"Vita Nostra" started out really strong and I loved how different this story was to other fantasy stories I've read. The protagonist was really interesting, I loved her inner conflict and character development, the supporting characters were interesting, and the storyline unique.

Unfortunately, the plot became a little too weird for me towards the end and the tension that had built up all throughout the novel just faded a little.

Still, I loved the writing style and how different the story felt.

One of the most engrossing reading experiences of the year, Vita Nostra by Marina and Sergey Dyachenko, translated from the Russian by Julia Meitov Hersey, is a dark and philosophical fantasy novel that examines the fundamentals of existence and will most likely appeal to fans of X-Men comics, Lexicon by Max Barry, and The Magicians trilogy by Lev Grossman.

“I want to give you a task to perform. It’s not hard. I never ask for the impossible.”

The story follows Alexandra “Sasha” Samokhina, who, while vacationing at the beach with her mother, encounters a mysterious stranger, Farit Kozhennikov, who manipulates her into performing strange tasks with an even more peculiar reward. As Sasha soon finds out, the price for disobeying is terrible, so she agrees to comply with the stranger’s bizarre requests. This all takes her on an increasingly strange path that leads to a mysterious Institute of Special Technologies, located in a small town in rural Russia, with weird teachers and students. Sasha and her classmates are forced to attend very unconventional courses and the study schedule is gruelling. Moreover, every failure or misstep results in a terrible punishment, but, instead of the students, it’s their loved ones who have to pay the price. Ironically, the demanding and exhausting study process at this strange institute, where they spend long nights cramming for exams with no concrete aim in sight, felt like a pretty accurate depiction of academic life (except for the incredibly cruel punishments, of course).

This is a very difficult book to summarize without revealing too much, so I’ll just say that, as the story develops, it gets progressively weirder, darker and more philosophical. In a good way. Even though I’m still not entirely sure that I understood all the underlying philosophical concepts.

"There are concepts that cannot be imagined but can be named. Having received a name, they change, flow into a different entity, and cease to correspond to the name, and then they can be given another, different name, and this process—the spellbinding process of creation—is infinite: this is the word that names it, and this is the word that signifies. A concept as an organism, and text as the universe."

Readers and reviewers often describe a book as engrossing or that they couldn’t put it down, but, in my experience, these kinds of reading experiences are actually very rare. I’m an avid reader but I can recall only a small number of books that really provided me with the experience of being completely transported into another world and not wanting the book to end. I’m happy to report that Vita Nostra was one of those experiences. There’s been an interesting trend in fantasy fiction in recent years, where authors try to incorporate elements from Russian culture and mythology into their worldbuilding, however, unfortunately, the end results are often full of obvious errors that immediately pull me out of the story, so it was very refreshing to read a fantasy novel where the Russian setting actually feels authentic.

Overall, this was a suspenseful, imaginative, and smart fantasy novel with a strong, clever, and assertive main character that explores the mysteries of the universe and transformative nature of deep intellectual studies. The story also serves as a great allegory for the transformation, both physical and psychological, that young adults go through as they grow up and mature. Highly recommended!

Vita Nostra was first published in Ukraine in 2007, in the original Russian. After garnering prizes and a cult following, this novel by Marina and Sergey Dyachenko is now being published by HarperCollins in an English translation by Julia Meitov Hersey. It has been compared to «The Magicians» by Lev Grossman, who has claimed that Vita Nostra «has become a powerful influence» on his own writing. A Goodreads reviewer describes it as «Harry Potter, were it written by Lev Tolstoy». It’s a helpful analogy, but one which does not really prepare you for the novel’s enthralling weirdness.

It starts out like a slice of post-Soviet realism, with Sasha Samokhina, the 16-year old protagonist, vacationing at a rather sordid resort with her (single) mother. Sasha notices that she is being stalked by a stranger, whom she cannot avoid, however hard she tries. Things soon take a turn for the bizarre. When Sasha finally speaks to the stranger, he sets her awkward challenges which border on the abusive, and test her physical and psychological endurance to the limit. The price for failing is high – one near-miss brings about nearly fatal consequences for the persons closest to Sasha. It turns out all these rather disturbing goings-on are a prelude to Sasha being called to join the mysterious «Institute of Special Technologies». Potterheads will be disappointed to learn that this is no Russian Hogwarts. It is situated in the nondescript provincial town of Torpa; its more advanced students seem deranged or crippled; its lecturers are threatening; its curriculum, and particularly the dreaded «Specialty» lecture, seems maddeningly – and pointlessly - difficult. And there’s a clear sense that failure is simply not an option. Throughout the novel, Sasha considers not entering the Institute and, eventually, escaping from there. But can she ever bring herself to do that when it would put her life and her family in mortal danger? The atmosphere of dread never lifts – and it is accentuated by the fact that for most of the book, neither Sasha nor the readers are really aware what the course is all about, what its aims are and what it will all lead to. Like the protagonist, we are kept in the dark and slowly discover (part of ) the truth with her.

