Scan barcode
A review by vortensity
Vita Nostra by Sergey Dyachenko, Marina Dyachenko
challenging
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
This isn't a book; it's a concept.
I have mixed feelings about this. The whole time reading it I was just thinking that I should have just re-read The Magicians trilogy instead. It's not exactly the same, either as a book or a concept, but it's similar enough and, frankly, I liked The Magicians better.
This was translated from Russian, and I think it was similar enough in terms of diction and especially syntax when it came to the writing style to other translations I've read from that language. I'm not sure whether that's part of why the writing style didn't work for me, because I always want to like translated fiction more than I do, it's a running theme with me. But overall I did find there to be a lot of telling over showing, and the writing kept me at arm's distance from what was going on on the page.
The character work is what I'm most disappointed in, I think. There really wasn't a ton of it. The characterizations were consistent, but there just wasn't that much substance to them outside of Sasha, and even Sasha I feel like I could have gotten to know better if we had more time to see the development of her relationships with the characters around her, but they are simply set pieces so we're basically just told what happens between them in a matter-of-fact way. I was interested in very few of the side characters, and the ones I found most interesting weren't really developed as much as I wanted them to be. I think Lisa's story was interesting, and I wanted to get to know her more, and I think that sexual violence was part of her story and it wasn't really... addressed ever?... just left a kind of bad taste in my mouth.
But, I did find the concepts this book was playing with interesting, and I suspect that's what the authors were more interested in when writing it. But, I can't really talk about that like too much without spoiling the entire thing as it isn't even revealed to you what the authors are having the main character work towards until the last 100-ish pages of the book.
I didn't dislike this book or feel like it was a complete waste of my time, I did want to finish it and I'm glad that I did. However, I don't think that I would recommend it to anyone.
I have mixed feelings about this. The whole time reading it I was just thinking that I should have just re-read The Magicians trilogy instead. It's not exactly the same, either as a book or a concept, but it's similar enough and, frankly, I liked The Magicians better.
This was translated from Russian, and I think it was similar enough in terms of diction and especially syntax when it came to the writing style to other translations I've read from that language. I'm not sure whether that's part of why the writing style didn't work for me, because I always want to like translated fiction more than I do, it's a running theme with me. But overall I did find there to be a lot of telling over showing, and the writing kept me at arm's distance from what was going on on the page.
The character work is what I'm most disappointed in, I think. There really wasn't a ton of it. The characterizations were consistent, but there just wasn't that much substance to them outside of Sasha, and even Sasha I feel like I could have gotten to know better if we had more time to see the development of her relationships with the characters around her, but they are simply set pieces so we're basically just told what happens between them in a matter-of-fact way. I was interested in very few of the side characters, and the ones I found most interesting weren't really developed as much as I wanted them to be. I think Lisa's story was interesting, and I wanted to get to know her more, and I think that sexual violence was part of her story and it wasn't really... addressed ever?... just left a kind of bad taste in my mouth.
But, I did find the concepts this book was playing with interesting, and I suspect that's what the authors were more interested in when writing it. But, I can't really talk about that like too much without spoiling the entire thing as it isn't even revealed to you what the authors are having the main character work towards until the last 100-ish pages of the book.
I didn't dislike this book or feel like it was a complete waste of my time, I did want to finish it and I'm glad that I did. However, I don't think that I would recommend it to anyone.
Content Warnings
Minor: Sexual violence