko

tobyjames12's review against another edition

challenging dark funny mysterious reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

bugcollector's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

sanmeow's review against another edition

dark mysterious slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

a dark academia story that follows sasha, a 16 year old girl who meets a strange man called kozhennikov. kozhennikov gives her various tasks to complete and rewards her with a gold coin after each of them. finally, he tells her to go attend a school called the institute of special technologies. sasha doesn't especially want to and neither does her mother, but she feels like she has no choice. when she arrives, she sees that the institute is much stranger than she could've anticipated. 
absolutely loved the author's writing style. perfectly descriptive and makes sure that you can clearly envision everything, including sasha's inner emotional life. the worldbuilding is honestly amazing, the magic system is unique and creative, the school is perfectly eerie. sasha is an amazing protagonist and her character development is honestly impressive. the atmosphere is perfect.
honestly obsessed with this book! i read the sequel, and i did like it, though just a bit less than this. 

timepetals's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious reflective tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated

5.0

“Sasha, the world is full of entities that people cannot negotiate with. But somehow people survive, don’t they?”

Unlike anything you will ever read. Made me shiver, made me squirm, made me cry. A coming of age story as if written by Franz Kafka and Mikhail Bulgakov. 

Sasha Samokhina is a fabulous literary heroine - I know a lot of people would call her too meek, too self-absorbed, or too unlikable, but the journey (spiritual, emotional, and physical) she goes through with this book is so riveting I could not help but live through her. She's a 21st century Faust, just as Farit Kozhennikov is a 21st century Mephistopheles, and the two of them are perfect foil for each other, constantly pushing and pulling, and challenging. 

--

Quotes I marked:
"Love is not when you are aroused by someone, it's when you are afraid for that person."
"If somewhere, at some point in time, in a different text, her words became human beings, they had a reason to reproach Sasha. But then they had reason to thank her as well. At least that was what she wanted to believe."
"To live is to be vulnerable. To love is to fear. And the one who is not afraid - that person is calm like a boa constrictor and cannot love."

sabsey's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes

how could I possibly rate this

ris_sasaki's review against another edition

reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? N/A
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

tokyo_mulldrifter's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

pocketspoon's review

dark emotional mysterious tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Diverse cast of characters? No

3.5

What just happened?

quailtea's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

remarkable, spellbinding, so dark and bleak, i was completely obsessed w it and need ppl to talk to about it! excited for the sequel but need to like catch my breath first phew!

foxybuddha's review against another edition

challenging mysterious reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

What?

I was confused most of the time but enjoyed the confusion.  I felt like I was a student at the institute and learned things only when able to understand.  I'm going to have to ponder the ending for a while.