These gradual revelations makes Vita Nostra eminently readable, despite the fact that its plot is not really spectacular and often built on abstruse concepts. At one level, it can be enjoyed as a coming-of-age or college novel, one in which Sasha Samokhina experiences love and grows into an independent adult. At the same time, the fantastical elements give it an added dimension, making us wonder what the heck is going on at the Institute. By the end of the book, we notice that the novel has prodded us into considering weighty philosophical concepts, such as fate and free will – do we really have choices, or are these set by others, or by our own fears and limitations?

This was one of the most mind-boggling, unusual and memorable books read this year – and probably the one with the most striking cover. If I chop off a couple of stars from my rating it is because I found the language used rather awkward – I can’t say whether it’s the translation or a quirk of the original, but I felt that the shifts from colloquial to a more high-flying style were clunky and unconvincing. But this is, ultimately, a novel one reads for its baffling ideas – I recommend it precisely for being so strange.

Sometimes a book is so custom-made for me that I am unsure whether I can reasonably recommend it to anyone or if the reading experience was incredible just because the book hit all my favourite things. This is one of those times. Combining some of my greatest loves in fiction: dark fantasy, inspired by Russian literature, set in the middle of nowhere with plenty of snow, combining boarding school tropes with unconventional storytelling, this book was everything to me.

This book follows Sasha, whose life is changed forever when she is approached by an otherworldly man who tells her she is stuck in a time-loop and the only way to change this is to get up at four in the morning (never missing a day) and nakedly swimming in the ocean. She does so every day, vomiting up weird gold coins afterwards. Returning home and to what she thinks will be normalcy, she is approached again, having to follow new sets of rules, always throwing up gold coins afterwards. She does not feel she has a choice when the man tells her she will be attending a rural university instead of the one she had planned for all her life.

This book is a wild ride, and for the vast majority of its duration it stays opaque and the reader is left in the dark just as much as Sasha is. I did not mind this one bit and I loved this introspective, weird book a whole lot. There is a menacing undercurrent here that is made even more spell-binding as we closely follow Sasha and her fears without ever really being in her head at all. I found the use of third-person narration worked really well here and made the book all that more compulsive for me.

While Sasha is definitely the heart of this book and I adored her prickliness and her focus and her love for her family, I have to admit my favourite characters were the two main teachers and her mentor, the latter one being so very fascinating and awful and just everything I wanted him to be.

I do want everybody to read this, for one thing because it is brilliant and one of the highlights of my reading but also for another, totally selfish reason, I want it to be successful enough that the second book gets translated as soon as possible. I want to spend more time in this world and with this characters and I have very many theories where this might go next.

Sasha Samokhina is like every other teenager, wanting to have fun, fall in love and eventually go to a good college when she leaves school. Being a studious and bright girl Sasha has an exciting future ahead of her. But an encounter with a mysterious stranger on holiday appears to change all that, as she is plunged into challenging physical tasks after which she is rewarded with gold coins. The coins are part of the entry condition to a college Sasha has never heard of and certainly does not want to attend. The price for non-compliance or poor achievement is that a member of her family will be punished in some way.
Almost immediately Sasha begins her studies, her previous tasks appear to have been child’s play. Sasha is put under intolerable pressure until she fears she might lose her mind or, looking at the students in the years ahead of her, something even worse.
It was clear fairly soon into the book that I was reading something very fresh, different and special.
Sasha’s progress through her tortuous and challenging education brought to mind the struggles of Knecht, the Master Ludi, of Herman Hesse’s The Glass Bead Game. Her tasks are equally as obscure, but in Vita Nostra the student is expected to make something tangible of them in their journey to their spiritual transformation. The gruelling work welds apparently impossible visualisation exercises with philosophy to achieve a particular level of sorcery each student has an aptitude for. Sasha is particularly gifted. But in the effort to achieve her potential, Sasha is under constant threat of tipping over into madness.
At the same time she is coping with the transition from a teenager to an adult. This is far from easy for Sasha. You realise once she returns home from her seaside holiday that she is not the most social person. She becomes increasing isolated as she struggles to keep up with the tasks the mysterious stranger sets her.
Throughout the book you feel as if Sasha is living out her existence on quicksand, as she feels her way through life in the Institute of Special Technologies in the remote town of Torpa. Sasha also has the development of her mother’s new relationship at home to content with. The two worlds feel as if they are separate and yet at the same time reflect each other, with Sasha as their connection.
The book is split into three main sections, each documenting Sasha’s progression through three years of education at Torpa. In terms of Sasha herself, you really get a sense of her growing maturity, both in how she adapts to her new life, maturing into an adult, and relentless anguish over trying to grasp the impossible while being subjected to apparently unfair treatment. All this simply because in order to develop she needs to find her way through on her own without a clear explanation of why it is she is doing these complex exercises and even how she might successfully achieve the results her tutors are looking for.
Sasha’s obscure coursework is fascinating, made all the more intriguing to the reader as they too begin to feel the completely unintelligible might actually make a weird kind of sense.
Because of the conceptual complexity of the narrative and what the authors are trying to convey I cannot help but admire Julia Meitov Hersey’s translation.
It is easy to see why Vita Nostra has been held in such high regard. I am sure the novel will be one of those books older young adult readers will want to say they have read, because there is such huge scope for discussion about the way Sasha’s bizarre educational exercises appear to work with philosophy, as well as how the demanding course affects her.
Yet despite all the strangeness, Sasha’s adjustment to a new life away from her mother and the comforts of home, as well as her developing relationships over her years of study, are experiences which are the same the world over and will resonate strongly with readers.
Vita Nostra will also appeal to an adult audience, particularly because it will take more than one reading, being a book to revisit over the years as a satisfying read to mull over.

