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A review by imaginary_space
Vita Nostra by Marina Dyachenko, Sergey Dyachenko
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
This is a great book and I recommend it if you're searching for something outside of the repetitive mainstream.
Things I enjoyed most: The slow pacing, the suspense, the weirdness, that it's about a teenager but not a YA story (at least I wouldn't call it one), the unique world building, the prose, the philosophical concepts, the fantastical intertwined with mundane problems and the fact that we didn't get any real explanations (I hate when books with magical mysteries do that).
And yet, something makes me not rate this 5 stars. I don't know exactly what it is. Maybe it was a little too long-winded towards the end. Maybe the prose was overdone in some instances in the English translation - I'll have to read a German translation to find out.
Nevertheless, I enjoyed the journey immensely.
Things I enjoyed most: The slow pacing, the suspense, the weirdness, that it's about a teenager but not a YA story (at least I wouldn't call it one), the unique world building, the prose, the philosophical concepts, the fantastical intertwined with mundane problems and the fact that we didn't get any real explanations (I hate when books with magical mysteries do that).
And yet, something makes me not rate this 5 stars. I don't know exactly what it is. Maybe it was a little too long-winded towards the end. Maybe the prose was overdone in some instances in the English translation - I'll have to read a German translation to find out.
Nevertheless, I enjoyed the journey immensely.