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A review by gavinofhaynes
Vita Nostra by Marina Dyachenko, Sergey Dyachenko
2.0
Vita Nostra has been compared to books like The Magicians and Harry Potter, but with a Russian twist. I found this to be an unfair comparison - yes, they all feature magical schools, but Vita Nostra foregoes most of the narrative structure present in these works for something more literary in scope.
I am torn on if I actually enjoyed this book or not to be honest. On one hand, it is a deeply depressing work of fiction that's central theme is college students trying to comprehend metaphysics and nominalism. If that sounds like an exciting read, I would be interested in hearing what other books you enjoy. If Harry Potter is the perfect magic school where everyone has fun and casts cool spells, and Brakebills is the subversive school where you have to hurt your hands while turning into whales, then I have no idea what to call the Institute of Special Technology. The students are forced there under threat of death of their loved ones, and instead of getting cool wands and casting exciting spells, they mainly sit around crappy dorms reading gibberish that makes them slightly insane.
This leads to a book that is strangely unsatisfying. The main character Sahsa, is told that she makes great progress, but by around 75% of the book, the reader has yet to see any magic. Instead, most of the progress is marked by clinical depression and mental dis-figuration. It appears that perhaps the first novel is heavily dependent on the sequels for any sort of payoff for the reader. I finished the book and found myself surprised that there wasn't another 200 pages to wrap everything up.
That isn't to say I didn't find some joy in the novel. The characterization, although bizarre due to the setting, was interesting. In fact, the author may even argue that my dissatisfaction with the payoff was intentional. A large theme of the book is that hard, unrewarding work is a simple fact of life, and that completing what is expected of you shouldn't warrant any particular merit. Although this theme is quite depressing, I wouldn't think to question it's validity or execution.
Ultimately, there is a lot of interesting things happening in Vita Nostra. However, the fact that most of those things are wrapped around pages of teenagers sinking into manic episodes while trying to chant meaningless words tended to take away a lot of my personal interest. I would look forward to a translation of the sequel if only to see if there is a reward hidden within the pages of this series.
I am torn on if I actually enjoyed this book or not to be honest. On one hand, it is a deeply depressing work of fiction that's central theme is college students trying to comprehend metaphysics and nominalism. If that sounds like an exciting read, I would be interested in hearing what other books you enjoy. If Harry Potter is the perfect magic school where everyone has fun and casts cool spells, and Brakebills is the subversive school where you have to hurt your hands while turning into whales, then I have no idea what to call the Institute of Special Technology. The students are forced there under threat of death of their loved ones, and instead of getting cool wands and casting exciting spells, they mainly sit around crappy dorms reading gibberish that makes them slightly insane.
This leads to a book that is strangely unsatisfying. The main character Sahsa, is told that she makes great progress, but by around 75% of the book, the reader has yet to see any magic. Instead, most of the progress is marked by clinical depression and mental dis-figuration. It appears that perhaps the first novel is heavily dependent on the sequels for any sort of payoff for the reader. I finished the book and found myself surprised that there wasn't another 200 pages to wrap everything up.
That isn't to say I didn't find some joy in the novel. The characterization, although bizarre due to the setting, was interesting. In fact, the author may even argue that my dissatisfaction with the payoff was intentional. A large theme of the book is that hard, unrewarding work is a simple fact of life, and that completing what is expected of you shouldn't warrant any particular merit. Although this theme is quite depressing, I wouldn't think to question it's validity or execution.
Ultimately, there is a lot of interesting things happening in Vita Nostra. However, the fact that most of those things are wrapped around pages of teenagers sinking into manic episodes while trying to chant meaningless words tended to take away a lot of my personal interest. I would look forward to a translation of the sequel if only to see if there is a reward hidden within the pages of this series.