Reviews with content warning for Alcohol - Vita Nostra

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Vita Nostra by Sergey Dyachenko, Marina Dyachenko

9 reviews

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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themis_biblos's review against another edition

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

4.25

Just like Sasha's field of study, there is no sufficient way to describe this book. Like a dream it only makes sense while you're immersed; once you close the book and wake up, what just made sense two seconds ago becomes weird and somewhat eerie.

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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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naomi_k's review against another edition

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challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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fireside_reads's review against another edition

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challenging dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

3.5

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catsy2022's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional tense medium-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

4.5

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ivana's review against another edition

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challenging dark mysterious reflective slow-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

3.5

Content Warnings

bluejayreads's review against another edition

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challenging dark mysterious slow-paced

Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

I legitimately expected to DNF this pretty early in. The back cover didn’t sound super great (the “school where the lessons can’t be memorized” was the only intriguing bit), and I was very concerned about the adult man making a 16-year-old girl do “potentially scandalous” things. (If you’re concerned, it’s uncomfortable for Sasha but not inappropriate). The only reason I picked it up at all was because I’m trying to read new ideas from voices I don’t often hear and this book was a bestseller in Russia. I was kinda curious what a Russian bestseller would be about, but I didn’t have high hopes.

This is going to be more of a list of the things I don’t understand. Starting with the genre – I think magical realism is the closest, but strong arguments could be made for low fantasy, psychological horror, or even contemporary. The back cover is pretty lame, but like the mentioned lessons defy memorization, this book defies categorization. I described it to my husband as “a magical school narrative, but if Hogwarts was a brainwashing cult,” and that’s close but still fails to capture the full essence of this novel.

It’s impossible to adequately describe this book, the experience of reading this book, in words. It’s a first-person narrative of a girl falling into madness such that you don’t notice how mad she is until other characters point it out. It’s a first-person narrative of a girl whose eyes are opened to the true power within her and transcends her mortal form. It’s bizarre, surreal, uncomfortable and unsettling, and somehow made my reality outside of the book seem just a little bit off-kilter every time I put it down. It’s the kind of book that makes you want to stare at all wall for a while until you process what you just read. For a while I didn’t understand, and then I sort of understood, and by the time I finished I still didn’t really understand but I loved it.

I still don’t know whose “side” the Institute is on, if they’re good or bad, or if those terms even apply. I still am not entirely sure if the deadly consequences that seem to happen whenever Sasha and her schoolmates fail are truly orchestrated by these people or if they’re all just terrible coincidences, though by the end I, like Sasha, tended towards belief. I still don’t know if I entirely “liked” this novel, but I do know that I was completely and utterly enthralled. Baffled, disturbed, and unnerved, yes, but also engrossed, captivated, and desperately curious to continue, to be in this book and this story and this … whatever exactly it is. The Dyachenkos have created an experience in reading that is akin to Sasha’s experience at the institute. It defies understanding, it defies explanation, it defies review, but all I wanted while reading was to continue to be immersed in this surreal and fantastic story.

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the_rainydayreader's review against another edition

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challenging dark mysterious tense 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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