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A review by a_chickletz
Vita Nostra by Sergey Dyachenko, Marina Dyachenko
3.0
This book is not only confusing, I have never read another book like it and that is a good thing.
I am unsure if it is the translation or the authors have a strange way of writing but whatever the case is, the translation/how the book 'was' textual was a bit of a throw off. There was sentences that did not make sense, they looked as though they were a literal translation. Think of it this way, it read as if the book was being read back after going through a google translator from english to russian to English again.
Another problem I had is that the book spent SO MUCH TIME doing the same thing over and over (the learning) that when you finally touch upon what might be happening, it comes out of left field and you were given no hints or explanation.
So: a girl meets a hunchback man while walking home one day, he tells her that she needs to apply for this academy. She starts coughing up gold coins. The coins pay for her tutelage at the said academy and she then is being schooled by a couple teachers who make her read various books that start off like stereo instructions but morph bit by bit into something glorious and awe inspiring. but this is the beginning. The more she reads, the more she understands, the more she begins to change.
It's a very interesting thing, but the catch is that you have to continue on this path of reading from the books and maturing with the reading or else you will be incomplete.
The end of the book started to hint at something: a big bad that they'll have to go up against. What is this big bad? Think of Saruon and Cuthlu having a baby. It's this thing in the other dimension. You glimpse it once or twice, and the main character asks about it but they are reluctant to tell her about what it is because she is not ready yet.
I think this book is really unique and it really deserves to be read. But it is missing something, and you feel a bit cheated. It's like someone giving you the instructions to bake something delicious, and when finished, you take that bite and realize it is lacking a flavor. Maybe after a few more tries with the directions you will finally find what is lacking. Same goes with this book. I am willing to go on with the series, but the characters need to be more developed as does the main goal of this school, and, the translation.
I am unsure if it is the translation or the authors have a strange way of writing but whatever the case is, the translation/how the book 'was' textual was a bit of a throw off. There was sentences that did not make sense, they looked as though they were a literal translation. Think of it this way, it read as if the book was being read back after going through a google translator from english to russian to English again.
Another problem I had is that the book spent SO MUCH TIME doing the same thing over and over (the learning) that when you finally touch upon what might be happening, it comes out of left field and you were given no hints or explanation.
So: a girl meets a hunchback man while walking home one day, he tells her that she needs to apply for this academy. She starts coughing up gold coins. The coins pay for her tutelage at the said academy and she then is being schooled by a couple teachers who make her read various books that start off like stereo instructions but morph bit by bit into something glorious and awe inspiring. but this is the beginning. The more she reads, the more she understands, the more she begins to change.
Spoiler
Basically, one of her teachers summed it up by saying that her 'form' is no longer 'holding her together', that the words are unlocking something inside her that is making her adapt to a word or certain types of 'things'. At one point she can 'meld' with people (her infant brother, her friend, people on the street). Also while she is melding, she can change into various forms or creatures that can be scaled, feathered or, look like machinery.It's a very interesting thing, but the catch is that you have to continue on this path of reading from the books and maturing with the reading or else you will be incomplete.
The end of the book started to hint at something: a big bad that they'll have to go up against. What is this big bad? Think of Saruon and Cuthlu having a baby. It's this thing in the other dimension. You glimpse it once or twice, and the main character asks about it but they are reluctant to tell her about what it is because she is not ready yet.
I think this book is really unique and it really deserves to be read. But it is missing something, and you feel a bit cheated. It's like someone giving you the instructions to bake something delicious, and when finished, you take that bite and realize it is lacking a flavor. Maybe after a few more tries with the directions you will finally find what is lacking. Same goes with this book. I am willing to go on with the series, but the characters need to be more developed as does the main goal of this school, and, the translation.