Vita Nostra, first published in 2007 in Ukraine, tells the story of Alexandra (Sasha) Samokhina, who whilst vacationing with her mother meets Farit Kozhennikov, a strange and sinister-looking man who forces her to attend a remote and mysterious university. This novel follows her adventures and exploits. One word that cannot be used to describe this novel is boring. It is certainly far from that and combines many different genres to create a truly original story. While I did enjoy aspects, I, unfortunately, found it rather perplexing and surreal, so much so that for the majority of the time I had no inclination about what was actually happening! However, there was something stopping me from just giving up and moving on to something else.

As a fan of Haruki Murakami and his intensely descriptive prose, I also appreciated that here, although those who don't enjoy that style of writing may wish to avoid this, as it means that the story is quite static and takes rather a long time to come to fruition. In the end, the story does make sense, and I respected the attempt at making it a unique title that readers will remember for a long time. By the time the conclusion came, I was very sad to be leaving this fantastical, fictional world and can now absolutely understand why this book has a cult following! I suspect I will pick this up again and see what sort of impression it leaves on me after the second time. Intriguing, extraordinary, well written, wonderfully atmospheric and thoroughly unforgettable. If you enjoy fantasy, I urge you to give this a go!

Many thanks to HarperVoyager for an ARC. I was not required to post a review, and all thoughts and opinions expressed are my own.

A highly original book that is difficult to pin down for a satisfactory description. Urban fantasy? Sci-fi? Speculative? Weird? It has elements of many of this but doesn’t fit neatly under any label.

While on holiday with her mother in a small seaside town, Sasha Samokhina meets the unsettling Farit Kozhenikov who gives her a series of bizarre tasks to complete. Sasha feels powerless to refuse and Kozhenikov promises that failure will result in dire consequences. After failing her entrance exam to university Sasha discovers that she has been selected for the mysterious Institute of Special Technologies, where the lessons are inexplicable, the teachers terrifying and the older students damaged. The what, why and how of what is happening are all equally obscure as Sasha begins a bizarre and disturbing process of mental and physical metamorphosis as everything she knows about time and matter disintegrate.

Esoteric and metaphysical, the spiraling plot and lack of answers make for a frustrating read that part of me wanted to abandon, but that’s all part of the Dyachenko’s devious writing. The reader experiences Sasha’s own bewilderment, and both her desire and her inability to escape, picking apart the reality of her situation right beside her.

A few of the sections drag on a little too long after their purpose has already been achieved, making the pacing uneven and the story sometimes gets caught up in its own sense of mystery, edging over into self-indulgence. But it’s also clever, absorbing, challenging and infuriating. Harness your patience and it is well worth a read. I hope that the rest of the series is translated into English in due course.

Thankyou to NetGalley, Harper Collins UK, Harper Fiction, the authors Sergey and Marina Dyachenko, and the translator, Julia Meitov Hersey, for the opportunity to read an advanced readers copy of Vita Nostra in exchange for an honest and unbiased opinion.
I was drawn to this book because of the beautifully mystical cover. I just loved it. Now the question is, does the cover do the book justice? In my opinion, it certainly does.
I found the storyline to be well thought out and written. It was mystical, atmospheric in detail and intriguing. I lost time once I turned that first page. The storyline had me truly absorbed. I enjoyed this book immensely and have ordered a printed edition. While this was my first book from the authors, it certainly won't be my last.
Definitely well worth a read for fantasy fans or if you are in search of something that is just a bit different.

Like weird? This is your book! Like Harry Potter written by Dostoyevsky, with bits of Kafka and the X-files rolled in, all set in a post-Soviet landscape and a mysterious college. I honestly had no idea what was going on most of the time. To take the beginning: our heroine is set a task by a mysterious mirror-sunglassed guy to go swimming and is soon vomiting up strange gold coins... then she has to go running every morning ending in taking a pee...

There's something intriguing here but the flat prose (or translation?) and long drawn-out scene setting left me impatient - I wanted the story to get going faster than it actually does. For more patient readers than me, do be aware that things don't make much sense and you have to trust that they will by the end. This has a cult following and I wanted to be part of the club - but sadly it's not to be. I didn't click with this but plenty of people do - and I envy them.