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3.5 

Vita Nostra

By Marina & Sergey Dyachenko
Vita Nostra by Marina & Sergey Dyachenko digital book - Fable

Publisher Description

“Vita Nostra” — a cross between Lev Grossman’s “The Magicians” and Elizabeth Kostova’s “The Historian” [...] is the anti-Harry Potter you didn’t know you wanted.” -- The Washington Post

Vita Nostra has become a powerful influence on my own writing. It’s a book that has the potential to become a modern classic of its genre, and I couldn’t be more excited to see it get the global audience in English it so richly deserves.” -- Lev Grossman

Best Books of November 2018 -- Paste Magazine

The definitive English language translation of the internationally acclaimed Russian novel—a brilliant dark fantasy combining psychological suspense, enchantment, and terror that makes us consider human existence in a fresh and provocative way.

Our life is brief . . .

Sasha Samokhina has been accepted to the Institute of Special Technologies.

Or, more precisely, she’s been chosen.

Situated in a tiny village, she finds the students are bizarre, and the curriculum even more so. The books are impossible to read, the lessons obscure to the point of maddening, and the work refuses memorization. Using terror and coercion to keep the students in line, the school does not punish them for their transgressions and failures; instead, it is their families that pay a terrible price. Yet despite her fear, Sasha undergoes changes that defy the dictates of matter and time; experiences which are nothing she has ever dreamed of . . . and suddenly all she could ever want.

A complex blend of adventure, magic, science, and philosophy that probes the mysteries of existence, filtered through a distinct Russian sensibility, this astonishing work of speculative fiction—brilliantly translated by Julia Meitov Hersey—is reminiscent of modern classics such as Lev Grossman’s The Magicians, Max Barry’s Lexicon, and Katherine Arden’s The Bear and the Nightingale, but will transport them to a place far beyond those fantastical worlds.

 

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1028 Reviews

3.5
Thinking Face“Unlike anything I've read before. The closest comparison is Lev Grossman's The Magicians but the comparison is still lacking. This isn't a magic school and these kid's aren't going to become wizards, their fate lies in something much less... corporeal. I was mystified. There were moments where I was so frustrated with Sasha and some moments where I was so genuinely scared and anxious for her. What happens to her at the end I'm not quite sure of but I'm sure it was transcendent. It does lend into the idea that they are beyond us now, that their resonance is beyond Human understanding. I don't know how much was lost in translation because this book is meticulous in it's language. It is also meticulous in its pacing. Overall it is a thing of beauty. Fantastic read but I just know it's not for everyone.”

About Marina & Sergey Dyachenko

Marina and Sergey Dyachenko, a former actress and a former psychiatrist, are co-authors of over thirty novels and numerous short stories and screenplays. They were born in Ukraine and moved to California in 2013. Their books have been translated into several foreign languages and awarded multiple literary and film prizes. Marina and Sergey are recipients of the Award for Best Authors (Eurocon 2005), Prix Planete SF des blogueurs (2020), Grand Prix de l'Imaginaire (2020) and of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Rosetta Awards (2021).

Sergey Dyachenko passed away in 2022, but his memory lives on in books.

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