Reviews with content warning for Suicidal thoughts - Vita Nostra

Reviews tagging 'Suicidal thoughts'

Vita Nostra by Sergey Dyachenko, Marina Dyachenko

13 reviews

konsectatrix's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective tense 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? It's complicated

5.0

Outstanding book. Complex, rich, immersive, and dreamlike, it does really capture the unreal feeling of being in a long form magic rite.

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angorarabbit's review

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adventurous challenging dark mysterious reflective medium-paced

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

5.0

TLDR: I haven’t read any Kafka yet but I know this book is nothing like Harry Potter. It’s much better written for one.

Small town younger me grew up thinking that all science fiction and fantasy was written only in English. So reading translated fantasy is a revelation to me. I always wonder how much I miss with being unfamiliar with the culture and just the fact that translations can never be transliterations.

That being said it is hard for me to explain why I liked this book so much. Partly because despite the increasing strangeness of the situation that Sasha, her family, and friends find themselves I saw my college age self. Unlike Harry Potter, Sasha is worried about how her actions will affect her friends and most importantly to her her mother and half brother. When a grandmother dies her grandchild is sure it was because they did not study enough.

The book is written in 3rd person with the pov being Sasha. The plot is tight and intricate. The descriptions of places and people are almost cinematic without being flowery. The major characters are well described and consistent throughout the book. I was a little disappointed by the lack of ethnic or lgbtqaa+ representation but it’s hard to find a book with everything.

I am curious as to where there series will go from here, and I will read more by the Dyachenkos. To live in a world where this is available is amazing to me and I thank my libraries yet again..

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libellumartinae's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional inspiring tense medium-paced

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

3.5

Alright, they got me.

I love Eastern Europe fantasy because it has such an unhinged and folkloristic vibe to it and it represented it down to a t and although I still don't know what truly this book was about (but I can wholly appreciate the beauty of the whole world-building and magic system) I can't help but ugh... absolutely love the journey that it brought me through.

A few problematic: the characters aside the mc were quite forgettable, the parts not being divided in chapters were a tad too much at points and finally the mc constantly being called out for being the best was just ugh a tad too much.

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meganpbell's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark mysterious reflective tense medium-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? It's complicated

5.0

Dark academia—but make it Eastern European! Welcome to the Institute of Special Technologies…Now enrolling fans of mysterious schools, linguistic magic systems, dark and ambitious speculative fiction, and over-achieving female main characters. This is one of the few English translations of the work of award-winning Ukrainian masters of science fiction, Marina and Sergey Dyachenko, championed in the U.S. by The Magicians author Lev Grossman. If brutal academies and arcane systems of magic speak to you, this is required reading!

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aileron's review against another edition

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challenging dark mysterious slow-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? Yes

4.0

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nexusgoblin's review against another edition

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challenging dark mysterious slow-paced

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

4.0

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thesawyerbean's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark reflective slow-paced

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

4.75

How do I even begin to describe this book? I am sitting here trying to digest what I just read, awe-struck, troubled, befuddled.

This was more an experience than a book - you were drip-fed the tiniest morsels of information, learning as much as the protagonist Sasha did at each moment, never being explicitly explained the concepts and yet finding yourself enthralled and cognisant within them later on. You grasp and plead for meaning concurrently with Sasha, and unfurl another dimension of complexity yearning to be discovered.

This book was brimming with magic, dark fantasy, science, philosophy and metaphysical themes. I do not think I am intellectual enough to actually fully understand this novel, but it was certainly a delight to try. In parts I was very confused and had to reread whole sections, but honestly it kind of added to the atmosphere. Fans of dark academia like me would appreciate this read.

There are words that are simply trash, refuse, they turn into nothing immediately after they are spoken. Others throw shadows, hideous and pathetic, and sometimes gorgeous and powerful, capable of saving a dying soul.

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