Reviews

Daughter from the Dark by Marina Dyachenko, Sergey Dyachenko

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yulie's review

2.0

Vita Nostra quickly became one of my favourite books of all time after I picked it up, and so I was incredibly excited to read Daughter from the Dark. Unfortunately, this story goes around in circles too often and is just exasperating to read. While something interesting appears to be going on, the story just takes its sweet time and keeps re-treading worn paths. The whole thing was just exhausting.

mabs's review

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dark mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

mirkalla's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I truly can not even begin to describe how this book affected me. I came into it blind, picking it up from a bookstore and discovering a return paper in it. Its not similar to many books ive read before, and it was a shot in the dark.
Alexey is such a raw and gross character that you cant help but hang onto his every thought and feeling, and half the time you dont even know whether he's right to feel the way he is or if he's just a bad person.And Alyona, i dont know where to begin, shes terrifyingly entrancing. The ideas that she encompasses, music and emotion and guidance and the scary elements of her powers. Shes like a personification of what thinking back on a horrible childhood is like, except its all made up and just part of your imagination. Her teddy bear Mishutka is how I've always thought of my own plushies, and for all i know i have my own real life mishutka, i just dont see him move.
After finishing the last page i had to sit and cry for a couple minutes, just because of how raw my emotions were.
The writing is magnificent, interspersed with radio segments in a way that felt like how thinking of a conversation in the middle of another one works. I can definitely see how this wont work for everyone, and how many might find it overly complicated and excessive, but for me it was perfect.
Flawed perfection existing in a world that hates perfection.

honnari_hannya's review

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2.0

An odd, deeply unsettling book with bad people you can't help but cheer for because you just feel so sorry for them. I didn't necessarily like this as much as I liked Vita Nostra, but I will definitely pick up another title from this duo because they have a way of crafting existential dread that is rare.

Suspenseful, mysterious, full of creeping horror as a man's life spirals into confused chaos that is brought about by one of the creepiest children I've read about thus far. Not for everyone, but if you like Kafka, (weird) Murakami, and those stories that blur the line between realism and the metaphysical, this might just be for you.

faehistory's review against another edition

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dark mysterious slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

couldbestephen's review against another edition

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4.0

The Dyachenkos weave a modern, dark fairy tale in this book, Daughter from the Dark. I really enjoyed this book, but unless you can handle a “dreamy” plot that builds towards something that is never explained... might be a miss for most “casual” readers. Vita Nostra would probably be the best entry to the Dyachenkos’ work.

The Daughter from the Dark follows DJ Aspirin, a Russian, womanizing DJ and writer. When he meets and “rescues” a little girl and her stuffed animal from the streets, Aspirin is yanked into a new reality, one where teddy bears can turn into monstrous beasts and where music can open portals to painless worlds. Simply put, this book is about a man who struggles with maturing into a responsible man as he tries to care for a strange girl who may or may not be his daughter. But there’s so much more to this book than that.

Marina and Sergey love playing fast and loose with reality in their books. Magic music and terrifying protectors mixed with the backdrop of a Russian metropolis and Russian sensibilities deliver a magical realism/urban fantasy “adventure” on steroids. As you progress through the book, you feel like you inch closer and closer to an explanation, closer to the final puzzle piece that will make everything make sense, and then the story ends. There is “magic.” But do not expect to understand it.

Julia Hersey has collaborated with the Dyachenkos for a few books now. Her translation brings their Russian prose to life in such an engaging way. Russian literature has a “style” that I can’t really articulate, but if you know, you know. This is such a Russian story. It’s dark, gritty, existential, it’s unlike most things you will read from American authors, it’s a goddam treat! The dream-like, fairy tale quality of the work has the story float along, in a way that shouldn’t work? But does? This is a hard book to review.

The Dyachenkos have done it again, crafted a dark, magical story that will please the people willing to put aside reason and be a terrible book for those who aren’t ready for a book that demands a different mindset from them.